CAC Calculator: The Cost of Acquiring a New Customer
Start with your numbers.
Use consistent inputs for one period or acquisition cohort. The sample values demonstrate the model; they are not a target. The calculator works locally in your browser and does not submit or save your entries.
This interactive calculator requires JavaScript. The formulas and worked example below remain available.
What belongs in the calculation?
Enter the sales and marketing costs allocated to acquiring the relevant customers. Depending on your accounting approach, these may include media, staff, commissions, agency work, creative and software. Avoid counting a cost twice.
If the spending period includes retention or expansion work, decide and document how those costs are allocated. A raw all-department spending total can be a useful blended view, but it should not be labelled a precise new-customer cohort cost without that allocation.
New customers are first-time paying customers under your definition, not leads, trials, orders from existing customers or expansion deals. The denominator must be positive and a whole number.
CAC and payback formulas
CAC = (marketing acquisition spend + sales acquisition spend) ÷ new customers.
Monthly gross profit per customer = monthly revenue per new customer × gross margin.
Simplified CAC payback = CAC ÷ monthly gross profit per customer.
Monthly revenue and gross margin are optional for the payback view. If monthly gross profit is zero, no finite payback estimate is shown. The CAC result remains available when its required inputs are valid.
Worked example
Marketing spend is $60,000, sales spend is $40,000 and the business wins 100 new customers. CAC is $1,000. With $250 monthly revenue per new customer at 80% gross margin, monthly gross profit is $200, giving a simplified payback of five months.
This model assumes constant monthly revenue and margin and does not include churn, expansion or cash collection timing. Annual prepayment can change cash recovery even when the simplified revenue model is unchanged.
Match the cost to the customers
In a long sales cycle, this month's wins may have been influenced by earlier spending. A monthly blended CAC can help trend monitoring, but cohort analysis may offer a better view of acquisition performance.
Compare the same cost basis over time. Advertising-only cost per customer and fully loaded CAC are different measures. A change in allocation method can alter the number without the acquisition system changing.
Use CAC with contribution and retention
A customer worth more in gross profit can support a different acquisition cost from a customer with a low margin or short relationship. Expected lifetime value should be tested against observed retention and its assumptions.
Our SaaS marketing benchmarks explain cohort and conversion definitions. The lead generation calculator estimates direct campaign economics, while the marketing ROI calculator evaluates a wider return.
CAC calculator questions
What is a good CAC?
One the business can sustain given customer contribution, retention, cash availability and growth objectives. A benchmark from another business model cannot establish that limit.
Do we include sales salaries?
Include the acquisition-related allocation if you are calculating fully loaded sales-and-marketing CAC. State the cost basis so comparisons remain meaningful.
Is payback the same as profit?
No. This simplified estimate measures modeled gross-profit recovery of acquisition cost. It does not establish net profitability or exact cash recovery.
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