CAC Calculator | Customer Acquisition Cost

Quick Start Guide

  1. Enter Total Sales & Marketing Cost: Input the total amount spent on sales and marketing over the period.
  2. Enter New Customers Acquired: Input the number of new customers gained during that same period.
  3. View CAC: See your customer acquisition cost — total spend divided by new customers.
  4. Add Customer Lifetime Value (Optional): Enter a CLV figure (from the CLV calculator or your own data) to see the LTV:CAC ratio.
  5. Evaluate the LTV:CAC Ratio: A ratio of 3:1 or higher generally indicates healthy, sustainable acquisition spending.
  6. Export Analysis: Export your CAC analysis to PDF, JSON, or CSV for reporting.

Understanding CAC

What counts as acquisition cost

Include all sales and marketing spend for the period: ad spend, sales and marketing salaries and commissions, tools and software, agency fees, and content or creative production. Divide by the number of new customers gained in that same period to get CAC.

Why the LTV:CAC ratio matters more than CAC alone

A low CAC is not automatically good, and a high CAC is not automatically bad — it depends on what each customer is worth. Entering a Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) figure here shows the LTV:CAC ratio, one of the most-watched unit-economics numbers in subscription and e-commerce businesses. A ratio of 3:1 or higher is a commonly cited healthy target, though the right number varies by business model and growth stage.

Match your cost and customer periods

CAC is only meaningful when the cost and the new-customer count cover the same period (the same month, quarter, or campaign) — mixing periods produces a misleading number. There is also typically a delay between spending and a customer converting, so very recent spend may not yet be reflected in that period's customer count.

What this calculator does not cover

This computes a blended, average CAC across all channels and customers — it does not break down cost by channel or cohort, or account for a payback period (how long it takes to recoup CAC from a customer's revenue). For lifetime-value modeling itself, see the CLV Calculator.

Features

CAC Calculation: Divide total acquisition spend by new customers to get a clear cost figure.

LTV: CAC Ratio: Add a CLV/LTV figure to instantly see acquisition efficiency.

Export Data: Export CAC calculations to JSON, CSV, or PDF.

Common Use Cases

Marketing Efficiency: track CAC over time to see if acquisition is getting cheaper or more expensive, and compare CAC across channels or campaigns.

Budget Planning: set acquisition budgets based on a target CAC and forecast new customers from a planned spend.

Unit Economics: pair with CLV to check the LTV:CAC ratio and validate whether growth spend is sustainable.

Investor Reporting: use CAC and LTV:CAC as standard SaaS/e-commerce metrics, and export or copy results for reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

CAC is the average cost to acquire one new customer: total sales and marketing spend for a period, divided by the number of new customers gained in that same period. It is one of the most important efficiency metrics for any business that spends money to grow.
There is no universal 'good' CAC — it depends entirely on what a customer is worth to you. A $200 CAC is excellent for a customer worth $2,000 in lifetime value, but unsustainable for a customer worth $150. Compare CAC against Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) using the LTV:CAC ratio rather than judging CAC in isolation.
A ratio of 3:1 or higher is a commonly cited healthy target for subscription and e-commerce businesses — meaning a customer is worth at least 3 times what it cost to acquire them. A ratio below 1:1 means you are losing money on every customer. A very high ratio (5:1+) can also signal you are under-investing in growth relative to what you could profitably spend.
Include all sales and marketing spend for the period: advertising spend, sales and marketing salaries and commissions, marketing tools and software, agency or contractor fees, and content or creative production costs. Excluding some of these costs will understate your true CAC.
Common approaches include improving targeting to reduce wasted ad spend, increasing conversion rates on your website or landing pages, growing organic and referral channels (which have near-zero marginal cost), and testing which channels produce the lowest CAC so you can shift budget toward them.

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