ROI, ROMI and ROAS calculator: do your ads pay off?
Enter what you spent on ads and what they brought in. The scales show whether you are up or down, and below them every metric is worked out on your numbers and explained without jargon.
Your numbers for the period
How ROI, ROMI and ROAS differ
All three answer the question “are the ads worth their money”, but they count differently. The easiest way to keep them apart:
| Metric | What it shows | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | How much revenue each euro of ad spend brought. Ignores product costs. | Revenue ÷ Ad spend |
| ROMI | How much profit all marketing costs brought: ads, contractor, tools. | (Revenue × Margin − Marketing) ÷ Marketing × 100% |
| ROI | How much profit all the money put into these sales brought, product costs included. | (Revenue − All costs) ÷ All costs × 100% |
A ROAS of 300% doesn’t mean you made money. With a 25% margin you keep €75 of every €300 in revenue, and the ads cost €100. ROAS looks fine while ROMI is negative. That’s why the calculator asks for your margin.
How to calculate ROAS
Divide the revenue from ads by the ad spend. You spent €1,000 and the sales from ads brought €4,000, so ROAS is 4, or 400%. Each euro of ads came back as four euros of revenue.
A good ROAS is different for every business because it depends on margin. The lowest ROAS at which ads don’t lose money is 1 ÷ margin. With a 40% margin that is 2.5. Above that line ads make a profit; below it they make a loss, however many sales there are.
How to calculate ROMI
Multiply revenue by margin to get the money left after product costs. Subtract all marketing costs and divide by those costs. Revenue €4,000, margin 40%, ads €1,000 and a contractor €300: (1,600 − 1,300) ÷ 1,300 = 23%. Marketing paid for itself and brought 23 cents of profit per euro invested.
How to calculate ROI
ROI counts everything: the cost of what was sold, marketing and other costs such as shipping and fees. (Revenue − All costs) ÷ All costs × 100%. If ROI is above zero, the money put into these sales came back with a profit. ROI is usually lower than ROMI because there is more money in the denominator.
CTR, CPC, conversion rate and CPA in plain words
- CTR
- The share of people who saw the ad and clicked it. Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100%. Shows whether the ad catches attention. There is no common norm: CTR in search and in the Instagram feed differ many times over, so compare with your own past campaigns.
- CPC
- What one click costs. Spend ÷ Clicks.
- Conversion rate
- The share of people who clicked and became customers. Leads ÷ Clicks × 100%. If CTR is good and conversion is low, check the website, not the ads.
- CPA
- What one customer or lead costs. Spend ÷ Leads. Compare it with what you earn from one sale: if CPA is higher, every sale loses money.
Break-even point: how much a customer may cost
The calculator works out two limits. Minimum ROAS: below it, ads lose money. Maximum cost per sale: how much you can pay the ads for one buyer and still break even, which is average order value × margin. With an average order of €120 and a 40% margin, a sale must not cost more than €48. Give these two numbers to whoever runs your ads as targets.
Why ROAS in the ad account differs from reality
- Attribution window. Meta and Google count a purchase if the person clicked or saw an ad within a few days before it. Some of these purchases would have happened anyway.
- Returns and cancellations. The ad account sees a placed order but doesn’t know it was returned.
- Taxes and shipping. If VAT or shipping fees end up in revenue, ROAS looks better than it is.
- One sale in two accounts. The person saw ads on both Instagram and Google, and both platforms claim the sale.
For decisions, take revenue from your CRM or accounting, not from the ad account.
FAQ
What counts as a good ROAS?
One above your break-even point, which is 1 ÷ margin: 2 at a 50% margin, 5 at a 20% margin. The same ROAS of 3 is a profit for one business and a loss for another.
How is ROMI different from ROI?
ROMI looks only at money put into marketing. ROI includes everything put into the sales, product costs and other costs too. ROMI is usually enough to judge ads; ROI is for judging a whole product line or channel.
What if I get leads, not sales?
Count how many leads became sales and for how much. Enter that amount as revenue and the number of sales in “Sales or leads”. If there are no sales yet, the calculator still works out cost per lead (CPA), CTR and conversion rate.
Where do I get my margin?
Take the price of the product or service and subtract everything you pay for it yourself: purchase, production, the specialist’s work. Divide the rest by the price. You sell for 100 and it costs you 60, so the margin is 40%.
Ads not paying off, or only just?
I’ll look at your ad account and website and tell you where the money leaks: in the ads, the settings or the page.
