Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Find out what each new customer really costs you. Enter your sales and marketing spend and the number of new customers acquired to get your CAC — plus an optional LTV:CAC health check.
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Estimates based on the numbers you enter. Use the same time period for spend and customer count to keep the ratio meaningful.
How to use this calculator
Enter the total amount you spent on sales and marketing over a period (ads, sales salaries, tools, agencies) and the number of new customers you acquired in that same period. Optionally add your customer lifetime value for a ratio health check.
Example: $25,000 in spend and 500 new customers gives a CAC of $50.00. With an LTV of $180, the LTV:CAC ratio is 3.6:1 — a healthy result.
How it works
CAC = total sales & marketing spend ÷ new customers acquired. LTV:CAC ratio = lifetime value ÷ CAC.
The health verdict follows common SaaS and marketing benchmarks: ≥ 3:1 — Healthy, meaning each dollar of acquisition spend returns three or more over the customer's lifetime; 1:1 to 3:1 — Watch, meaning margins are thin and acquisition is expensive relative to returns; below 1:1 — Losing money, meaning you spend more to acquire a customer than that customer will ever return.
Blended CAC (all channels together) can hide bad channels, so track CAC per channel too. Also keep spend and customer counts aligned to the same period — mixing a quarterly spend with an annual customer count distorts the result.
Frequently asked questions
How is customer acquisition cost calculated?
CAC = total sales and marketing spend over a period ÷ the number of new customers acquired in that period. For example, $25,000 in spend and 500 new customers gives a CAC of $50.00.
What is a good LTV:CAC ratio?
A common benchmark is 3:1 or higher — the customer's lifetime value should be at least three times what you paid to acquire them. Ratios between 1:1 and 3:1 are a watch zone, and below 1:1 you are spending more to acquire customers than they will ever return.
What should I include in the sales and marketing spend?
Include ad spend, agency and freelancer fees, sales team salaries and commissions, marketing software, and content production for the same period as the customer count. Do not include costs that existed regardless of acquisition volume, like unrelated overhead.
Why does my CAC keep rising?
CAC usually rises as easy channels saturate and competition bids up ad prices. Common fixes: improve conversion rates, shift budget to higher-intent channels, raise prices or upsells to justify spend, and invest in organic and referral growth that lowers blended CAC.