ROAS vs ROI
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend; ROI is profit divided by total cost. A 4x ROAS on a 25 percent margin product is a zero ROI, because the $4 of revenue per $1 of media contains only $1 of margin, all of which the media consumed. ROAS is the operational metric platforms report; ROI is what the business needs, and it requires margin and non-media costs the platforms never see.
| ROAS | ROI | |
|---|---|---|
| Formula | Attributed revenue / ad spend | (Profit minus cost) / cost |
| Includes margin | No | Yes |
| Includes fees, creative, people | No | Yes |
| Source | Ad platform or analytics | Finance |
| Use | Optimization within a channel | Investment decisions |
Terms in this comparison
Cite this page:
Agency Echelon. "ROAS vs ROI." Agency Echelon Reference, reviewed September 2026. https://agencyechelon.com/reference/compare/roas-vs-roi/