Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
What it costs to win a customer, blended across all new customers and for paid channels alone, with the months to earn it back.
Result
Blended CAC: $300.00
Only the costs you list. No benchmark CAC is given, because none applies across businesses.
- Paid CAC
- $300.00
- Total acquisition cost
- $25,500.00
https://calcgallery.com/business-investing/customer-acquisition-cost-calculator/
Results are arithmetic estimates based on the assumptions you enter, not accounting, tax, investment or lending advice. Forecasts can be wrong and important decisions should be checked with a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
- Enter what you spent on paid channels, and list any other costs you count towards winning customers, such as sales salaries and tools.
- Enter how many new customers you won in the same period, and how many came from paid channels.
- Optionally enter the monthly gross margin a customer brings, and read both CACs and the months it takes to earn the cost back.
The formulas
blended CAC = (paid spend + other acquisition costs) ÷ all new customerspaid CAC = paid spend ÷ customers from paid channelspayback = blended CAC ÷ monthly gross margin per customerCosts and customers must cover the same period. Spend in one month often brings customers the next, so a longer period, such as a quarter, usually gives a steadier figure.
Payback is the useful number
A CAC means little by itself. The payback period turns it into time: how many months of margin a customer must bring in before the cost of winning them is covered. A 300 CAC against 40 of gross margin a month takes 7.5 months to earn back. Use margin, not revenue. Revenue ignores the cost of serving the customer, and would make the payback look shorter than it is.
What the diagram shows
How much of the acquisition cost is paid spend and how much is everything else you counted. When salaries and tools are a large share, a page that counts only ad spend will understate your CAC.
With your numbers
- Total acquisition cost = paid $18,000.00 + other costs = $25,500.00
- Blended CAC = $25,500.00 ÷ 85 = $300.00
- Paid CAC = $18,000.00 ÷ 60 = $300.00
Quick reference
Only the costs you list. No benchmark CAC is given, because none applies across businesses.
| Example | Blended CAC |
|---|---|
| 25,500 spend, 85 customers, 60 paid | $300.00 |
| Same spend, 120 customers | $212.50 |
| 18,000 paid only, 60 customers | $300.00 |
| No new customers | |
| 5,000 spend, 40 customers | $125.00 |
| 50,000 across channels, 400 customers | $125.00 |
Common questions about the Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
- What is the difference between blended and paid CAC?
- Blended CAC divides all acquisition costs by all new customers, including ones who found you on their own. Paid CAC divides only paid spend by only the customers those channels brought in. Organic customers make the blended figure look better: with the same paid spend and paid customers, adding 60 organic customers takes blended CAC from 300 to 212.50 while paid CAC stays at 300. Always say which one you mean.
- What should count as an acquisition cost?
- That is a choice, and the page lets you make it. Ad spend always counts. Many businesses also count sales and marketing salaries, commissions, agencies, tools and events. Some add a share of overhead. Including more gives a higher, more honest CAC. What matters most is using the same definition every period so the trend means something.
- Is my CAC good?
- This page does not say, because no single figure applies across businesses. A CAC is only high or low relative to what a customer is worth. Compare it with lifetime value on the customer lifetime value calculator, and with the payback period here.
- What if I won no customers this period?
- Then there is no cost per customer: the spend bought none. The page says so rather than showing an infinite or meaningless number.