Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
Calculate your CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC ratio, and payback period in 30 seconds. See where your unit economics actually stand against SaaS benchmarks.
Inputs
All figures monthly unless noted. Use your real numbers, not your hopes.
Ads, content, SEO tools, agencies, events
Fully loaded salaries of anyone selling
HubSpot, Salesforce, ad platforms
Net new paid signups in the same period
Total MRR divided by paying customers
80% is typical for SaaS, 20-40% for services
Customers lost / customers at start of month
Benchmarks
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Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC)?+
Customer Acquisition Cost = Total Sales and Marketing Spend ÷ Number of New Customers Acquired in the same period. For example, if you spent $25,000 on marketing and sales in Q1 and acquired 100 new customers, your CAC is $250. Always include all costs: ad spend, salaries of sales and marketing staff, software tools, agency fees, and content production.
What is a good LTV to CAC ratio for SaaS?+
A healthy LTV:CAC ratio is 3:1 or higher. Below 1:1 means you lose money on every customer. Between 1:1 and 3:1 means thin margins and limited room for growth investment. Above 5:1 might mean you are underspending on growth. Most successful SaaS companies operate between 3:1 and 5:1 and use any excess to reinvest in acquisition.
What is CAC payback period?+
CAC payback period is the number of months a customer must stay subscribed before the gross profit they generate equals what you spent acquiring them. Formula: CAC ÷ (Monthly Revenue per Customer × Gross Margin %). For SaaS, a payback period under 12 months is healthy. Under 6 months is excellent. Over 18 months is risky because most churn happens before payback.
Should I include salaries when calculating CAC?+
Yes. Fully-loaded CAC includes the salaries of everyone working on customer acquisition: marketing team, sales team, BDRs, growth engineers, and a portion of any leader who manages those teams. Excluding salaries gives you a vanity metric that looks better but hides the real cost. Investors will calculate fully-loaded CAC during diligence.
How do I lower my customer acquisition cost?+
Five proven levers: (1) Improve conversion rates on existing traffic before buying more. (2) Build organic acquisition channels like SEO, content, and referrals. (3) Cut underperforming paid channels and double down on winners. (4) Increase average contract value to make CAC easier to justify. (5) Build a product so good it generates word of mouth, which is the cheapest CAC of all.
What is the difference between blended CAC and paid CAC?+
Blended CAC includes all customers regardless of source (organic + paid). Paid CAC only counts customers acquired through paid channels divided by paid spend. Track both: blended tells you overall efficiency; paid tells you how scalable your paid acquisition really is. Most early-stage startups have a low blended CAC because organic dominates, but paid CAC reveals what scale will actually cost.