Free ROI Calculator (Return on Investment)

Investment Details

Currency Symbol

Initial Investment Amount

Final Value / Total Revenue Returned

Investment Length (Optional)

ROI Results

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

0.00%

Net Profit $0.00

Annualized ROI 0.00%

How to use the ROI Calculator

Enter the amount invested and the total amount returned, or the current value.

Add the holding period in months or years if you want the annualised figure as well.

Read the net profit, the ROI percentage and the annualised return, and copy the breakdown if you need it in a document.

When to use it

ROI is the one figure that lets you compare unlike things: a new espresso machine against a marketing campaign, a training course against a piece of software. Use it before a purchase to set a target, and after to check whether the target was met. For campaigns, treat the spend as the investment and the gross profit on the sales it produced as the return.

The formulas

Net profit = final value − initial investment. ROI = net profit ÷ initial investment × 100. Annualised ROI = ((final ÷ initial) ^ (1 ÷ years) − 1) × 100, where a length entered in months is divided by 12 first; if no length is given the calculator treats the period as one year, so the annualised figure equals the simple one. The annualised formula is a compound rate, the same one used for a savings account: it answers "what yearly rate, compounded, turns the initial amount into the final amount over this period".

Worked example

A café spends $6,000 on a second espresso machine and, over 18 months, attributes $8,400 of gross profit to the extra capacity. Net profit is $2,400 and ROI is 40%. Annualised over 1.5 years: (8,400 ÷ 6,000) ^ (1 ÷ 1.5) − 1 = 1.4 ^ 0.667 − 1 = 25.1% a year. A marketing campaign that turned $2,000 into $2,600 of gross profit in three months shows the same 30% simple ROI as a three-year investment with the same figures, but annualised the campaign is 185% and the three-year investment 9.1%. Only the annualised column tells them apart.

Common mistakes

Entering revenue as the return. Sales of $8,400 that cost $5,000 in beans and milk are $3,400 of return, not $8,400. Use gross profit, or the cash that actually came back, as the final value.

Leaving costs out of the investment. Installation, training, the month of lower output while staff learned the machine: all part of the initial figure.

Comparing simple ROIs over different periods. Always compare the annualised figures when the lengths differ.

Reading a positive ROI as "worth it". A 4% annualised return on a risky project is worse than leaving the money in the bank; ROI has no opinion about risk.

When this calculator is the wrong tool

It handles one lump in and one lump out. Investments with cash flows spread over time, such as monthly software costs against monthly savings, need a payback-period or NPV calculation, which is not this page. For a recurring operation rather than a one-off investment, the Break-Even Point Calculator asks the better question: how much must it sell before it pays for itself each month.

Good to know

A simple ROI ignores time, which is why a 20% return over six months and over three years look identical until you annualise them. It also ignores risk and the effort involved, so use it as a comparison tool rather than a verdict.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I calculate ROI (return on investment)?

Enter your investment amount and return amount into the ROI Calculator — it instantly shows your net profit, ROI percentage, and, if you enter a time period, your annualized ROI.

What is the ROI formula?

ROI = (Net Profit ÷ Investment Cost) × 100. The calculator applies this automatically and also breaks out annualized ROI for multi-year investments.

Can I use this to evaluate a marketing campaign's return, not just a financial investment?

Yes — it works for any scenario where you can express a cost and a resulting return, including marketing campaigns and business investments.