How ROI is calculated
Return on investment compares profit with cost:
ROI = (gain - cost) / cost x 100
A worked example: a quarter of paid campaigns costs $50,000 in ad spend plus $10,000 in agency fees and tools, so total cost is $60,000. Those campaigns generate $150,000 in revenue at a 60% gross margin, which is $90,000 in gross profit. ROI is (90,000 - 60,000) / 60,000 x 100 = 50%.
The same campaigns have a ROAS of 150,000 / 50,000 = 3x. Both numbers describe the same spend from different angles.
ROI versus ROAS
ROAS is a media metric: revenue per unit of ad spend. ROI is a business metric: profit per unit of total cost. The difference matters most for apps with thin margins. An e-commerce app with a 25% margin needs a 4x ROAS just to cover its ad spend:
break-even ROAS = 1 / gross margin
So a 3x ROAS looks healthy on a dashboard but loses money at a 25% margin. A subscription app with an 85% margin breaks even near 1.2x ROAS. Know your break-even ROAS before you set campaign targets.
Time horizon
ROI depends on when you measure. A cohort acquired today keeps generating revenue for months, so D7 ROI may be negative while D180 ROI is strongly positive. Teams usually set an early proxy target, such as D7 or D30 ROAS, that historically predicts a positive ROI at their payback horizon. That is the link between ROI, ROAS and the payback period.
Getting the inputs right
ROI is only as good as the revenue you attribute to each campaign. Over-credit one channel and its ROI looks better than it is; miss conversions and good campaigns look unprofitable. Linkrunner connects spend synced from Meta, Google and Apple Ads with attributed installs and in-app revenue, reporting ROAS by campaign, ad set, creative and keyword. Apply your margin and non-media costs to that to get ROI. The ROAS calculator is a quick way to check break-even targets.