ROI Calculator — Return on Investment, Net Gain and Annualised Return

How to use the ROI calculator

1. Enter the Total cost (investment or campaign spend), including fees and other costs.
2. Enter the Revenue or value returned: what you sold for, or the revenue the project brought in.
3. Optionally enter the Period in years to get an annualised figure.
4. Choose your Currency.
5. Read the ROI, Net return, Return multiple and, if you gave a period, the annualised return.

What it does and when to use it

Return on investment answers a simple question: for every unit of money put in, how much came back? Because it is a percentage, it lets you compare things of very different sizes, such as two ad campaigns, a new machine against extra staff, or an investment you have already sold.

Common uses:

• Marketing. Compare campaign spend with the revenue it brought in.
• Equipment and software. Check whether a purchase paid for itself.
• Investments. Work out the return on something you bought and sold.
• Projects. Rank proposals by expected return before committing money.

For pricing decisions, see the Markup & Margin Calculator. To find how many sales you need before a project starts paying back, use the Break-Even Calculator. For growth between two values over several years, try the CAGR Calculator.

How it works

With total cost C, value returned V and period n years:

• Net return = V − C
• ROI = (V − C) ÷ C × 100
• Return multiple = V ÷ C
• Annualised ROI = (V ÷ C)^(1 ÷ n) − 1, shown as a percentage

The annualised figure assumes the return built up at a steady compound rate over the period. It is only shown when you enter a period above zero. The calculation runs in your browser.

Worked examples

A marketing campaign. Spend $5,000, bring in $8,000. The net return is $3,000, the return multiple is 1.6× and ROI: 60%.

The same result over two years. If that $8,000 took two years, the annualised ROI is 26.49%, because 1.2649 × 1.2649 ≈ 1.6.

A loss. Spend $2,000 and get $1,500 back. ROI is −25% and the net return is −$500.00.

An investment held three years. Put in ₹2,00,000 and sell for ₹3,50,000. ROI is 75%, the net return is ₹1,50,000, and the annualised ROI is 20.51% a year.

Limits and tips

• ROI uses the figures you enter. It does not know about taxes, inflation or risk.
• Revenue is not profit. For a marketing campaign, using profit from the extra sales instead of revenue gives a more honest result.
• For money that goes in and out at different times, such as regular deposits, a simple ROI can mislead. An internal rate of return method handles that better.