Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Calculator
What does each new customer actually cost you?
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Calculator
CAC = (Marketing spend + Sales spend) / New customers; Payback = CAC / Monthly revenue per customer
Calculated instantly
Embed this calculator
Put this calculator on your own site with the snippet below. The frame contains the tool only, reports its own height, and carries a visible link back to the full page. Embedding is free; keep the attribution link as it is, and do not wrap the frame in a way that hides it.
Preparing the embed code for this page...
What This Calculator Does
The Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator divides combined marketing and sales spend by the number of new customers won in the same period. It then estimates CAC payback, the months of revenue needed to recover the cost of acquiring one customer. Use it to compare channels, cohorts, and time periods on the same basis.
How It Works
Total acquisition spend is marketing spend plus sales spend. CAC is that total divided by new customers acquired. CAC payback divides CAC by monthly revenue per customer, which is annual revenue per customer divided by 12. The result is a revenue payback estimate, not a profitability measure.
Example
$12,000 of marketing spend plus $8,000 of sales spend is $20,000. If that produces 100 new customers, CAC is $200. At $1,200 of annual revenue per customer, monthly revenue is $100, so CAC payback is 2 months.
Formula
CAC = (Marketing spend + Sales spend) / New customersPayback months = CAC / (Annual revenue per customer / 12)Reading the Results
Customer acquisition cost
The average marketing and sales cost of winning one new customer in the period entered.
CAC payback
How many months of revenue from one customer are needed to recover the average acquisition cost, before margin and operating costs.
Total acquisition spend
The combined marketing and sales spend used in the calculation.
Continue the Workflow
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be included in CAC?
Include the costs of acquiring new customers in the period: media spend, agency and freelancer fees, marketing software, sales salaries and commissions, and allocated overhead. Exclude costs that are not related to acquisition, such as customer support or fulfilment.
Is CAC the same as cost per acquisition (CPA)?
They are often used interchangeably, but CPA usually refers to a single conversion event or channel, while CAC normally covers the fully loaded cost of winning a new customer across marketing and sales. State which definition you are using when comparing benchmarks.
What is a good CAC payback?
It depends on your margins, cash position, and contract length. Many subscription businesses target payback within 12 months, and some investors look for less than 18 months. A long payback is riskier because more cash is tied up before the customer becomes profitable.
Does a low CAC always mean efficient growth?
No. Very low CAC can reflect underinvestment, a narrow channel, or a short measurement window. Pair CAC with conversion quality, retention, gross margin, and lifetime value before judging efficiency.