Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Work out what it costs to win each new customer from your sales and marketing spend.
How to use the Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
- Enter your total sales and marketing spend for the period.
- Enter the number of new customers it brought in.
- See your cost to acquire each customer.
- Compare it against customer lifetime value.
CAC = Total sales & marketing spend ÷ New customers won
About the Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Customer acquisition cost, or CAC, is what it costs your business to win one new customer — the total you spent on sales and marketing divided by the customers that spending brought in. This calculator gives you the figure in one step, and it is one of the most important numbers any business tracks, because a company that spends more to acquire customers than those customers are worth is losing money on every sale, however fast it grows.
CAC only means something next to customer lifetime value (CLV). The widely used rule of thumb is that CLV should be at least three times CAC — enough margin to cover the cost of serving customers and still profit. A CAC that looks high can be perfectly healthy for a product customers stay with for years, and a low CAC can still be unsustainable if they leave quickly.
For an honest figure, include every cost that went into acquisition — ad spend, salaries, tools, agency fees — not just the media budget. Pair this with the customer lifetime value calculator to check the ratio, and the ROAS calculator for ad efficiency.
Frequently asked questions
What should I include in the spend?
Everything that went into winning customers over the period — advertising, marketing salaries, sales commissions, software and agency fees. Leaving costs out makes CAC look better than it really is.
What is a good CAC?
There is no universal number; it only makes sense next to lifetime value. A common benchmark is that customer lifetime value should be at least three times CAC for a healthy, profitable model.
How is CAC different from cost per lead?
Cost per lead measures the cost of a potential customer; CAC measures the cost of an actual paying one. Since only some leads convert, CAC is always higher than cost per lead.