Free ROAS Calculator: Know Your Break-Even Before You Spend

What is ROAS — and why break-even matters more

ROAS (return on ad spend) is simple: revenue divided by ad cost. A 5× ROAS means every $1 of ads brought back $5 in sales. But the number that actually protects you is your break-even cost per lead — the most you can pay for a lead before you're losing money. It's driven by three things: what an average sale is worth, your profit margin, and how many leads you close. Most businesses running ads have never calculated it, which is how campaigns quietly lose money while "getting leads."

How to use your results

Your break-even is the ceiling; your target (we build in a healthy profit buffer) is what a well-run campaign should aim at. Compare that target to real market costs — our Lead Forecast tool shows typical cost per lead for your industry in Canada. If your target comfortably clears the market rate, ads should be profitable. If it's tight, the fix is usually raising close rate or average sale value before raising ad spend.

Getting these numbers in real campaigns

Hitting a target cost per lead isn't luck — it's structure, negative keywords, bidding strategy and landing pages. If you're planning around Google's automated bidding, read our breakdown of the August 17 bidding change (it directly affects how targets behave), and e-commerce stores should see what Maximize Conversion Value coming to Standard Shopping means for value-based bidding.

Frequently asked questions

What's a good ROAS?

It depends on your margins. A 4× ROAS is excellent for a 25%-margin retailer and barely break-even for a 25%-margin service business with high fulfillment costs. That's why we calculate from your margin instead of quoting a universal "good" number.

What close rate should I enter?

The percentage of leads (calls, forms, quotes) that become paying customers. Most service businesses land between 15% and 35%. If you're unsure, start with 20% and test how sensitive your numbers are.

My target cost per lead looks impossible — now what?

Improve the inputs, not just the ads: raise average sale value (bundles, maintenance plans), improve close rate (faster follow-up doubles it for many businesses), or focus ads on your highest-value service. Small input changes move the target dramatically.