Ads & offers
Break-even ROAS calculator
What ROAS do my ads need to break even, and to make a profit?
Your monthly ad budget
$16,667per month
About $548 a day, bringing in 500 orders at $33.33 in ads each.
Daily budget
$548
Orders a month
500
Ad cost per order
$33.33
Profit after ads
Your plan keeps $4,233 a month after ads, 8.5% of revenue.
Break-even ROAS
2.39×
Most you could spend
$20,900
and still break even
The same goal at other ROAS levels
| ROAS | Budget | Profit after ads |
|---|---|---|
| 2.00× | $25,000 | −$4,100 |
| 2.50× | $20,000 | $900 |
| 3.00× | $16,667 | $4,233 |
| 4.00× | $12,500 | $8,400 |
| 5.00× | $10,000 | $10,900 |
At a 2% conversion rate you'd need about 25,000 ad visits a month, so each click can cost at most $0.67.
Book a strategy callWant a budget plan you can scale? 30 minutes with Dair, the founder.
THE MATH
How to set an ad budget from a revenue goal
Your budget is your revenue goal divided by the ROAS you can realistically get. That part is simple. What most budget calculators skip is the profit: what each order keeps before ads, minus what the ads cost to win it. A budget that hits the revenue goal can still lose money.
Monthly budget = revenue goal ÷ ROAS
Profit after ads = revenue goal × margin before ads − budget
Most you can pay per click = order value × conversion rate ÷ ROAS
Worked example
The numbers already in the calculator above.
- Revenue goal
- $50,000
- Budget at 3.00×
- $16,666.67
- Daily (÷ 30.4)
- $548.25
- Profit before ads (41.8%)
- $20,900.00
- Profit after ads
- $4,233.33
Budget$50,000 ÷ 3 = $16,666.67
Most per click$100.00 × 2% ÷ 3 = $0.67
WHAT IT MEANS
A bigger budget isn't always more profit
The calculator assumes your ROAS holds as you spend more. In real accounts it rarely does, so plan with care.
ROAS usually slips as you scale
The first dollars reach the people most likely to buy. As budgets grow, ads reach colder audiences and each sale tends to cost more. Plan with a cautious ROAS, not your best week, and check it against your break-even ROAS.
Plan each channel on its own numbers
Meta finds new buyers, and Google catches people already searching. Their ROAS differs, so set each budget against its own results, then check the total against your Shopify orders. See how we run Meta ads and Google Ads.
Leave room for new ads
Results fade as the same people see the same ads. Keep part of the budget for testing new ones, so there's always a fresh winner ready. That's what our ad creative and testing work is for.
FAQ
Questions about ad budgets.
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Still have a question?
Email or call. Dair replies personally.
Work backwards from your revenue goal: divide it by the ROAS you can realistically get. Then check the profit. If what each order keeps before ads cannot cover that budget, lower the goal, raise the ROAS or improve your margin before you spend more.
Divide it by 30.4, the average number of days in a month (Google Ads uses the same figure for its monthly spending limit). A $16,667 monthly budget is about $548 a day. Platforms spend unevenly from day to day, so judge spend by the month, not by single days.
The ROAS your ads have averaged over the last month or two, not your best week. If you are new to ads, plan cautiously and set aside a test budget before you count on any profit.
Your revenue goal times your margin before ads. Spend that and you break even; spend less and the difference is profit. For a $50,000 goal at a 41.8% margin, that is $20,900.
To show how cheap your clicks need to be. At a 2% conversion rate, a $100 order and a 3× ROAS, each click can cost at most about $0.67. If your clicks cost more than that, the ROAS you planned with is unlikely.
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