Free calculator · Plan ad spend
What will your ad budget bring in?
Pick your industry, put in your own ad cost, funnel and margin, and see what a month of ads brings in, and whether it makes or loses money.
What would change it
The same numbers with one thing improved, worked out live.
Full breakdown
Every number this calculator works out.
Compare scenarios
Save up to three versions and compare them side by side.
How this is calculated
- Clicks = ad spend ÷ cost per click. Enquiries = clicks × click to enquiry rate (or ad spend ÷ cost per enquiry).
- Qualified enquiries = enquiries × % that qualify. Discovery calls = qualified enquiries × % that reach a discovery call. Engagements signed = discovery calls × close rate.
- CAC = ad spend ÷ engagements signed. Cost per enquiry = ad spend ÷ enquiries.
- Value per client in year one = engagement value (one-time), or engagement value per month × months they stay (monthly; whole months, at least 1). Engagement value won = engagements signed × that.
- ROAS = engagement value won ÷ ad spend. Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin.
- Gross profit after ad spend = engagement value won × gross margin − ad spend.
- Most you can pay per client = value per client in year one × gross margin. Cost per qualified enquiry = ad spend ÷ qualified enquiries.
- Payback, in months: for a monthly engagement that runs more than a month = sales cycle (days ÷ 30) + CAC ÷ (engagement value per month × gross margin), as long as CAC ÷ (engagement value per month × gross margin) is no more than the months they stay in year one; when it is more, the client leaves before paying it back ("not within the months they pay"). For a one-time engagement (or one month) = the sales cycle when the engagement's gross profit is at least CAC, otherwise never. Time to revenue = the sales cycle.
- Pipeline value = discovery calls × value per client in year one.
Green, amber and red compare each result with the break-even your own numbers imply, never with an outside benchmark. Every starting number is an editable example, not an industry average.
Questions
About this calculator
There is no single good number. A ROAS is good when it is above your break-even ROAS, which is 1 ÷ your gross margin (after returns and other variable costs). A business with a 25% margin needs 4× just to break even; one with a 70% margin breaks even at about 1.4×. The calculator works this out from your own margin.
Cost per click is in your Google ads or Meta ads account (amount spent ÷ link clicks). Conversion rate is leads or orders ÷ clicks, from your website analytics or simply from counting enquiries for a month. If you do not have them, start with the example and replace each number as you learn it.
No. They are example numbers so the calculator is not empty, and the page says so. Replace them with your own; the result is only as good as the numbers you put in.
ROAS counts revenue, not profit. If your margin is thin, or returns, shipping and payment charges eat into it, a 2× or 3× ROAS can still lose money. Compare ROAS with the break-even ROAS shown next to it.
