This calculator tells you the minimum return your ads need before they start making money.
At 2.5x you are above break-even but under your target. Each sale from ads keeps about $5.78.
Break-even ROAS: 2.10x
Most stores judge ads against a ROAS someone else picked. Your break-even point depends on your own costs, so the calculator starts there: what each order costs you to fulfill, and what is left over to pay for the sale.
Use it before you set a ROAS target or decide whether a campaign is working.
Every number this calculator uses, with an example.
Revenue from ads divided by what you spent on them.
$4,000 in sales from $1,000 of ads is a 4x ROAS.
The ROAS where ad revenue exactly covers your product, shipping, fees and the ads themselves. Below it, every sale from ads loses money.
If it is 2.1x, a campaign at 1.8x is losing money even if it looks busy.
Ad spend divided by the orders it brought in. Also called cost per purchase.
$1,000 spent for 40 orders is a $25 CPA.
Your revenue divided by your number of orders.
$30,000 from 400 orders is a $75 AOV.
What is left of an order after product cost, shipping, payment fees and returns, before any ad spend.
A $75 order with $39 of costs leaves $36.
What it costs you to make or buy what goes in the box, including getting it to your warehouse.
Take your order value and subtract product cost, shipping, payment fees and returns. That is your contribution per order: AOV − costs.
Divide order value by what is left: AOV ÷ contribution. That ROAS covers your costs and nothing more. The contribution is also the most you can pay for a sale.
Set aside the profit you want to keep, then divide again: AOV ÷ (contribution − profit). That is the number to manage your ads to.
It depends on your margins. A store with high margins can be profitable at 2x, while a low-margin store might need 4x or more. That is why this calculator starts from your costs instead of an industry average.
Use it as a signal, then check it against Shopify. Platforms count conversions differently, so compare reported ROAS with Shopify revenue over the same days before you make budget decisions.
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend. CPA is ad spend divided by orders. They describe the same thing from two sides, so the calculator shows both.
The growth plan does it from the outside, with no logins, and shows what we would fix first and what it would cost.