Side Hustle

Shopify Break-Even Calculator

Find exactly how many orders your Shopify store needs to cover all costs and reach profitability — with ROAS scenarios.

Average Order Value ($)

COGS as % of Sale Cost of goods sold as % of order value

Shopify Plan Transaction fee applies only if NOT using Shopify Payments

Payment Processing

Monthly Fixed Costs ($) Apps, employees, email tools, domain, etc.

Monthly Ad Budget ($) Total Facebook, Google, TikTok ad spend

Current ROAS Revenue generated per $1 of ad spend

Gross Margin / Order

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Total Fixed Costs/Mo

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Break-Even Orders/Mo

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Break-Even Revenue

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Current Monthly P/L

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Orders from Ads/Mo

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How to Calculate Shopify Store Break-Even

Your Shopify store has both fixed and variable costs. Break-even is reached when your gross profit per order covers all fixed monthly costs. The challenge: ad spend is fixed upfront, but revenue depends on ROAS.

Gross Margin/Order = AOV × (1 − COGS%) − Processing Fee − Transaction Fee
Total Fixed Costs = Shopify Plan + Other Fixed Costs + Ad Budget
Break-Even Orders = Total Fixed Costs ÷ Gross Margin/Order
Ad Revenue = Ad Budget × ROAS
Monthly Orders from Ads = Ad Revenue ÷ AOV

What ROAS do I need to be profitable on Shopify?

Your break-even ROAS depends on your gross margin. For a store with 50% gross margin after COGS and processing fees, your break-even ROAS is roughly 1 ÷ 0.50 = 2.0x — meaning you must generate $2 of revenue for every $1 of ad spend just to cover product costs. Add fixed costs (Shopify plan, apps) and you typically need 2.5–3.5x ROAS to be meaningfully profitable. Stores targeting 20%+ net margin should aim for 4x+ ROAS.

Which Shopify plan should I start on?

Start on Basic ($29/mo) if you're under $5,000/month revenue. The 2% third-party transaction fee only applies if you use an external payment processor — using Shopify Payments eliminates it. Upgrade to the Shopify plan ($79/mo) when your transaction fee savings exceed $50/month, which happens around $5,000+ in monthly revenue with a third-party processor, or when the added staff accounts and reports are worth it to you.