Calculate ROI, ROAS, CPA, and break-even for Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and more — then use the AI Campaign Advisor to improve your numbers.
Enter your numbers and click Calculate.
Get ideas to lower CPA/CAC and raise ROAS/ROI. The AI reviews your assumptions and suggests tests for creative, targeting, and landing pages.
Tip: Pair this with our AI Review Link Generator and AI Social Post Ideas to boost conversion after the click.
Two metrics dominate advertising performance conversations, and they're often confused.
ROI (Return on Investment) measures net profit relative to total cost. It accounts for what you spent on ads and what it cost you to deliver the product or service. The formula is:
ROI = ((Revenue − Total Costs) ÷ Total Costs) × 100
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is narrower. It measures gross revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads — nothing else. The formula is:
ROAS = Revenue from Ads ÷ Ad Spend
A campaign with a 5x ROAS sounds great. But if your product costs 80 cents of every dollar to make and deliver, that same campaign might barely break even on ROI. That's why this calculator computes both: ROAS tells you your ad efficiency; ROI tells you whether you're actually making money.
For local service businesses, the most relevant version of ROI often accounts for your cost per acquisition (CPA) — what you pay to bring in one lead or customer — compared to the lifetime or average value of that customer.
Here's the complete calculation chain, which is what the tool above runs automatically:
"Total Costs" should include your ad spend plus any creative fees, agency fees, tools, and the cost of goods or service delivery. The calculator's "Other Costs" field is where you enter those additional expenses.
Break-even ROAS is the minimum return on ad spend you need to cover your costs without losing money. It varies by your gross margin:
Break-Even ROAS = 1 ÷ Gross Margin %
At 50% gross margin, break-even ROAS is 2.0x. At 30% margin it's 3.33x. At 20% margin it's 5.0x. If your ROAS is below your break-even point, the campaign is losing money regardless of how impressive the revenue number looks. This is one of the most commonly missed checks for small business advertisers. Set your gross margin in the Business Model inputs above to see your break-even point in the results.
Google Ads ROI calculation follows the same formula chain above. A few things specific to Google Ads worth knowing:
For inputs, use your average CPC from the Campaigns report (not the max bid), check CTR at the campaign or ad group level in the Ads tab, pull conversion rate from conversion tracking in Google Ads or imported from Google Analytics, and use the Conversions column for revenue if you have e-commerce tracking — or your average lead value times close rate for lead-gen.
Google Ads lets you track calls, form fills, booking completions, and direction requests as conversions. For accuracy, track the action closest to actual revenue — not just clicks to your site.
Typical Google Ads benchmarks for US local businesses: search network CTR runs 3–6% for well-targeted campaigns; average CPC is $2–$10 for most local service categories and $15–$50+ for high-competition niches like legal or finance; conversion rates sit at 3–7% for landing pages and higher for call-only ads in local services. Use these as starting-point assumptions, then replace them with your real account data as soon as you have it.
Facebook and Instagram (Meta) Ads work on CPM pricing by default — you pay per 1,000 impressions rather than per click. That changes the calculation slightly. Clicks are calculated as: (Budget ÷ CPM) × 1,000 × CTR%. Everything else in the chain follows the same formulas. The calculator handles both CPM and CPC buy types — use the "Buy Type" selector to switch.
For your Meta Ads inputs, find CPM and CTR in Ads Manager under the Delivery column, pull conversion rate from Meta pixel events or your CRM, and enter revenue per conversion manually based on your average job or order value.
Typical Meta Ads benchmarks for US local audiences: CPM runs $8–$20 for most local audiences; CTR is 0.8–2% for feed placements and lower for Reels and Stories; conversion rates are 1–4% for landing pages and vary widely by offer. Meta Ads often work better for awareness and retargeting than direct-response in local service categories — use the calculator to model whether your CPM campaigns are generating profitable ROI.
There's no universal "good ROI" number — it depends entirely on your margins. For lead-generation service businesses, any positive ROI is the minimum acceptable, 200–400% ROI is good, and 500%+ is strong particularly if the customer has high lifetime value. For e-commerce, break-even ROAS is often 3–5x depending on margin, with profitable ROAS at 4–8x for most categories. For local retail and restaurants, focus on CPA relative to average transaction value and repeat visit rate — a CPA of $10–30 acquiring a customer who spends $80+ per visit and returns monthly is highly profitable even at modest ROAS.
The right benchmark is your own break-even. Calculate it using the formula above (1 ÷ Gross Margin %) and use that as your floor — not an industry average.
