Calculate your return on investment (ROI), annualized ROI, and net profit from any investment. Works for real estate, marketing, stocks, business investments, and more.
Return on Investment
30%
$3,000.00 profit on $10,000.00 invested
Track ROI across all your business investments
StockPulse helps you monitor investment performance and ROI in real time.
Learn about StockPulseReturn on Investment (ROI) measures the profitability of an investment relative to its cost. It is the most universal metric for comparing different investment opportunities — whether you are evaluating a rental property, a marketing campaign, or a new piece of software.
The formula is: ROI = (Return Value - Investment) / Investment x 100. If you invest $10,000 and receive $13,000 back, your ROI is 30%. That means you earned $0.30 for every dollar invested.
Annualized ROI adjusts for time. A 30% return in 6 months is much better than a 30% return over 3 years. The annualized formula normalizes returns to a yearly rate so you can compare investments of different durations. A 30% return in 6 months equals approximately 69% annualized, while the same 30% over 36 months is only about 9.1% annualized.
The most common mistake in ROI calculations is forgetting costs. A real estate investment is not just the purchase price — it includes closing costs, renovations, ongoing maintenance, and property management. A marketing campaign is not just the ad spend — it includes creative production, tool subscriptions, and staff time. Always use the fully loaded cost for an honest ROI number.
Compare your ROI against benchmarks: the S&P 500 returns roughly 10% annually, a savings account yields 4-5%, and inflation runs at 2-3%. Any investment should meaningfully beat your next best alternative to justify the risk.
ROI benchmarks vary dramatically by investment type. Click any category below for a calculator pre-filled with typical defaults and actionable tips.
| Category | Low | Typical ROI | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | 2-5% | 8-12% | 15-25% |
| Marketing | 50-100% | 200-500% | 500-1000%+ |
| E-Commerce | 20-50% | 100-200% | 300-500% |
| Google Ads | 100-200% | 200-400% | 400-800% |
| SEO | 50-100% | 200-500% | 500-1200% |
| SaaS Tools | 50-100% | 200-500% | 500-1000%+ |
A "good" ROI depends entirely on the context. The S&P 500 averages about 10% per year, so any investment beating that is outperforming the stock market. In real estate, 8-12% annual ROI is considered solid. For marketing campaigns, a 5:1 return (500% ROI) is the standard benchmark. For a small business investment, anything above 15-25% annually is generally worth pursuing. The key comparison is always against your next best alternative — if your money could earn 10% in an index fund with zero effort, a business investment needs to significantly beat that to justify the risk and work.
The basic ROI formula is: ROI = ((Return Value - Investment Cost) / Investment Cost) x 100. For example, if you invest $10,000 and get back $13,000, your ROI is (($13,000 - $10,000) / $10,000) x 100 = 30%. To annualize ROI for comparing investments of different durations, use: Annualized ROI = ((1 + ROI)^(12/months) - 1) x 100. A 30% return over 6 months is equivalent to about 69% annualized, which is very different from a 30% return over 3 years (about 9.1% annualized).
ROI (Return on Investment) measures total profit relative to total cost: if you spend $1,000 and earn $3,000, your ROI is 200%. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) measures total revenue relative to ad spend: the same numbers give a 3:1 ROAS (or 300%). The key difference is that ROI subtracts the investment first (it measures profit), while ROAS does not (it measures revenue). A 3:1 ROAS means $3 revenue per $1 spent, but your profit is only $2 — so the ROI is 200%, not 300%. ROAS is more common in advertising; ROI is used for broader business decisions.