ROI Calculator
Return on investment for a project, marketing campaign, or business outlay — simple and annualized.
Result
- Net profit$3,500.00
- Annualized ROI(gain/cost)^(1/years) − 135.00%
- Revenue : cost ratiomarketing "ROAS" framing1.35 : 1
- Tax (0% of profit)$0.00
- After-tax profit$3,500.00
- After-tax ROI35.0%
- Doubling time at this rateRule of 72 cross-check: 2.1 yr2.3 years
How to use this calculator
- Enter the total cost or investment — include all-in spend, not just the headline price.
- Enter the total gain or final value — gross revenue, sale price, or appreciated value.
- Set the time period (in years). Use fractions: 0.5 = six months; 0.0833 = one month.
- Optionally enter a tax rate on profit to see after-tax ROI.
About this tool
Return on Investment (ROI) is the most common single-number measure of whether something was worth doing: profit divided by what it cost you, expressed as a percent. It applies anywhere money is committed and returned — a marketing campaign, a piece of equipment, a renovation, a stock trade, a business unit. This calculator gives both the headline ROI and the annualized ROI (which lets you compare investments of different durations on the same basis) plus a tax-adjusted variant and the implied doubling time at that rate of return. For investments with uneven cash flows across multiple periods, IRR or NPV is the right tool; for the simple "did this make money and how much?" question, ROI is exactly the number you want.
What this calculator does
Calculates Return on Investment for any cost-and-return scenario: project, marketing campaign, equipment purchase, business unit, or one-off investment. Returns simple ROI (profit ÷ cost), annualized ROI (apples-to-apples across durations), revenue-to-cost ratio (the ROAS framing used in marketing), and an optional tax-adjusted ROI when a tax rate is provided. Also shows the implied doubling time and a benchmark comparison panel.
How it works — the formula
Simple ROI = (Gain − Cost) / Cost × 100
Annualized ROI = ((Gain / Cost)^(1 / years) − 1) × 100
Revenue : Cost = Gain / Cost (ROAS framing)
After-tax ROI = (Profit × (1 − taxRate)) / Cost × 100
Doubling time = ln(2) / ln(1 + annualROI)Simple ROI ignores duration — useful for one-shot questions but misleading when comparing investments held over different time periods. Annualized ROI corrects for that by treating the gain as compound growth over the holding period, which is the apples-to-apples figure analysts use when ranking opportunities. The doubling time follows directly from the annualized rate via the compound-growth formula and matches the Rule-of-72 shortcut within ~1% at rates between 5% and 15%.
Worked examples
- Inputs:
- cost = $10,000, gain = $13,500, years = 1
- Output:
- Net profit $3,500; ROI = 35%; annualized = 35% (years=1); ROAS = 1.35 : 1
35% in a year beats almost any passive benchmark, but a 1.35 : 1 ROAS would be marginal once you back out cost of goods sold from gross revenue.
- Inputs:
- cost = $50,000, gain = $80,000, years = 5
- Output:
- Net profit $30,000; ROI = 60%; annualized = (80/50)^(1/5) − 1 ≈ 9.86%/yr
A 60% headline ROI compresses to a ~10% annualized return over 5 years — about the long-run S&P 500 average, which makes it merely market-rate rather than exceptional.
- Inputs:
- cost = $20,000, gain = $25,000, years = 0.5, tax = 25%
- Output:
- Net profit $5,000; ROI = 25%; annualized = (25/20)^(1/0.5) − 1 = 56.25%; after-tax profit $3,750 → after-tax ROI 18.75%
The annualized figure is double the simple ROI because the period is half a year — a key reason simple ROI is misleading on short-duration investments.
When to use this vs other tools
ROI is the right tool for simple cost-and-return scenarios. For multi-period investments with regular cash flows, the sibling tools below are more accurate.
- Investment Return Calculator
You held a security or fund and want CAGR with fee drag and stock/bond/inflation benchmarks built in.
- Compound Interest Calculator
You are projecting forward — given a starting amount, rate, and contribution schedule, what is the future value?
- Inflation Calculator
You want to convert nominal ROI into a real (purchasing-power) ROI by subtracting the CPI inflation rate over the same period.
- Savings Goal Calculator
You have a target dollar amount and need to back-calculate the monthly contribution and rate required to hit it.
Authority note
The SEC publishes consumer-facing guidance on calculating investment returns at investor.gov. For professional reporting standards, the CFA Institute GIPS 2020 standards require time-weighted return reporting and disclosure of fees, currency, and benchmark — the same principles that underlie this calculator's separate "after-fees" and "annualized" figures.
Limitations
- Simple ROI does not adjust for the time value of money, risk, or opportunity cost. For capital-budgeting decisions, NPV or IRR is more rigorous.
- ROI works only for single cost-and-return pairs. For projects with multiple cash flows in and out across time, use IRR (rate that makes NPV = 0).
- Marketing ROAS conflates gross revenue with profit. A 4:1 ROAS at 25% gross margin is actually break-even, not a 300% return.
- Annualized ROI assumes constant compound growth — fine for the headline figure but masks year-to-year volatility, which matters for risk assessment.
- Inflation, taxes, transaction costs, and fees can flip a positive nominal ROI into a negative real after-tax-after-fee ROI. Always check what is included in the numbers you compare.
ROI calculations are illustrative. This calculator does not provide financial, tax, or investment advice. Past returns do not predict future results; consult a CFA, CPA, or registered investment advisor for material decisions.