Live calculator

Break-Even ROAS Calculator

Calculate your break-even Return on Ad Spend, maximum CPA, and break-even CPC for profitable ecommerce advertising.

Use this when

You need to know the minimum ROAS to stay profitable on paid ads.

Enter your product economics to find out the exact ROAS you need to break even (or hit a target margin) on Facebook, Google, TikTok, or any paid channel. Also shows your maximum CPA and CPC.

break-even ROAS max CPA break-even CPC

Product Economics

Amazon 15%, eBay 13.6%, Etsy 6.5%, Shopify 0% (just payment processing).
Set to 0 for true break-even. Add margin for target profitability.
Typical ecommerce: 1-3%. Used to calculate break-even CPC.

Ad Profitability

Revenue Per Sale
$49.99
Total Costs (excl. ads)
-$28.80
Gross Profit (before ads)
$21.19
Target Profit Per Sale
$5.00
Max Ad Spend Per Sale
$16.19
Break-Even ROAS
3.09x
Maximum CPA
$16.19
Break-Even CPC
$0.40

How to Use Break-Even ROAS

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) tells you how much revenue you need per dollar of ad spend. A break-even ROAS is the minimum ROAS required to cover all your costs. Anything above it is profit.

  • Break-Even ROAS = Selling Price / Max Ad Spend Per Sale. If your ROAS in your ad platform is below this number, you are losing money on every sale.
  • Maximum CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) = the most you can pay to acquire one customer and still hit your target margin.
  • Break-Even CPC = Maximum CPA × Conversion Rate. This is the highest cost-per-click you can afford given your conversion rate.

Example

If your break-even ROAS is 3x and your Facebook Ads dashboard shows a 4x ROAS, you are profitable. If it drops to 2.5x, you are losing money on every ad-driven sale.

Interpret the output

Lower break-even ROAS = more room for error.

A break-even ROAS of 2x means you only need $2 in revenue per $1 of ad spend, which is easy to achieve. A break-even ROAS of 5x+ means your margins are tight and you need very efficient ads to be profitable.