Break-Even ROAS calculator.

Know your floor before you scale. Calculate the exact ROAS and CPA where your ads stop losing money - from your real unit economics.

Your Unit Economics

Average Selling Price (AOV) Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Shipping & Fulfillment Transaction Fees (%)

Stripe, PayPal, Shopify Payments, etc.

Break-Even ROAS

1.69x

Min. revenue per $1 ad spend

Max Break-Even CPA

$59.10

Max cost per acquisition

Gross Margin $

$59.10

Gross Margin %

59.1%

Total Costs

$40.90

High-Margin margins. Excellent unit economics - significant room to scale paid spend.

Why break-even ROAS matters more than your ROAS target

Most brands chase a ROAS target handed down from a spreadsheet or an industry article - 4x, 5x, whatever. But that number is meaningless without knowing your break-even point first.

Your break-even ROAS is the floor. It's the ROAS where you're not making money but you're not losing it either. Every point of ROAS above that floor is actual profit. Every point below it is money lost.

The Formulas

Break-Even ROAS = 1 ÷ Gross Margin %

Break-Even CPA = AOV × Gross Margin %

Gross Margin % = (Revenue – COGS – Shipping – Fees) ÷ Revenue

Two common mistakes

• Using revenue ROAS as the profitability signal. A 5x ROAS on a 15% margin product still loses money. Revenue doesn't pay the bills - margin does.
• Forgetting shipping and transaction fees. On a $100 order, $10 shipping + $2.90 Stripe fees = $12.90 gone before you count COGS. These are real costs your break-even ROAS must account for.

How to use this alongside your target ROAS

Once you know your break-even ROAS, your target ROAS should be set at break-even + your desired profit margin. If your break-even is 2.5x and you want 20% of ad spend as net profit, your target ROAS should be roughly 3.1x.

Break-Even ROAS by Industry

Typical break-even ROAS ranges based on average margins for each vertical. Use these to benchmark whether your unit economics are competitive.

Industry	Avg. ROAS	Break-Even Range	Typical Margin
Ecommerce (Apparel)	4.1x	2.1–2.8x	28–42%
Ecommerce (Beauty)	5.2x	2.0–2.5x	35–50%
Ecommerce (Electronics)	3.4x	3.1–4.0x	18–28%
Home Goods	3.8x	2.4–3.2x	22–35%
Health & Wellness	5.6x	1.8–2.2x	40–55%
Sports & Outdoors	3.9x	2.3–2.9x	25–40%

Source: Benchmarketing aggregated data · 2025–2026 · Ranges reflect 25th–75th percentile margins. See full ROAS benchmarks →

Frequently Asked Questions

Your Numbers

Break-Even ROAS 1.69x Max CPA $59.10 Gross Margin 59.1% Margin per Order $59.10

If industry average ROAS is 4.0x and your break-even is 1.69x, you have room to scale before touching your bids.

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How does your ROAS compare?

Median ROAS by channel-2025–2026

Google Shopping 5.2x Google Search 4.6x Meta Ads 3.8x TikTok Ads 2.9x See full ROAS benchmarks

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