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Break-even CPA Calculator
Find the most you can spend to win a customer and still break even.
Your numbers
Price and per-order costs — results update instantly.
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Avg per order
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Break-even CPA
58.5% margin$29.24
the most you can pay to win an orderTarget CPA
$21.24
leaves your target profitContribution / order
$29.24
before ad spendFlag every campaign above break-even
Connect your ad accounts and store and the Captain compares live CPA to your break-even, campaign by campaign.
How it’s calculated
Break-even CPA = Selling price − all variable costs per order (product + shipping + payment fee + returns)
Target CPA subtracts the profit you want to keep: Break-even CPA − target profit per order.
Worked example
- Selling price
- $49.99
- Variable costs / order
- $20.75
- Target profit / order
- $8.00
- Result
- Break-even CPA = 49.99 − 20.75 = $29.24
You can pay up to $29.24 to win an order; to keep $8 profit, cap CPA at $21.24.
What your result means
Break-even CPA is the most you can pay to acquire a customer before the order stops making money. Spend less and you profit; more and you lose. It's the number to hold your Meta and Google CPA against — and it rises as your margin does.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out variable costs beyond product cost (shipping, payment fees, returns) — they shrink the real ceiling.
- Comparing CPA to revenue instead of contribution — a $30 CPA on a $50 order can still lose money.
- Using one break-even CPA across products with very different margins.
Learn how it works
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Frequently asked questions
Break-even CPA vs. target CPA?
Break-even CPA is where an order makes $0 profit; target CPA is lower — it leaves the profit per order you actually want to keep.
Is CPA the same as CAC?
Closely related. CPA is usually the cost to acquire one order or conversion; CAC is the cost to acquire a customer who may buy again. For a first order they're often used interchangeably.
Last reviewed 31 Jul 2026 · reviewed by the Dash Captain team.