CAC calculator: customer acquisition cost, payback and LTV
Calculate customer acquisition cost, CAC payback period and LTV:CAC, overall and for Google, Meta, LinkedIn and Bing. Free, and it runs in your browser.
Customer acquisition cost
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fully loaded, per new customer
- Payback (months)
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- Lifetime value
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- LTV : CAC
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| Channel | CAC | Payback |
|---|
Pre-filled with example figures. Use your own spend, and the customers your CRM credits to each channel.
The formulas
- CAC = (marketing spend + other sales and marketing costs) ÷ new customers.
- CAC payback (months) = CAC ÷ (monthly revenue per customer × gross margin).
- LTV = (monthly revenue per customer × gross margin) ÷ monthly churn.
- LTV : CAC = LTV ÷ CAC.
Why channel CAC depends on your CRM
Channel CAC divides each platform's spend by the customers it brought in. If those customers are counted from each platform's own conversion reports, the same customer is often counted by two or three platforms and every channel looks cheaper than it is. Count customers from your CRM, one source per customer.
See why your ad platforms don't agree with your CRM, or size the overlap with the attribution gap calculator.
Questions people ask
What is a good CAC payback period?
It depends on your cash position and churn. Shorter is safer: the longer the payback, the more customers must stay before acquiring them pays off.
What is a good LTV to CAC ratio?
A common rule of thumb is 3:1 or better, but it is only as good as the churn and margin figures behind it.
Should CAC include salaries and tools?
For fully loaded CAC, yes: include sales and marketing salaries, tools and agency fees. Paid CAC uses ad spend only. This calculator shows fully loaded CAC overall and paid CAC by channel.
More free tools: all drop-b tools.
Find out which channel really brings customers.
The audit reconciles each platform against your CRM, so channel CAC is counted once.
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