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POAS Calculator

Profit left for every unit of ad spend, after COGS or variable costs and the advertising itself are taken out.

✓ Recalculates as you type✓ The formula is printed on the page✓ Your figures never leave the tab

Campaign profit

Use one period and one currency throughout. Include only costs attributable to the revenue entered.

Ad spend currencyRevenue attributed currency

COGS / variable costs currency

Method

The arithmetic

Profit on ad spend, or POAS, replaces the revenue in ROAS with the profit left after direct campaign costs. First subtract COGS or variable costs and ad spend from attributed revenue. Then divide that profit — positive, zero, or negative — by ad spend. The result answers how much campaign profit remains for each unit spent on advertising. ROAS stops one step earlier and divides revenue by ad spend, so it can rise while profit falls if costs move.

profit = revenue − COGS / variable costs − ad spend · POAS = profit ÷ ad spend · ROAS = revenue ÷ ad spend

Worked example

One run through the numbers

A campaign with 16,000 of attributed revenue, 8,000 of COGS and variable costs, and 4,000 of ad spend leaves 4,000 of profit. POAS is therefore 1.0: each 1 spent on ads leaves 1 of campaign profit. ROAS is 4.0 because it uses the full 16,000 of revenue instead. Break-even revenue is 12,000, where profit is zero and break-even POAS is 0.0.

Swap in your own figures — the result recalculates as you type.

Before you act on this

Where this number misleads

POAS and ROAS answer different questions. ROAS shows revenue generated per unit of ad spend; POAS shows profit after the entered direct costs. The ROAS calculator is useful when revenue is the available measure, but it cannot establish profitability by itself.
The cost field should follow the revenue field. If attributed revenue is net of refunds, use the costs attached to those retained orders. If revenue includes refunded orders but costs do not, the resulting profit is overstated before the division even begins.
POAS can be negative. A result below zero means attributed revenue did not cover the entered COGS or variable costs plus ad spend. Preserving that negative number is more informative than replacing it with zero.
Break-even POAS is always zero because break-even means there is no profit left in the numerator. If you know a gross margin but not the campaign's direct cost total, use the break-even ROAS calculator to turn that margin into the revenue threshold instead.
This is campaign profit, not company-wide net profit. Salaries, rent, software, creative production, agency fees, tax, and other overhead remain outside the result unless you deliberately include an attributable amount in variable costs.

Asked often

POAS Calculator: questions that come up

What is POAS?

POAS means profit on ad spend. It divides the profit attributed to a campaign by that campaign's ad spend. In this calculator, profit is attributed revenue minus COGS or variable costs minus ad spend.

What is the difference between ROAS and POAS?

ROAS divides revenue by ad spend; POAS divides profit by ad spend. With 16,000 of revenue and 4,000 of spend, ROAS is 4.0 before any product cost is considered. POAS subtracts those direct costs first, so it answers the profitability question ROAS leaves open.

What is break-even POAS?

Break-even POAS is 0.0. At break-even, profit is zero, and zero divided by ad spend remains zero. The useful companion figure is break-even revenue: ad spend plus the COGS or variable costs entered.

Should ad spend also go in variable costs?

No. Enter media spend once in the ad spend field. The separate cost field is for COGS and other variable costs tied to the attributed revenue; adding media there as well would subtract it twice.

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