Calculate customer acquisition cost
Marketing and sales spend divided by new customers, read against LTV.
Use the free CAC calculator to see what a new customer actually costs — no signup, and results update as you type. CAC only means something against lifetime value, so the number should include sales cost and be compared per channel before it changes bids or budgets.
Marketing plus sales cost divided by new customers.
Decide which channels can afford to keep acquiring.
A CAC is only cheap or expensive relative to lifetime value.
CAC is a cost, LTV decides if it is affordable
A $50 CAC can be a bargain for one business and ruinous for another — the difference is what the customer returns over the relationship. Enter marketing spend, sales spend, and new customers; the calculator returns CAC, the break-even LTV target, and — once LTV is added — the LTV:CAC ratio. Then compare that ratio per channel before deciding where spend should grow.
Read CAC through channels and payback
A blended CAC averages cheap channels with expensive ones and hides where the budget is actually leaking. Before scaling on a CAC assumption, split the number by channel, watch how it moves as audiences saturate, and check the CAC payback period — how many months the customer needs to earn the cost back. A rising CAC curve is an earlier warning than any monthly average.
Enter Your Numbers
CAC Formula
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is what the business pays to win one new customer. Including sales cost alongside marketing spend turns a channel metric into a business metric you can compare directly against lifetime value — and it sets the CAC payback period, the months a customer needs to earn that cost back.
Example: A team spending $12,000 on marketing and $3,000 on sales that acquires 300 customers pays a $50 CAC ((12,000 + 3,000) / 300). Against a $486 LTV, the LTV:CAC ratio is 9.7:1.
Average CAC by Industry
| Industry | Avg. CAC | Your Status |
|---|---|---|
| ☁️SaaS / Subscriptions | $250 | |
| 🛒E-commerce | $70.00 | |
| 🎮Mobile Apps & Gaming | $40.00 | |
| 💳Fintech | $175 | |
| 🏪Marketplaces | $60.00 | |
| 📦D2C Brands | $80.00 |
* Benchmarks are industry averages and may vary by price point, sales motion, and market maturity. Lower than average is the good side.
How to Lower Your CAC
Common questions about this workflow.
What is CAC?
CAC, or customer acquisition cost, is the total cost of winning one new customer. It is calculated from marketing and sales spend over a period divided by the number of new customers acquired in that same period.
How do you calculate CAC?
CAC = (marketing spend + sales spend) / new customers. A team spending $12,000 on marketing and $3,000 on sales that acquires 300 customers pays a CAC of $50.
What is a good CAC?
There is no universal good CAC — it depends on lifetime value. The common benchmark is an LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or higher, so a $50 CAC is healthy when a customer is worth $150 or more over the relationship.
How do I calculate my current CAC?
Enter your marketing spend and new customer count into the calculator. Add sales spend for a fully loaded CAC, and add customer LTV to see the LTV:CAC ratio. Results update as you type — there is no submit button.
Should CAC include sales salaries and tools?
For a fully loaded CAC, yes. Ad-spend-only CAC is useful for channel comparisons, but leaving out sales salaries, commissions, and tooling understates what a customer actually costs and makes unprofitable acquisition look healthy.
What is the difference between CAC and CPA?
CPA (cost per action) measures the cost of a single conversion event — a click, lead, or install — while CAC measures the cost of winning a paying customer. One customer usually takes several actions to acquire, so CAC is normally higher than CPA and is the number to compare against lifetime value.
What is a CAC payback period?
The CAC payback period is how many months a new customer needs to earn back their acquisition cost. A $50 CAC with $10 of monthly margin pays back in 5 months. The shorter the payback, the faster the budget can be reinvested into acquiring the next customer.
Is the CAC calculator free?
Yes. The calculator is free, runs in the browser, and does not require signup. It is designed for quick checks — deeper per-channel and payback analysis still needs your own spend data.
Move from CAC math to CAC control.
AdBid connects acquisition cost to campaigns, creative decisions, attribution, and revenue feedback so spend follows the channels that can afford it.