ROI Calculator

Calculate your return on investment (ROI) for stocks, crypto, or business.

Enter values above to see results ✦

📖 How ROI Calculator Works

Return on Investment (ROI) is one of the most widely used profitability ratios for evaluating how efficiently money was put to work — whether in stocks, real estate, a small business, or cryptocurrency. ROI directly measures the return on an investment relative to its cost, expressed as a simple, comparable percentage.

How to Calculate ROI

ROI (%) = [(Amount Returned − Amount Invested) ÷ Amount Invested] × 100

For example, investing $1,000 and later selling for $1,500 gives a profit of $500, so ROI = (500 ÷ 1000) × 100 = 50%. A positive ROI means the investment earned more than it cost; a negative ROI means it resulted in a net loss. A 0% ROI means you broke exactly even.

What Counts as a "Good" ROI?

What qualifies as a good ROI depends entirely on the asset class, risk level, and time horizon involved. Historically, the S&P 500 stock index has averaged around 10% annually before inflation. Real estate investors often target ROI in the range of 8–12% annually including rental income and appreciation. In venture capital or high-risk crypto investing, investors may look for 10x (900% ROI) or more on individual bets, specifically because most such investments are expected to fail entirely.

ROI vs. Other Investment Metrics

  • ROI: Simple total return over the life of the investment, ignoring the time period involved.
  • Annualized ROI: Normalizes total ROI into a per-year rate, making investments of different durations comparable.
  • IRR (Internal Rate of Return): Accounts for the timing of multiple cash flows in and out, useful for investments with several contributions or withdrawals over time.
  • CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate): Similar to annualized ROI, commonly used for investments that compound over multiple years.
❓ Does ROI include inflation?

Standard ROI calculations (nominal ROI) do not account for inflation. To find the "real ROI" — your actual gain in purchasing power — subtract the inflation rate over the same period from your nominal return percentage.

❓ What is Annualized ROI, and why does it matter?

If an investment lasted 5 years, the total ROI alone doesn't tell the whole story — a 50% return over 5 years is very different from a 50% return in 1 year. Annualized ROI calculates the equivalent yearly rate of return, allowing you to compare a 1-year stock gain to a 5-year real estate gain on equal footing.

❓ Should I use ROI to compare investments with different risk levels?

ROI alone doesn't capture risk, so a fair comparison should also weigh volatility and the probability of loss. A 20% ROI from a stable index fund and a 20% ROI from a speculative asset are not equivalent in practice, even though the percentage looks identical.