Social Media Ad Budget Calculator
Allocate your ad budget across platforms and forecast daily spend, conversions, and break-even.
Results
Visualization
How It Works
Setting a social media ad budget requires balancing your target cost per acquisition (CPA) against your ROAS goals and working backward from revenue targets. This calculator projects how many conversions and how much revenue your budget should generate, given your conversion rate and AOV, and suggests a starting allocation across Meta, Google, and TikTok.
The Formula
Variables
- CPA — Cost per acquisition — how much you pay per customer
- ROAS — Revenue generated per dollar of ad spend
- CVR — Website conversion rate for paid traffic
- CPC — Cost per click — implied by budget and expected visitors
- AOV — Average order value per purchase
Worked Example
You have a $3,000 monthly budget with a target CPA of $30 and an AOV of $75. Expected conversions = $3,000 / $30 = 100 orders. Expected revenue = 100 × $75 = $7,500. ROAS = $7,500 / $3,000 = 2.5x. Daily budget = $3,000 / 30.4 = $98.68. Suggested split: $1,500 Meta, $900 Google, $600 TikTok.
Practical Tips
- Start with Meta (Facebook/Instagram) as your primary channel for most e-commerce niches — it has the most purchase data and targeting options.
- Never set daily budgets below $20-30 per ad set — algorithms need spend data to optimize, and low budgets starve the learning phase.
- Google Shopping ads are highest-intent and should be a priority for stores selling products people actively search for.
- TikTok works best for products that are demonstrable, visual, or solve a visible problem — strong creative is required.
- Reallocate budget monthly based on actual ROAS per channel — shift budget toward your best performers every 30 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I spend on ads when starting out?
For testing, allocate at minimum $500-$1,000 per month per platform to gather statistically meaningful data. Many experts recommend a minimum of $50/day for Meta ads to exit the learning phase quickly. Below this, the algorithm lacks data to optimize effectively.
What is a realistic CPA for a new e-commerce store?
CPA varies widely by niche, product price, and audience. For products under $50, CPAs of $15-$30 are achievable. For products $50-$150, target $25-$60. For higher-priced items, CPA can be $50-$150+ but is justified by higher AOV. Always compare CPA against your gross profit per order.
How do I allocate budget between prospecting and retargeting?
A common starting point is 70% prospecting (new audience acquisition) and 30% retargeting (past visitors and purchasers). As your pixel matures and retargeting audiences grow, you can shift more budget to retargeting, which typically converts at 2-3x the rate of cold prospecting.
Should I use campaign budget optimization (CBO) or ad set budget optimization (ABO)?
For beginners, ABO (ad set level budgets) gives more control and predictability. CBO (campaign budget optimization) works well once you have established ad sets with proven performance — Meta dynamically shifts budget to top performers. Most experienced advertisers use a mix of both.
How long should I run a test before evaluating performance?
Meta recommends allowing new campaigns at least 50 conversions before evaluating — this typically takes 1-2 weeks at moderate spend. For Google, allow 2-4 weeks minimum. Evaluating too early leads to premature decisions based on statistical noise. Set a fixed evaluation cadence and stick to it.