ROI Calculator

Total ROI, the annualized rate that makes investments comparable, your real return after inflation — and a built-in A-vs-B verdict.

Investment details

Works for stocks, property, a business purchase, equipment, a marketing campaign — anything with a cost and a return.

Include fees and costs paid to make the investment.

Everything you got back: sale proceeds + dividends/income, minus selling costs.

yr mo
%/yr
⚖ Compare with a second investment
yr mo

Return on investment

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Net profit—
Amount returned—
Annualized ROI—
Investment multiple—

How it's calculated

ROI = (amount returned − amount invested) ÷ amount invested × 100. Annualized ROI = (returned ÷ invested)1/years − 1 — the constant yearly rate that would produce the same result, which is what makes investments with different holding periods comparable. Real annualized ROI ≈ (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1 — your return in purchasing power.

ROI, annualized ROI and why the difference matters

Plain ROI answers one question — how much did this grow in total? — and it's blind to time. A 50% return sounds great until you learn it took 12 years (about 3.4% a year, roughly what a savings account might pay). That's why this calculator always shows annualized ROI alongside the headline number whenever you enter a holding time: it converts any result to a per-year rate so a 3-year stock gain and an 8-year property gain can be compared honestly. With 10,000 invested and 15,000 returned over 3 years, total ROI is 50% but annualized ROI is 14.47%/yr — the second number is the one to compare against alternatives.

Two more honesty checks most ROI tools skip. First, count all the costs: purchase fees, commissions, maintenance, taxes on the way out — they belong in "amount invested" or subtracted from "amount returned", otherwise ROI flatters the result. Second, inflation: a 6% annualized return during 3% inflation is a ~2.9% real return. Enter an inflation rate and the calculator shows what your gain was worth in purchasing power.

The built-in A vs B comparison settles the classic trap: investment A returned more in total, but B was faster. The verdict always compares annualized rates — the diamond that returned 1,000% over 50 years loses to land that returned 50% in 3 years (4.9%/yr vs 14.5%/yr).

ROI has limits worth knowing: it says nothing about risk, liquidity or effort, and for investments with multiple cash flows in and out over time (rental income, staged funding) a metric like IRR is more precise. For a single sum in and a single value out, ROI plus annualized ROI is the right tool — and this page keeps both in view.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good ROI?
It depends on the alternative and the risk. As rough context: broad stock-market index funds have historically averaged about 7-10% annualized before inflation, so a low-risk project returning 15%/yr is excellent, while a risky venture returning 6%/yr is questionable. Always compare annualized ROI against what the same money could earn elsewhere at similar risk.
What's the difference between ROI and annualized ROI?
ROI is the total percentage gain over the whole holding period, ignoring how long that period was. Annualized ROI converts the same result into an equivalent constant yearly rate using (returned/invested)^(1/years) - 1. Use annualized ROI whenever you compare investments held for different lengths of time.
Should I include fees and taxes?
Yes - for a true picture, add buying costs (fees, commissions, closing costs) to the amount invested, and subtract selling costs and taxes from the amount returned. ROI computed on sticker prices alone overstates real performance.
Can ROI be negative?
Yes. If the amount returned is less than the amount invested, ROI is negative - a loss. Getting back 8,000 from a 10,000 investment is an ROI of -20%.
How is the investment multiple different from ROI?
The multiple is returned divided by invested: 2.0x means you doubled your money (which is +100% ROI). Venture capital and private equity often quote multiples; ROI and multiple are two views of the same number: multiple = 1 + ROI.
Why does the calculator ask for inflation?
Because a return is only as good as what it buys. The real (inflation-adjusted) annualized return is approximately (1 + nominal) / (1 + inflation) - 1. During 3% inflation, a 6% nominal return preserves and grows purchasing power by only about 2.9% per year.
What can't ROI tell me?
Risk, liquidity, effort and timing of cash flows. Two investments with identical ROI can be wildly different bets. For investments with money going in and out at multiple points in time (rents, dividends reinvested, staged funding), IRR is the more precise metric.
Does this calculator work for marketing ROI?
Yes - treat campaign spend as the amount invested and the profit attributable to the campaign (not revenue) as the gain. Note that marketers sometimes quote revenue-based ratios like ROAS, which are not the same as profit-based ROI.

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