Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Calculator
Calculate your customer acquisition cost (CAC) by dividing total sales and marketing spend by the number of new customers acquired.
How to use this tool
- Enter total sales & marketing spend and new customers acquired in the fields above.
- Results update instantly as you type — or click Calculate.
- Read your customer acquisition cost (cac) and the full breakdown beneath it.
CAC measures how much you spend on average to win one new customer. Lower CAC (relative to LTV) signals a healthy, scalable acquisition model.
Formula
CAC ($) = Total sales & marketing spend ($) ÷ Number of new customers acquired
How it works
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is calculated by dividing the total expenditure on sales and marketing activities during a period by the number of net-new customers won during that same period, giving the average cost to acquire one customer.
The result is most meaningful when the spend and customer count cover the same time window and the same acquisition channels; blending multiple channels or mismatched periods will produce a misleading average.
Worked example
Worked example
- Total spend: $10,000 on sales and marketing
- New customers acquired: 100
- CAC: $10,000 ÷ 100 = $100 per customer
With $10,000 spent to acquire 100 customers, the Customer Acquisition Cost is $100 per customer.
Key terms
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- The average total cost incurred to acquire one new paying customer, including all sales, marketing, and related overhead expenses for the period.
- Sales & marketing spend
- All direct costs associated with attracting and converting new customers: advertising, salaries of sales and marketing staff, software tools, events, and similar expenditures.
- New customers acquired
- The count of first-time paying customers gained within the measurement period, not including renewals or upsells from existing customers.
- CAC payback period
- The time it takes for a customer to generate enough gross profit to recover the cost of acquiring them; a shorter payback period indicates a more capital-efficient business.
Frequently asked questions
- What costs should I include in CAC?
- Include all sales and marketing expenses: paid ads, agency fees, sales salaries, CRM and marketing tools, trade show costs, and any other spend directly tied to customer acquisition. Divide the total by new customers won in the same period.
- What is a good CAC?
- There is no universal benchmark — CAC must be evaluated against Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). A common rule of thumb is LTV:CAC ≥ 3:1. If your LTV is $300, a CAC below $100 is healthy.
- How often should I calculate CAC?
- Monthly for fast-moving businesses, quarterly for slower sales cycles. Track the trend over time — rising CAC without a corresponding LTV increase is an early warning sign.