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ROI calculator: return on investment and ad ROAS

Return on investment answers a simple question: for every unit of money put in, how much came back? This calculator gives the ROI in percent and the net gain for any investment, such as shares, a property, a piece of equipment or a small business, and turns it into a yearly figure so that a three-year result can be compared with a one-year one. A second mode handles advertising, where the questions are different: the return on ad spend (ROAS), the real profit after the cost of goods, and the ROAS a campaign needs just to break even.

Quick answer

ROI = (final value + income − amount invested) ÷ amount invested × 100. Invest 20,000, receive 1,000 in dividends and sell for 26,000: the gain is 7,000 and the ROI is 35%, about 10.52% a year over 3 years. For ads, ROAS = revenue ÷ ad spend; at a 35% gross margin, break-even ROAS is about 2.86.

Purchase price plus fees and any money added later.

Time held (for the yearly return)

Enter the amounts to see the result.

How to use the ROI Calculator

  1. Pick "Investment" for an asset you bought, or "Ad campaign" for marketing spend.
  2. For an investment, enter the total amount put in, the value now or the sale price after fees, and any income received.
  3. Add how long you held it in years and months to see the annualised return.
  4. For a campaign, enter the ad spend, the revenue it brought in, your gross margin and any other campaign costs.

Why annualised ROI matters

A 35% return sounds good, but not if it took ten years. Annualised ROI spreads the result evenly over the holding time as a compound yearly rate: (final ÷ invested)^(1 ÷ years) − 1. In the example, turning 20,000 into 27,000 over 3 years is about 10.52% a year; the same 35% over 10 years is only about 3.05% a year, below what many savings products pay. Use the annualised figure to compare investments held for different lengths of time, and be careful with very short periods: a 5% gain in two months annualises to more than 34%, which is unlikely to repeat.

Count everything you put in and everything you got back

ROI is only as honest as its inputs. On the cost side, include purchase fees, commissions, transfer or registration fees and money you added later, such as renovation on a flat. On the return side, use the amount you actually received after selling fees, and add income received along the way, such as rent after service charges, or dividends. Leaving out a 2% transfer fee or a year of maintenance can turn a modest ROI into an impressive-looking one. This calculator does not include tax or inflation, so the result is a gross nominal figure.

ROAS versus ROI for ad campaigns

ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend: 9,000 of sales from 2,000 of ads is a ROAS of 4.5. It ignores what the goods cost. ROI looks at profit: with a 35% gross margin, 9,000 of sales leaves 3,150 of gross profit, and after the 2,000 of ads the campaign made 1,150, an ROI of 57.5%. The break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ gross margin, here 1 ÷ 0.35 ≈ 2.86, rising when you add agency fees or other campaign costs. A business with a 20% margin needs a ROAS of 5 just to break even, so the same ROAS can be profitable for one shop and a loss for another.

Limits of a single ROI figure

ROI does not show risk, and it does not show timing: two investments with the same ROI can have very different chances of losing money. For campaigns, revenue that would have come anyway, returns, and customers who come back later all change the true picture, so treat the platform-reported revenue with care. If you need to know when you recover your monthly costs, the break-even calculator gives that in units and sales, and the compound interest calculator shows what a steady yearly rate does over time.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate ROI?

Subtract the amount invested from what you got back, including income, then divide by the amount invested and multiply by 100. 20,000 that returns 27,000 in total gives (27,000 − 20,000) ÷ 20,000 = 35%.

What is the difference between ROI and annualised ROI?

ROI is the total return over the whole period. Annualised ROI is the steady yearly rate that gives the same result. 35% over 3 years is about 10.52% a year.

What is a good ROAS?

It depends on your margin. Break-even ROAS is 1 divided by your gross margin: a 50% margin breaks even at 2, a 25% margin at 4. A good ROAS is comfortably above your own break-even figure.

Can ROI be negative?

Yes. If you get back less than you put in, the gain is negative. Investing 10,000 and selling for 8,500 gives an ROI of −15%.

Should I include fees and taxes in an ROI calculator?

Include every fee you paid to buy, hold and sell, so the result is realistic. This calculator does not apply tax; if your gains are taxed, use the amount you keep after tax as the final value.

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