Free tool · CAC
CAC Calculator
Customer acquisition cost is what you pay, all-in, to win one new customer. Enter your sales & marketing spend and the customers it acquired to see your CAC — and add lifetime value to check the LTV:CAC ratio that decides whether growth is profitable.
CAC looks simple — until you decide what counts as spend
The division is one line. The judgement — which costs and which customers belong in it, and over what window — is where CAC quietly misleads.
Count the full cost of acquisition
Media spend is the obvious line, but a true CAC also carries sales and marketing salaries, agency fees, tooling, and content. Strip those out and your CAC looks artificially cheap — and you will overspend scaling a channel that is not actually profitable.
Match the window to the cost
Spend in one quarter often wins customers in the next. Dividing this month’s spend by this month’s customers can overstate CAC during a ramp and understate it when you cut spend. Use a window long enough for spend and signups to line up, and be consistent.
CAC alone is not a verdict
A $400 CAC is excellent for a customer worth $5,000 and ruinous for one worth $200. CAC only becomes a decision when you read it against lifetime value and payback period — the ratio, not the raw number, tells you whether to scale.
Calculate your CAC
Enter your sales & marketing spend and the customers it acquired.
Everything spent to acquire customers in the period — media, agency fees, salaries, tooling, content.
Net-new paying customers won in the same period the spend covers.
Average lifetime value (or lifetime gross profit) of a customer. Add it to see the LTV:CAC ratio.
Waiting for input
Enter your sales & marketing spend and the number of new customers it acquired.
CAC = sales & marketing spend ÷ new customers. Add LTV to see the LTV:CAC ratio.
What is customer acquisition cost?
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total sales and marketing cost to acquire one new customer over a period — the spend divided by the number of net-new customers it won.
On its own CAC is just a price tag. Its purpose is comparison: against the lifetime value of a customer (the LTV:CAC ratio) and against how long it takes that customer to repay their acquisition cost (CAC payback). Together those tell you whether acquiring more customers makes you money.
Calculate CAC
CAC = Sales & marketing spend ÷ New customers acquired
Spend $60,000 to win 150 customers → CAC = 60,000 ÷ 150 = $400 per customer
LTV:CAC ratio
Ratio = Customer LTV ÷ CAC
An LTV of $1,600 against a $400 CAC → 1,600 ÷ 400 = 4:1
CAC payback (months)
Payback = CAC ÷ Monthly gross profit per customer
$400 CAC ÷ $50 monthly gross profit → 8 months to recover the cost
How to use this CAC calculator
Two inputs for CAC, a third to check it against value.
Total up acquisition spend
Add everything you spent to acquire customers in the period — media, agency fees, sales and marketing salaries, tooling, and production. The most common mistake is counting only media.
Count net-new customers in the same window
Use the customers won during the period the spend covers. If spend and signups lag each other, widen the window so both line up rather than mixing months.
Add LTV to read the ratio
Enter average lifetime value to see the LTV:CAC ratio. Aim for at least 3:1 before you scale spend; below that, lower CAC or raise LTV first.
What is a good CAC?
There is no universal number — a good CAC is entirely relative to what a customer is worth. The benchmark to hit is an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1, meaning a customer returns at least three times what they cost to acquire. A $400 CAC is excellent for a $2,000-LTV customer and unsustainable for a $300 one.
What should be included in CAC?
Everything spent to acquire customers in the period: paid media, agency and contractor fees, the salaries of the sales and marketing team, marketing tooling and software, and content or creative production. Excluding salaries and overhead is the most common way CAC is understated.
What is the LTV:CAC ratio and why does 3:1 matter?
It divides the lifetime value of a customer by what it cost to acquire them. Roughly 3:1 is the widely-cited healthy floor: enough margin above CAC to cover serving costs and still profit. Below 1:1 you lose money on every customer; much above 5:1 often signals you are under-investing and leaving growth on the table.
How does CAC relate to payback period?
CAC tells you the cost; payback tells you how long until you earn it back. CAC payback = CAC divided by the gross profit a customer generates per month. A strong LTV:CAC ratio with a very long payback can still strain cash flow, so most teams watch both — a healthy ratio and a payback inside 12 months.
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