Free ROI Calculator (+ Guide)

What is an ROI calculator?

An ROI calculator works out the return on an investment as a percentage of what you paid.

This one adds the income it paid you, and turns the return into a yearly rate when you add the years.

How it works

The calculator works it out on your device, and your numbers stay there.

ROI and the yearly rate

ROI is (what it's worth now + income − what you paid) ÷ what you paid. A $10,000 buy worth $14,000, with $600 of income, is a 46% return.

The yearly rate is the steady return that gets the same result: 1.46 to the power of 1 ÷ 3, minus 1, is about 13.4% a year over 3 years.

It's the same math as compound interest, run backward.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads: $10,000 paid, worth $14,000 now, $600 of income along the way, held for 3 years.

The gain is $4,600, an ROI of 46%, about 13.4% a year, and $1.46 back for each dollar.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the slips that come up most.

• Comparing returns over different lengths of time without the yearly rate
• Leaving fees, commissions and taxes out of what you paid
• Forgetting the income an investment paid along the way
• Reading a return as profit before inflation takes its share

Who is the ROI calculator for?

It's for anyone judging an investment, a course or a business spend, and these tools help around it.

• CAGR calculator – for growth between 2 values
• Compound interest calculator – for growth at any rate
• Profit margin calculator – for the margin on a sale
• Markup calculator – for pricing over cost

Run the numbers before the next buy, then come back after to see what it really returned.