Meta ads break-even CPA & ROAS calculator.

How the calculation works

Break-even CPA = order revenue after discounts − product cost − shipping and fulfillment subsidy − payment and variable fees − expected returns and refunds cost.

Target CPA subtracts your required profit from that contribution. Break-even ROAS divides order revenue by break-even CPA. Target ROAS divides order revenue by target CPA.

In the example, $100 in revenue minus $45 in product cost, $10 in fulfillment, $3 in fees, and $5 in returns allowance leaves $37 before advertising. Keeping $10 in profit leaves a $27 target CPA. That corresponds to approximately 2.70× break-even ROAS and 3.70× target ROAS.

Which costs belong in the inputs?

Use a consistent basis: exclude sales tax collected for remittance, and use revenue after discounts. Enter shipping costs net of shipping revenue from the customer. Include expected refund losses only once: if your revenue already nets out refunds, do not subtract the same refund again. Include overhead or management-cost allocation in your required contribution if you need to recover it on the first order.

How to use this with Meta cost caps

The calculation gives you a business constraint. It does not establish the price at which your ads can acquire customers. Compare it with a representative recent CPA, conversion delay, and the new-customer mix. If observed acquisition cost is above what the business can support, reducing a bid target does not repair the offer.

Read the cost-cap guide and the account audit checklist before changing an account.

What about SaaS and repeat purchases?

This calculator uses first-order ecommerce economics. It does not estimate lifetime value, retention, SaaS payback, or incremental lift. Those need separate cohort data. Do not insert an optimistic lifetime value into the order revenue field and treat the output as a safe first-order CPA.