How to calculate break even ROAS for your store
If you sell products online and run paid traffic, the single number that decides whether a campaign is worth scaling is your break even ROAS. It tells you, in plain terms, the return on ad spend below which every sale actively loses money once product cost, shipping and payment fees are paid. Most free tools only ask for selling price and product cost — this break even roas calculator also accounts for shipping and processing fees, so the number you see matches what actually lands in your bank account.
Step-by-step guide
Open the calculator above and enter your selling price and product cost first — those two fields alone give you a usable break-even ROAS in seconds, the same as a basic roas calculator ecommerce tool. Then add shipping and payment fees for a more accurate figure, switch to the Target ROAS tab once you want to plan for actual profit instead of just surviving, and use the Max CPA tab when you're deciding how much you can bid per click or per sale on Meta or Google Ads.
Practical examples
The break even ROAS formula, explained
The break even roas formula compares what a sale brings in against what it costs to fulfill, before any ad spend is added:
Break-Even ROAS = Selling Price ÷ (Selling Price − COGS − Shipping − Fees − Other Costs)
The denominator is your gross profit per order before advertising. Dividing price by that profit tells you exactly how many dollars of revenue you need for every dollar of gross profit — which is the same as saying how many dollars of revenue you need for every dollar spent on ads at the break-even point.
Worked example
Take a $50 product. Product cost is $15, shipping is $5, the payment processor takes 2.9% (~$1.45) plus a small fixed fee (~$0.30, rounded to $1.75 total here for simplicity), and other variable costs (packaging, returns reserve) add $2.
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $50.00 |
| − Product cost (COGS) | −$15.00 |
| − Shipping | −$5.00 |
| − Payment processing fee | −$1.75 |
| − Other variable costs | −$2.00 |
| = Gross profit before ad spend | $26.25 |
| Break-Even ROAS = $50 ÷ $26.25 | 1.90x (190%) |
Anything above a 1.90x ROAS on this product is profitable; anything below it means you're paying more in ad spend than the sale returns after costs. This is also how to answer how to calculate break even roas by hand, without a tool, for a quick sanity check.
Break-even ROAS percentage, target ROAS and max CPA
Break-even ROAS percentage
ROAS is often expressed as a multiple (1.90x) or as a break even roas percentage (190%). Both describe the same threshold — a 190% ROAS means every $1 of ad spend needs to return $1.90 in revenue just to break even. Ad platforms like Meta and Google display ROAS as a decimal multiple by default, so knowing both formats helps when reading platform reports against your own numbers.
Profit margin to break even roas
Break-even ROAS is mathematically the inverse of your gross profit margin: Break-Even ROAS = 1 ÷ Gross Margin. A 50% margin product breaks even at 2.0x ROAS; a 25% margin product needs 4.0x. This profit margin to break even roas relationship is why raising prices or cutting fulfillment costs by even a few points can lower your required ROAS dramatically, often more effectively than trying to lower ad costs alone.
Target ROAS calculator
Break-even ROAS only tells you where you stop losing money — it says nothing about actual profit. The target roas calculator tab adds a desired profit margin on top of your costs, so the ROAS shown is the one that delivers real profit, not just survival. Agencies and in-house marketing managers typically set target ROAS 20–40% above break-even ROAS to leave room for returns, discounts and seasonal cost creep.
Facebook Ads ROAS calculator
Because break-even ROAS is a store-level metric rather than a platform metric, this doubles as a facebook ads roas calculator, Google Ads ROAS calculator, or TikTok Ads ROAS calculator — the formula doesn't change based on where the traffic comes from. What changes is the CPA you can afford: use the Max CPA tab with your average order value and target ROAS to see the maximum you can bid per purchase event in Ads Manager or Google Ads before a campaign becomes unprofitable.
Break-even ROAS benchmarks by margin
There's no single "good" ROAS — it depends entirely on gross margin. Use this table as a reference range, then compare against your own calculated number above.
| Typical business type | Gross margin range | Approx. break-even ROAS |
|---|---|---|
| Print-on-demand / handmade goods | 65–75% | 1.3x – 1.5x |
| Apparel & accessories | 55–65% | 1.5x – 1.8x |
| Beauty & supplements | 50–60% | 1.7x – 2.0x |
| General dropshipping | 30–45% | 2.2x – 3.3x |
| Consumer electronics | 15–25% | 4.0x – 6.7x |
| Grocery / low-margin CPG | 10–20% | 5.0x – 10.0x |
Ranges are general industry approximations for planning purposes, not a guarantee for any specific store.
Frequently asked questions
Break-even ROAS is the minimum return on ad spend needed to cover your product cost, shipping and payment fees, with zero profit left over. Any ROAS above this number means your ads are profitable; below it, you are losing money on every sale.
Divide your selling price by your gross profit per unit before ad spend. For example, a $50 item with $26.25 gross profit has a break-even ROAS of 1.90x, or 190%.
There is no universal good ROAS; it depends on your margin. A store with 60% margins can be profitable at a 1.7x ROAS, while a store with 15% margins may need 6x or higher. Compare your real ROAS to your own break-even ROAS, not an industry average.
ROAS measures the actual return a campaign generated. Break-even ROAS is the threshold that return must clear for the sale to be profitable once all product and fulfillment costs are included.
Break-even ROAS is the inverse of your gross profit margin. A higher margin lowers the ROAS you need to break even, while a thin margin forces you toward a much higher ROAS just to avoid losing money.
Target ROAS is the ROAS you need to hit a specific profit goal, not just break even. It always sits above break-even ROAS because it reserves extra margin for actual profit rather than covering costs alone.
Divide your average order value by your target ROAS. A $60 average order value with a 3x target ROAS gives a maximum cost per acquisition of $20 per sale.
It should. A complete break-even ROAS figure subtracts product cost, shipping and card processing fees from the selling price before dividing, since all three reduce the cash you actually keep from a sale.