How to Calculate ROAS, and What a Good ROAS Is

Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the sales your ads brought in divided by what the ads cost. $3,000 of sales from $1,000 of ads is a ROAS of 3, written as 3x or 300%.

A good ROAS is one above your break-even ROAS, and that depends on your margin. I’ve worked through both below, with the ROAS of the US Google Ads accounts I can see through the Google Ads API between 30 May and 28 August 2026. The median Search account returned 3.49x.

For your own numbers, my ROAS calculator checks a ROAS against your margin, and the break-even ROAS calculator builds the margin from one order.

ROAS formulas

What you want	Formula	Example
ROAS	Sales from ads / ad spend	$3,000 / $1,000 = 3x
ROAS as a percentage	ROAS x 100	3 x 100 = 300%
Break-even ROAS	1 / margin before ad costs	1 / 0.25 = 4x
Target ROAS	1 / (margin - profit you want)	1 / (0.5 - 0.1) = 2.5x
Most you can spend for a sale	Order value / target ROAS	$150 / 2.5 = $60

How to calculate ROAS

Here’s an example. A sneaker store spent $1,000 on Google Ads over two months, and the ads brought in $3,000 of sales. $3,000 / $1,000 = 3, so the ROAS is 3x. Each $1 of ads brought in $3 of sales.

In Google Ads the sales figure is the conversion value, and the column is called Conv. value / cost. Shopify’s ROAS guide uses the same formula. Amazon Ads’ ROAS guide does too, and it also covers ACOS, which is the same sum upside down: ad spend / sales.

A 3x ROAS can still lose money

ROAS counts sales. It doesn’t count profit. If the sneakers leave a 50% margin after the product, shipping and fees, the $3,000 of sales leaves $1,500. Take off the $1,000 of ads and the store made $500.

At a 25% margin, the same $3,000 leaves $750. The ads cost $1,000, so the store lost $250 with a 3x ROAS.

Break-even ROAS

At a 50% margin, break-even is 1 / 0.5 = 2x. At 25%, it’s 1 / 0.25 = 4x. Below that line every sale the ads bring in loses money. To keep a profit as well, take the profit you want off the margin first: a 50% margin with 10% kept as profit needs 1 / 0.4 = 2.5x.

Below a 25% margin the targets climb fast. At 20% you need 10x to keep a 10% profit, and few accounts hold that for long. My ecommerce profit framework works out the margin by product, because one blended margin hides the products that lose money.

ROAS in real Google Ads accounts

I took the US accounts that spent $1,000 or more on a campaign type, recorded at least one conversion and reported $10 or more of value per conversion. The $10 cut drops accounts that count each lead as $1, where ROAS means nothing.

The median Search account returned 3.49x, and half of them sat between 1.76x and 5.10x. Performance Max was close at 3.14x. Half the Shopping accounts were under 2.11x, which only breaks even at a margin of 47% or more.

Demand Gen returned 0.57x, and 7 of the 9 accounts were under 1x. That’s normal for a campaign type that finds new people on YouTube and Gmail. Many of its buyers come back later through Search or Shopping, so judge it by the new customers it brings in.

The Search spread is wide. Five accounts returned over 10x, which usually means a lot of brand searches from people who would have bought anyway. Six returned under 1x. Some of those sell things that close later, so the value Google sees is only part of the sale.

What a good ROAS is

A good ROAS is above your target ROAS, the one with your profit built in. The 3.49x median shows what’s typical in these accounts. Your margin sets what your business needs. A store with a 70% margin makes money at 2x. A store with a 25% margin loses money at 3.49x.

Compare with your own break-even first. Then compare each campaign type with its own median, because a Search campaign and a Demand Gen campaign do different jobs.

How to set target ROAS in Google Ads

1. Work out your target ROAS with the formula above, or with the break-even ROAS calculator.
2. Check that every conversion action passes a value. Google’s page on conversion values explains how. For a shop, pass the order value of each sale. For leads, use what a lead is worth: if 10% of webinar leads buy a $1,000 course, each lead is worth $100.
3. Google Ads asks for target ROAS as a percentage, so a 2.5x target is 250%. Set it on the campaign’s bid strategy.
4. Start near the ROAS the campaign gets now, then move it 10% to 20% at a time. A target far above what the campaign gets cuts the spend, because Google stops bidding on most searches.

ROAS vs ROI, CPA and ACOS

Metric	Formula	What it leaves out
ROAS	Sales from ads / ad spend	Product costs, shipping, fees, staff
ROI	(Sales - all costs) / all costs	Nothing, when you count every cost
CPA	Ad spend / conversions	How much each conversion was worth
ACOS	Ad spend / sales from ads	The same as ROAS, upside down

ROAS is the right number to bid with, because Google can see sales and ad spend. ROI is the right number to judge the business with, because it counts the PPC software, the agency and the staff as well. CPA works when every sale is worth about the same. When the order values differ, a lower CPA can mean less profit. My PPC ROI guide covers the full sum.

How do you calculate ROAS?

Divide the sales from your ads by what the ads cost. $3,000 of sales from $1,000 of ad spend is a ROAS of 3x, or 300%.

What is a good ROAS?

One above your break-even ROAS, which is 1 divided by your margin before ad costs. In the US Google Ads accounts I can see, the median Search ROAS was 3.49x and the median Shopping ROAS was 2.11x between May and August 2026.

What is break-even ROAS?

The ROAS at which the ads pay for themselves and nothing more. It is 1 / margin before ad costs, so a 25% margin breaks even at 4x and a 50% margin at 2x.

Is ROAS the same as ROI?

No. ROAS divides sales by ad spend. ROI divides profit by every cost, including the product, shipping, staff and software. A campaign can have a 3x ROAS and a negative ROI.

How do I write ROAS as a percentage?

Multiply it by 100. A 3x ROAS is 300%. Google Ads asks for target ROAS as a percentage, so a 2.5x target goes in as 250%.