What's a Good ROAS for Facebook Ads? (2026 Benchmarks by Industry)

Is your 2.8x ROAS good or terrible? It depends on your industry, campaign type, and product price. Without benchmarks, you're flying blind—killing profitable campaigns because you think 3x is "bad," or scaling into losses because you expect 10x when your niche averages 2x.

Ecommerce marketers constantly ask: What's a good ROAS for Facebook ads? Most articles answer with vague "2–4x is good" advice. That's useless. A 3x ROAS can be wildly profitable for a high-margin jewelry brand and a money-loser for a low-AOV fashion store. In this guide, we'll give you 2026 industry-specific benchmarks, a breakeven ROAS calculator you can use today, and clear rules for when your ROAS is actually good—or when it's hiding a problem.

What Is ROAS? (Quick Refresher)

ROAS = Return on Ad Spend = Revenue from ads ÷ Ad spend.

If you spend $1,000 on Facebook ads and generate $3,000 in sales, your ROAS is 3.0x (or 300%). Simple. But ROAS alone doesn't tell you if you're profitable. Two brands can both have 3x ROAS—one is printing money, the other losing it. The difference? Profit margins.

• Brand A: 70% gross margin. At 3x ROAS, they keep ~$1,100 profit after ad spend. Great.
• Brand B: 30% gross margin. At 3x ROAS, they keep ~$0 after ad spend. Break-even at best; often a loss once you include returns, shipping, and overhead.

ROAS measures efficiency, not profitability. Use it to compare campaigns and optimize, but always layer in your COGS, fulfillment, and target margin to know your true breakeven ROAS. We'll show you how below.

2026 Facebook Ads ROAS Benchmarks by Industry

Here are good ROAS ranges for Facebook ads in 2026, based on aggregated ecommerce data (Shopify, Meta, and industry benchmarks). These are typical ranges for established brands; newer brands or heavy testing phases often sit at the low end or below.

If you're at or above the top of your range, you're likely in great shape—assuming you're not retargeting-only or on a tiny budget (more on that below). If you're below the bottom, it's worth digging into creative, offers, landing pages, and attribution setup; iOS underreporting can make your ROAS look 20–40% worse than reality.

How ROAS Varies by Campaign Type

Never judge prospecting and retargeting by the same ROAS standard. Cold audiences cost more to convert; warm audiences convert cheaper. Blending them into one "account ROAS" hides what's actually working.

• Prospecting (cold traffic): 1.5x – 2.5x ROAS is typical. You're paying for awareness and first-time buyers.
• Retargeting (warm traffic): 4x – 8x ROAS is expected. These people already know you.
• Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) / Catalog Sales: 2.5x – 6.0x depending on mix of prospecting vs retargeting.

If your prospecting ROAS is 2.0x and your retargeting is 6x, that's healthy. If your only campaigns are retargeting and you're at 8x, you might be leaving growth on the table—you're not scaling reach.

ROAS by Product Price Point

AOV (average order value) heavily influences what "good" ROAS looks like. Lower AOV usually means you need higher ROAS to stay profitable, because ad cost per sale is a bigger slice of revenue.

• Under $50 (low AOV): You often need 4.0x+ ROAS to be profitable. CPAs eat a large % of revenue.
• $50 – $200 (mid AOV): 2.5x – 3.5x ROAS is often solid. Sweet spot for many DTC brands.
• $200+ (high AOV): 1.8x – 2.5x ROAS can be excellent. Lower relative ad cost per order.

A luxury brand at 2.2x ROAS might be crushing it; a $30 accessory brand at 2.2x might be bleeding. Always tie ROAS back to your unit economics.