The accuracy of any ROI projection depends on the quality of your assumptions. Start your ad budget with what you can afford to lose while testing — for most local businesses, $500–$1,500/month per channel gives enough data within 30 days to evaluate performance. For CPC/CPM, pull from your actual ad account if you have history, or use platform benchmark tools like Google Keyword Planner or Meta's Audience Insights.
For CTR, use conservative estimates if starting fresh (1–2% for search, 0.8–1% for display/social). Your landing page conversion rate is often the biggest lever — industry averages sit around 2–5%, but well-optimized pages for local services can reach 10–15%. If your number is below 2%, the landing page is the problem to solve before scaling ad spend.
For Lead Value in lead-gen mode, use: Average Job Value × Your Close Rate. If a new customer is worth $800 and you close 1 in 4 leads, your effective lead value is $200. Enter $200 — not $800 — to get accurate profit projections.
One of the most useful things you can do with this tool is run "what if" scenarios before changing anything in your actual campaign. What if you improve CTR by 20%? What if your conversion rate goes from 2% to 3%? A 50% relative lift in CVR often cuts CPA by more than a 50% cut in ad spend would. What if you reduce CPC by 10% through better Quality Scores?
Running scenarios this way tells you where to focus testing. Usually, improving conversion rate gives a bigger ROI lift than reducing CPC — because it improves both efficiency and volume simultaneously. Adjust the relevant input until profit hits zero to find your floor for any variable.
Scale when the campaign has been profitable for 7–14 consecutive days, CPA is below your target, and frequency is low enough that you're not saturating the audience. Increase budget 10–20% at a time, not all at once.
Fix when ROAS is above break-even but below target, CTR is low (creative or audience issue), conversion rate is low (landing page issue), or CPA is high but on an improving trend over the last 7 days.
Pause when ROAS is below break-even with no improving trend, the campaign has run for 14+ days with consistent losses, or attribution is unclear — fix tracking before spending more.
The AI Campaign Advisor in the tool above will suggest specific tests based on your inputs, prioritizing the variable most likely to improve your ROI given your current numbers.
Your ad ROI doesn't exist in isolation — it's shaped by everything else in your local presence. Ads that land on a profile with 4.8 stars and 200 reviews convert significantly better than one with 3 stars and 12 reviews. Use the Google Review Link Generator to build your review volume before scaling ad spend. Inconsistent NAP data dilutes Google's local ad targeting — run the Local Listings Health Checker before investing in local ads. Keep your social channels active with the Social Post Ideas generator — organic content reinforces paid retargeting and improves brand recall. Once an ad generates a lead and you close the job, the review request template library has ready-to-send copy for post-job follow-ups that turn customers into reviewers.
ROAS measures gross revenue per dollar of ad spend — it doesn't account for your cost of goods, delivery, or overhead. ROI accounts for all costs and shows your actual profit. A campaign can have excellent ROAS and still lose money if margins are thin. Always check both.
There's no fixed answer — it depends on your gross margin. A plumber with 60% gross margin can be profitable at 2x ROAS. A contractor with 20% margin needs 5x ROAS just to break even. Use the break-even formula (1 ÷ gross margin %) to calculate your specific floor, not an industry average.
Use your actual average CPC, CTR, and conversion rate from your Google Ads account. Multiply budget by clicks (budget ÷ CPC), then by conversion rate to get leads. Multiply leads by your lead value (average job revenue × close rate) to get revenue. Subtract all costs, divide by total costs, and multiply by 100 for the percentage. The calculator above runs this automatically — just input your real numbers from the Campaigns tab.
Facebook typically charges by CPM (per 1,000 impressions). Calculate clicks as: (Budget ÷ CPM) × 1,000 × CTR. Then apply your conversion rate and lead/order value as you would for any channel. Use the CPM buy type setting in the calculator above to model Meta campaigns accurately.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) is your total ad spend divided by the number of conversions. Lower it by improving CTR (better creative and targeting), improving landing page conversion rate, or reducing CPC through Quality Score improvements on Google or audience refinement on Meta. The AI advisor will suggest the highest-leverage fix based on your specific inputs.
Yes — the calculator is completely free with no account required. The AI Campaign Advisor feature is also free to use.
Yes. Select "Other" in the Channel dropdown. The formulas work for any CPC or CPM-based platform including TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, programmatic display, and others. Input your platform's actual CPC/CPM and CTR data.
Run a new projection whenever you change your budget, bid strategy, creative, or targeting. During active testing, recalculate every 7 days with your real performance data replacing your initial estimates — this shows whether actuals are tracking above or below your projections and where to adjust.