Break-Even ROAS Calculator
Find the lowest return on ad spend you can accept, and the most you can pay per sale, before your Facebook ads start losing money.
Average order value if you sell several products.
What it costs you to make or buy one.
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Apps, returns, commissions.
Of the price, after ads.
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How to calculate break-even ROAS
ROAS (return on ad spend) is how much revenue your ads bring in for each dollar you spend. A 3x ROAS means $3 of sales for every $1 of ads. But revenue isn't profit: you still pay for the product, shipping and payment fees. Break-even ROAS tells you the point where what's left over exactly covers the ads.
Break-even ROAS = price ÷ (price − product cost − shipping − fees − other costs)
Example: you sell a candle for $40. It costs $10 to make, $6 to ship, and the payment fee is about $1.20. You keep $22.80 before ads. Your break-even ROAS is 40 ÷ 22.80 = 1.75x, and you can spend up to $22.80 in ads per sale.
Break-even ROAS by profit margin
The higher your margin before ads, the lower the ROAS you need:
- 80% margin → 1.25x break-even ROAS
- 60% margin → 1.67x
- 50% margin → 2x
- 40% margin → 2.5x
- 30% margin → 3.33x
- 20% margin → 5x
If your margin is below about 30%, Facebook ads get hard: you need a very strong ROAS just to stand still. Raising your price, bundling products or increasing order value often does more than any ad change.
Break-even vs. target ROAS
Breaking even keeps the lights on but doesn't pay you. Enter the profit you want to keep (for example 15% of the price) and the calculator gives you a target ROAS and a maximum cost per sale. Use the target to decide which campaigns to scale, and break-even to decide which to pause.
Using it with your Facebook campaigns
- Give a new campaign about a week and a few sales before judging it.
- Pause ad sets that stay clearly below break-even after that, and move budget to the ones above target.
- Increase budgets on winners slowly, about 20% every few days, so results stay steady.
- Check your numbers against typical results for your industry to see whether the ad, the page or the price is the weak spot.
Doing this by hand in Ads Manager means a lot of columns and spreadsheets. AdChat reads your campaigns and tells you which are above or below your break-even line, in plain English. Free for 7 days.
Frequently asked questions
What is break-even ROAS?
Break-even ROAS is the return on ad spend where an ad exactly pays for itself: you make no profit and lose no money on the sale. The formula is price ÷ profit per sale before ads. If you sell a $60 product and keep $30 after product cost, shipping and fees, your break-even ROAS is 60 ÷ 30 = 2x.
What is break-even CPA?
Break-even CPA (cost per acquisition) is the most you can spend on ads to get one sale without losing money. It equals your profit per sale before ads. In the example above it's $30.
Is a 2x ROAS good?
It depends entirely on your margins. With a 50% margin, 2x is break-even. With a 70% margin, 2x is profitable. With a 30% margin, 2x loses money on every sale. That's why it's worth calculating your own break-even number instead of chasing a generic target.
Should I include repeat purchases?
This calculator looks at the first sale only, which is the safe way to start. If customers reliably buy again, you can afford a lower ROAS on the first sale. Only plan around that once you have real repeat-purchase data.
Why does Meta's ROAS differ from my store's numbers?
Meta counts a sale if someone clicked or viewed your ad within its attribution window, and some sales are missed because of privacy settings. Your store sees every sale but not which ad caused it. Compare both, and judge campaigns over a week or more, not a single day.
More free tools
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Calculate your return on ad spend, break-even ROAS, and see how you compare to industry benchmarks.
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Is My CPM, CPC or CTR Good?
Compare your Facebook ad numbers with typical results for your industry and see which ones need fixing first.
See Which Campaigns Are Below Break-Even
Connect your ad account and AdChat checks every campaign against your break-even ROAS, then tells you what to pause and what to scale. Free for 7 days, no credit card.
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