Business ROI Calculator
Was that campaign, hire or piece of equipment worth it? Enter what you spent and what it returned to see your ROI — and the annualised rate if it played out over more than a year.
Understanding return on investment (ROI)
Return on investment is the simplest way to judge whether money you put into something came back with a profit. Almost any business spend can be measured the same way — a marketing campaign, a new hire, a piece of equipment, a software subscription or a training course. You ask two questions: what did it cost, and what did it return? ROI turns the answer into a single percentage you can compare across completely different decisions.
The strength of ROI is that it is universal and easy to explain. The weakness is that, on its own, it ignores time — a 40% return earned in one year is far better than the same 40% earned over five. That is why this calculator also works out the annualised return when you enter a time period, so a quick win and a slow burner can be compared fairly.
The formula
ROI (%) = (Net profit ÷ Amount invested) × 100. The ‘net profit’ is the money you got back above what you spent — the gain, not the total revenue. Annualised ROI smooths that return into a per-year rate using the number of years the investment ran.
Worked example
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Amount invested | $10,000 |
| Net profit returned | $4,000 |
| ROI | 40% |
| Time period | 2 years |
| Annualised ROI | ~18.3% a year |
When to use it
- Judging whether a marketing campaign paid for itself.
- Comparing two opportunities competing for the same budget.
- Deciding if a new hire, tool or piece of equipment earned its keep.
- Evaluating a course, certification or other investment in skills.
Assumptions & what’s not included
- It uses the net gain you enter — enter profit, not revenue, or the result will be overstated.
- Annualised ROI assumes the return compounds steadily over the period.
- It does not adjust for risk, or for the timing of cash flows within the period (for that, use an NPV or IRR calculation).
- Tax on the gain is not included.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate ROI?
Return on investment is net profit divided by the amount invested, times 100. If you spent 10,000 and it returned 4,000 in profit, that is a 40 percent ROI.
What is annualised ROI and why does it matter?
Annualised ROI smooths the return into a per-year rate, so you can fairly compare a project that ran for six months against one that ran for three years. A 40 percent return over two years is only about 18 percent a year.
What should I enter as the return?
Enter the net profit or gain — the money you got back above what you spent — not the total revenue. If a 10,000 campaign generated 14,000 in profit, the net gain to enter is 4,000.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, stored or shared, and there is no sign-up.