ROI Calculator
Enter what you invested, what you got back, and how long you held it to see simple and annualized returns.
Investment A
Return on investment
50.00%
Net profit
5,000.00
Annualized (CAGR)
17.61% / yr
A simple ROI of 50.00% over 2 years 6 months works out to 17.61% per year when compounded annually.
Investment B
Enter an amount invested above zero and an amount returned to see the results.
For information only, not investment advice — past returns don’t guarantee future results. Calculated on your device; nothing is sent anywhere.
How it works
- Enter the amount you invested and the total amount you received back, including any sale proceeds, dividends, or interest.
- Set the holding period in years and months so the calculator can annualize the return using the CAGR formula.
- Read the live results — ROI %, net profit, and annualized return — and fill in the second scenario to compare two investments side by side.
Frequently asked questions
- How is ROI calculated?
- ROI is (amount returned − amount invested) ÷ amount invested, expressed as a percentage. If you invest 10,000 and get back 15,000, your net profit is 5,000 and your ROI is 50%. It measures total gain relative to what you put in, ignoring how long the money was tied up.
- What is annualized ROI and why does it matter?
- Annualized ROI converts a total return into an equivalent yearly rate using the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) formula: (returned ÷ invested)^(1 ÷ years) − 1. It matters because a 50% gain over five years is far weaker than 50% in one year — annualizing puts investments with different holding periods on the same footing.
- How do I compare two investments fairly?
- Use the second scenario column and compare the annualized returns, not the simple ROI figures. Simple ROI favors whichever investment ran longer, while the annualized rate shows which one actually grew your money faster per year. The calculator highlights which scenario wins on that basis.
- Should the amount returned include dividends and fees?
- Yes — for an accurate result, the amount returned should be the total cash you ended up with: sale price plus any dividends, interest, or rent collected, minus fees, commissions, and taxes you paid. Leaving these out is the most common reason ROI figures look better or worse than reality.
- Is my financial data private?
- Yes. All calculations run entirely in your browser with plain JavaScript — the numbers you type are never uploaded, stored, or sent to any server. You can verify this by loading the page and then going offline; the calculator keeps working normally.
About this tool
This ROI calculator turns three inputs — amount invested, amount returned, and holding period — into the figures that actually describe an investment’s performance: net profit, simple ROI as a percentage, and annualized ROI. The simple figure tells you how much your money grew in total; the annualized figure tells you how fast it grew per year, which is what you need when holding periods differ.
The annualized number uses the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) formula: the ratio of returned to invested capital raised to the power of one over the holding period in years, minus one. A 60% total return over three years is not 20% per year — compounding makes it about 16.96% per year, and the calculator makes that distinction explicit with a plain-language comparison sentence under each result. Everything runs client-side in your browser; no figures leave your device, so it’s safe to use with real portfolio numbers.
The second scenario column is the most practical part. Paste in two real investments — a stock you sold after 18 months versus a rental property held for six years, or two funds bought at different times — and the calculator states which one delivered the higher annualized return. This is the comparison brokers’ headline percentages tend to blur, because a big total gain over a long period can hide a mediocre yearly rate.
For meaningful results, use the total cash actually received (sale proceeds plus dividends or interest, net of fees and taxes) as the amount returned, and enter the holding period precisely — the months field matters, since annualizing over 2 years versus 2 years 9 months changes the rate noticeably. For very short periods under a year, treat the annualized figure with caution: it extrapolates a brief result to a full year, which real investments rarely sustain.