Break-Even ROAS Calculator
Enter your margin and get the exact return on ad spend you need to stop losing money — plus the target ROAS and CPA that actually leave you a profit.
How break-even ROAS is calculated
Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ gross margin. At a 25% margin, each dollar of revenue leaves 25 cents to cover the ad, so you need $4 of revenue for every $1 of spend — a 4x ROAS — just to come out level. At a 50% margin the same campaign breaks even at 2x.
- Use gross margin, not net. Gross margin is revenue minus cost of goods. Overheads like rent and salaries do not belong in this number, or you will set an unreachable target.
- Break-even is a floor, not a goal. A campaign sitting exactly at break-even earns nothing. Decide the profit you want first, then work back to the ROAS that delivers it.
- Returns move the number. A 10% return rate means 10% of your revenue is not revenue. Deduct it from margin before calculating, or your break-even will read lower than it is.
- Platform ROAS is optimistic. Google Ads and Meta both claim conversions the other also claims. Compare against GA4 or a blended view before trusting either against this figure.
- Subscription businesses should use LTV. If a customer buys four times, first-order ROAS understates the truth badly. Calculate on contribution margin over the expected lifetime instead.
Related tools
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Know your break-even, then hold every campaign to it
Connect your ad accounts and ask Claude which campaigns are below break-even ROAS, and what to do about them.