Calculate YOUR Target ROAS (Calculator Framework)

Your breakeven ROAS is the ROAS at which you make $0 profit (and $0 loss) from ads. Above that, you're profitable; below it, you're losing money. Use this framework:

Why Your ROAS Might Be "Low" (And That's OK)

• New brand: Cold audiences cost more. Early ROAS is often 1.5–2x. You're buying data and awareness.
• Testing phase: 1.5–2.0x ROAS while testing creatives, audiences, or offers is normal. You're investing in learning.
• High-LTV products: Subscriptions or repeat buyers can justify lower first-purchase ROAS. LTV ROAS matters more.
• Brand-building / awareness: Top-of-funnel campaigns at 1.0–1.5x ROAS can be fine if they feed retargeting and organic.
• Market expansion: New geos or audiences usually mean a temporary ROAS dip.

If you're in one of these situations, "low" ROAS doesn't automatically mean "bad strategy."

When "Good" ROAS Is Actually Bad

• Retargeting-only at 8x ROAS: Looks great, but you're not scaling. Audience is small; growth is capped.
• 5x ROAS on $500/month: Not statistically meaningful. Hard to scale; variance is huge.
• 1-day click attribution: Short windows inflate ROAS. Use 7-day click (or view+click) for a clearer picture.
• Wrong revenue math: Excluding discounts, refunds, or shipping distorts ROAS. Use net revenue.
• Ignoring LTV: 2x first-purchase ROAS can be 6–8x over 12 months with subscriptions or repeat purchases. Don't optimize only for first-touch ROAS if LTV is high.

How to Improve Your ROAS

• Creative refresh: Creative fatigue tanks performance. New angles, formats, and hooks can lift ROAS.
• Audience optimization: Exclude poor converters, test new lookalikes and interests, refine targeting.
• Offers: Test discount depth, free shipping, bundles. Small offer changes often move ROAS meaningfully.
• Landing page: Better conversion rate = better ROAS. Speed, clarity, and trust matter.
• AOV: Upsells, bundles, and thresholds improve unit economics and effective ROAS.
• Competitor research: See what's working for others. Use our free competitor ad tool to spy on winning creative and angles.

ROAS vs Other Key Metrics

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Better when you care about cost per customer (e.g. subscriptions).
• LTV : CAC: Gold standard for subscription and repeat-purchase models. ROAS is a proxy; LTV:CAC is the full picture.
• Contribution margin: Revenue minus variable costs (COGS, fulfillment, ads). More accurate than ROAS for profitability.
• MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio): Total revenue ÷ total marketing spend (blended). Useful when you run paid + organic and want one efficiency number.

Use ROAS for campaign-level optimization and benchmarking. Use LTV:CAC and contribution margin for business-level decisions.

Common ROAS Mistakes to Avoid

1. Comparing prospecting ROAS to "industry blended" benchmarks that include retargeting.
2. Ignoring attribution loss: iOS underreporting makes ROAS look worse. Fix attribution first.
3. Excluding refunds/returns from revenue when calculating ROAS.
4. Setting unrealistic ROAS targets that block scaling (e.g. demanding 6x on cold traffic).
5. Chasing ROAS over profit and leaving money on the table.

Benchmark Comparison Table

Use this as a starting point. Your breakeven ROAS from the calculator above should override generic ranges.

Key Takeaways

1. There’s no universal "good" ROAS—it depends on industry, campaign type, AOV, and your margins. Use benchmarks as direction, not law.

2. Prospecting 1.5–2.5x, retargeting 4–8x is normal. Don’t compare cold to warm or judge blended ROAS without splitting them.

3. Calculate your breakeven ROAS with: 1 ÷ (1 − COGS% − OpEx% − profit%). Aim above that for a safety margin.

4. Low ROAS can be OK when testing, launching, expanding, or building brand. High ROAS can be misleading if it’s retargeting-only or tiny spend.

5. Improve ROAS with creative refreshes, audience and offer testing, landing page optimization, and competitor research.

6. iOS attribution often underreports ROAS by 20–40%. Fix attribution before over-optimizing on reported numbers.

7. Optimize for profit, not just ROAS. Scale campaigns that drive the most profit dollars, not just the highest ROAS.