ROAS, return on ad spend, is revenue attributed to ads divided by the ad spend that produced it. A ROAS of 4x means every ad dollar returned four dollars of revenue.
Revenue is not profit. The breakeven line in this calculator uses your gross margin to show the ROAS you need just to cover costs: breakeven ROAS equals 100 divided by gross margin percent. A business with 40% margins breaks even at 2.5x, so a 3x campaign is profitable and a 2x campaign loses money, even though both sound healthy.
The 412 Freelancers ROAS calculator also shows profit after ad spend when revenue, spend, and margin are all entered, which is the number the campaign should actually be judged on.
There is no universal good ROAS, because the number that matters is yours. At 30% margin you need 3.33x just to stand still, and a 4x campaign that looks great in the dashboard is clearing about 5 cents of profit per revenue dollar. A good ROAS is one comfortably above your own breakeven, not above someone else's screenshot.
Platform-reported ROAS counts every sale its ads touched, including sales that overlap with email, organic, and repeat purchases, so sanity-check platform ROAS against blended MER, total revenue divided by total ad spend, before scaling a number you cannot bank.
Above your breakeven ROAS, with room to spare. Breakeven is 1 divided by gross margin, so a 50% margin store breaks even at 2.0x while a 25% margin store needs 4.0x. Two stores with identical ROAS can be in opposite financial positions.
Divide 1 by your gross margin. A 40% gross margin gives 1 / 0.40 = 2.5x. Below that the ads lose money on first orders; above it they contribute profit. This calculator does it for you when you enter margin.
ROAS is revenue a platform attributes to its own ads divided by spend on those ads. MER, marketing efficiency ratio, is total revenue divided by total ad spend across everything. MER cannot be gamed by attribution, which is why it is the better scaling check.
Attribution overlap. Platform attribution counts every conversion its ad touched, including ones email or organic also touched, and includes view-through conversions. That is how attribution windows work, not an error. Refunds and discounts usually are not netted out either. Track contribution profit alongside dashboard revenue.