Customer acquisition cost calculator

Name: CAC calculator (customer acquisition cost)
Author: Richard Injante

What a new customer costs and whether it pays off against their value.

Content reviewed by Richard Injante Published by SolucionesAhora.com Updated on 2026-10-23 How we verify

Calculator inputs

Results

Enter your values and press “Calculate” to see the result.

Free, no sign-up! What if you could do this without a calculator? A five-minute game with challenges, lives and points. It clicks even when you cannot be bothered.

In short

What it calculates: What a new customer costs and whether it pays off against their value.
Formula used: CAC = (marketing + sales) ÷ new customers
Example: £8,000 marketing, £4,000 sales, 150 customers and LTV of £320:

CAC calculator (customer acquisition cost)

CAC answers a very concrete question: what does it cost to win a new customer. It only means something when compared with what that customer leaves over time.

The usual benchmark is for LTV to be three times CAC.

How it works

All acquisition costs (marketing and the sales team) are added up and divided by the new customers in the same period. If you enter LTV, the ratio between the two is calculated.

Formula

CAC = (marketing + sales) ÷ new customers

Ratio = LTV ÷ CAC

Worked example

£8,000 marketing, £4,000 sales, 150 customers and LTV of £320:

CAC: £80
LTV/CAC ratio: 4.0x
Margin per customer: £240

Explanation

The ratio to customer value is what matters

An acquisition cost of two hundred is excellent if each customer leaves a thousand over their lifetime, and ruinous if they leave a hundred and fifty. The figure alone means nothing: what you look at is the ratio between customer value and the cost of winning them. In subscription businesses, three to one or better is generally considered healthy.

Which costs count

Not just advertising. Also marketing and sales team salaries, tools, commissions, acquisition discounts and the cost of producing content. Leaving salaries out is the shortcut that makes almost any channel look profitable.

The payback period

Beyond the ratio, how long you take to recover the investment matters. A business taking eighteen months to pay back each customer needs plenty of cash to grow, even if the lifetime value ratio looks good on paper.

Cost rises as you scale

The first customers are usually the cheapest: they arrive by referral or brand search. As you exhaust that audience and compete for colder ones, acquisition cost rises. Projecting growth at the current cost is a common planning error.

Frequently asked questions

What LTV/CAC ratio is healthy?

Anything from 3x upwards is considered healthy. Below 1x each new customer costs more than they bring in.

Which costs should I include?

Advertising, tools, marketing and sales salaries, and commissions. Leave out the cost of serving customers you already have.

What ratio of customer value to acquisition cost is healthy?

Subscription businesses typically cite three to one or better. Below one to one, every new customer generates a loss.

Should salaries go into the calculation?

Yes. Excluding marketing and sales salaries is the shortcut that makes almost any channel look profitable.

Need to calculate something else?

These tools are often used alongside this calculator.