PPC Budget Calculator: Clicks, Leads, Cost per Lead and ROAS

PPC Budget Lab is a free planning calculator built and maintained by the PPC Ads Agency team. We use the same arithmetic in every client proposal before we recommend a budget, and we publish it here so you can check the numbers yourself before talking to any agency, including us. It works for Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta campaigns. No sign-up, no e-mail required: the calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to our server.

How the calculator works

Every number above comes from six short formulas. Nothing is hidden, so you can repeat the maths in a spreadsheet:

1. Clicks = Budget ÷ CPC. Treat it as a ceiling: platforms rarely spend the cap to the cent, and in the first weeks impression share is usually limited.
2. Leads = Clicks × Conversion rate. Use the same definition of a lead that your CRM uses. If you count every form fill but sales only counts qualified calls, the plan will look better than reality.
3. Cost per lead = Budget ÷ Leads, which is the same as CPC ÷ conversion rate. This is why a better landing page lowers lead cost just as much as a cheaper click.
4. Customers = Leads × Close rate, and CPA = Budget ÷ Customers.
5. ROAS = Revenue ÷ Ad spend. A ROAS above 1 does not mean profit. You only break even when ROAS reaches 1 ÷ gross margin: with a 40% margin you need 2.5× just to cover the ads.
6. Break-even CPC = Conversion rate × Close rate × Sale value × Margin. This is the most useful number on the page: if the CPC in your market is above it, no bidding strategy will make the campaign profitable until the offer, conversion rate or sale value changes.

Choosing realistic inputs

Cost per click

If the account has history, divide cost by clicks for the last 90 days of the campaign type you plan to run. Without history, open Keyword Planner, take your ten most important keywords, and use the low end of the top-of-page bid range weighted by search volume. Then run the calculator again with CPC 30% higher. New accounts almost always pay more than the planner suggests in the first month.

Conversion rate

Do not borrow an “industry average” without checking it. A phone-first local service, a B2B demo form and an online checkout behave completely differently. If you have no data, plan with three values (for example 1%, 3% and 5%) and look at the second table. If the business only works at the optimistic value, the plan is fragile.

Close rate, sale value and margin

Ask the person who actually closes the deals, not the marketing report. For subscriptions use the revenue you expect in the payback period you can afford (for example the first 6 or 12 months), not lifetime value you have never measured.

Three planning examples

The examples below are hypothetical scenarios created to show how to read the calculator. They are not client results.

Dental clinic, $2,000 per month

CPC $5.00 gives about 400 clicks. A booking-form conversion rate of 6% gives 24 enquiries, so a cost per lead of about $83. If 50% book and the first treatment plan is worth $600 at a 55% margin, revenue is about $7,200 and gross profit after ads about $1,960. Break-even CPC here is $9.90, so the clinic has room to bid higher on the most valuable treatments.

E-commerce store, €3,000 per month

CPC €0.80 gives 3,750 clicks. At a 2% checkout rate that is 75 orders with an average basket of €70, or €5,250 revenue and a 1.75× ROAS. With a 35% margin the break-even ROAS is 2.86×, so this campaign loses money even though it “returns” more than it spends. The fix is basket size or conversion rate, not more budget.

B2B software, $6,000 per month

CPC $12 gives 500 clicks. A 3% demo-request rate produces 15 demos at $400 each. Closing 20% gives 3 customers. With a first-year contract of $9,000 at an 80% margin, the campaign creates about $21,600 of first-year gross profit for $6,000 of spend. It looks weak in month one and strong over twelve months, so the decision depends on how long the company can wait for payback.

Common planning mistakes

• Comparing ROAS with 1 instead of with your break-even ROAS.
• Planning on a conversion rate measured on a different traffic source, such as e-mail or organic search.
• Splitting a small budget across many campaigns so that none of them gets enough clicks to learn. As a rule of thumb, each campaign should be able to buy at least 20–30 clicks per day.
• Including agency fees and software in the media budget, which makes the cost per click look lower than it is.

Frequently asked questions

Is the calculator free?

Yes. It is a free tool on the PPC Ads Agency website. You do not need an account and we do not collect what you type.

Does it connect to my Google Ads account?

No. It only uses the numbers you enter. To check the real numbers of an existing account, use our free Google Ads audit.

Why divide the monthly budget by 30.4?

30.4 is the average number of days in a month (365 ÷ 12). Google Ads uses the same convention for monthly spending limits and may spend up to twice the daily budget on a single day.

Which platforms does it work for?

Any pay-per-click platform: Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn. The formulas are the same; only the input values change.

PPC Budget Lab is an independent planning tool by PPC Ads Agency. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google, Microsoft or Meta. Last reviewed: November 2026.