ROI Calculator
Measure return on investment as a percentage.
Optional — used to calculate annualized ROI.
Results update as you type.
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How it works
Return on investment is your gain or loss expressed as a percentage of what you originally put in, turning a raw dollar profit into a figure you can compare across deals of any size. That percentage matters because $3,000 of profit tells you little on its own — it is excellent on a $5,000 stake and mediocre on a $500,000 one — while a percentage puts every opportunity on the same footing. This roi calculator divides net profit by the initial investment, the standard definition used precisely because it is simple, universal and dimensionless, so a marketing campaign, a stock position and a rental property can all be ranked by the same number. When you supply a holding period, the roi calculator also reports annualized ROI, which restates the total return as an equivalent yearly rate so a 60% gain over three years can be compared fairly against a 25% gain over one. Business owners, marketers, investors and analysts use an roi calculator to justify spending, choose between projects and report performance to stakeholders. Keep in mind that ROI captures return only — it ignores risk, timing of cash flows and inflation — so pair it with those factors before committing capital.
ROI (%) = ((final − initial) ÷ initial) × 100
ROI subtracts the initial investment from the final value to isolate net profit, then divides by the initial investment so the gain is measured relative to what you risked. Multiplying by 100 turns the ratio into a percentage. Annualized ROI takes the ending-to-starting ratio and raises it to the power of one divided by the number of years, undoing compounding to reveal the steady yearly rate that would produce the same total result.
Source:Standard financial formula
We review all our tools from time to time to ensure accuracy.
Worked example
How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter your values
Enter initial investment and final value.
- 2
Adjust the options
Adjust holding period if they apply — sensible defaults are already set.
- 3
Read your result
ROI updates instantly as you type — no button to press.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ROI?
There is no universal figure — it depends on the asset class, the time frame and the risk taken. As a reference, the broad stock market has returned roughly 7–10% a year on average, so a long-term investment beating that is doing well. A marketing campaign might target several hundred percent. Always judge ROI against a comparable low-risk alternative and against inflation, which quietly erodes real returns.
What is the difference between ROI and annualized ROI?
Plain ROI is the total percentage gain over the entire holding period, regardless of how long that was. Annualized ROI compresses that total into an equivalent per-year rate, accounting for compounding. A 60% total return sounds large, but spread over three years it is about 17% a year. Use annualized ROI whenever you compare investments held for different lengths of time — otherwise the comparison is misleading.
Does ROI account for risk?
No. ROI measures return only and says nothing about the chance of loss or the volatility along the way. Two investments can show an identical ROI while one is a government bond and the other a speculative startup. Always read ROI alongside a risk measure — such as the range of possible outcomes or the asset's historical volatility — before deciding whether the return justifies the exposure.
Can I use this for marketing or business projects?
Yes. Enter the total cost of the initiative as the initial investment and the revenue or value it generated as the final value. The tool then reports the percentage return and net profit, which is exactly how marketers evaluate campaigns and how managers rank competing projects. For campaigns measured on ad spend specifically, a dedicated ROAS calculation isolates revenue per advertising dollar.
How is annualized ROI calculated?
It takes the ratio of the final value to the initial value, raises that ratio to the power of one divided by the number of years, and subtracts one. This reverses the effect of compounding to find the constant yearly rate that would grow the initial amount to the final amount over the period. It requires a holding period, which is why the field is optional but needed for that result.