Free tool · no sign-up
ROAS calculator, with break-even ROAS
ROAS is revenue from ads divided by ad spend: $18,000 of revenue on $5,000 of spend is a 3.6× ROAS. Whether that is profitable depends on your margin. Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ gross margin, so at a 40% margin you need at least 2.5×. Enter your own figures below.
By Alain Abulafya, founder of PPCleaner · Updated
PPCleaner
The waste line is the one you can fix tonight. PPCleaner reads your Google Ads search terms every night and blocks the ones that were never going to buy, before they spend again.
Start 7 days freeHow to calculate ROAS
ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue your ads brought in, divided by what you paid for them.
Spend $5,000 on Google Ads, record $18,000 in revenue from those ads, and your ROAS is 3.6, written 3.6× or 360%. Use the revenue Google Ads attributes to the campaigns, or your own figure if you track sales outside the platform. The two should cover the same dates.
What is break-even ROAS?
Break-even ROAS is the ROAS at which your ads pay for themselves and no more. Below it, every sale from ads loses money once the product and the click are paid for. It depends only on your margin:
At a 40% margin, break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ 0.40 = 2.5×. At 25% it is 4×, at 60% it is about 1.67×. That is why the same ROAS can be healthy for one business and ruinous for another.
What is a good ROAS for Google Ads?
There is no universal good number. A good ROAS is one comfortably above your own break-even ROAS, with enough room left for overheads and profit. A 3× ROAS is excellent at a 60% margin and a loss at a 25% margin. Set your target from your margin first, then compare campaigns against that target, not against an industry average.
Why irrelevant searches pull ROAS down
Google Ads matches your keywords to searches you never chose: people looking for jobs, free versions, tutorials, a competitor, or a city you don't serve. Those clicks cost the same as good ones and almost never buy, so they add to spend without adding to revenue. Removing them raises ROAS without touching bids or budgets.
The fix is to add those searches as negative keywords. Done by hand, it means reading the search terms report every week. PPCleaner does it every night, on Search, Shopping and Performance Max.
Frequently asked questions
What does a ROAS of 4 mean?
A ROAS of 4 (4× or 400%) means every $1 spent on ads brought in $4 of revenue. Whether that is profitable depends on your margin: at a 40% margin, break-even is 2.5×, so 4× leaves profit; at a 20% margin, break-even is 5× and 4× loses money.
Is ROAS the same as ROI?
No. ROAS divides revenue by ad spend and ignores every other cost. ROI divides profit by total investment. A campaign can show a strong ROAS and still lose money if the margin is thin, which is why this calculator shows break-even ROAS and profit next to it.
How do I calculate break-even ROAS?
Divide 1 by your gross margin written as a decimal. With a 30% margin, break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ 0.30 = 3.33×. Any campaign below that loses money on each sale it drives.
How do I find how much I spend on irrelevant searches?
In Google Ads, open Insights and reports, then Search terms. Sort by cost, and add up the cost of searches that could never have become customers. On Performance Max, the same searches sit under the campaign's Insights tab.
Does the calculator store my numbers?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to PPCleaner.