Free tool CAC calculator: customer acquisition cost formula
Customer acquisition cost is what you spend to win one new customer. Enter marketing spend, sales cost and the number of new customers for the same period, and the calculator returns the fully loaded CAC and the marketing-only figure.
- Marketing, sales and customers
- Updates as you type
- Runs locally
Work out the cost of a new customer
New customers and at least one cost are required. Leave sales cost empty if you have no sales team.
Ads, content, events, agencies and marketing tools for the period.
Sales salaries, commission and sales tools for the same period. Optional.
Paying customers acquired in the period, not sign-ups or leads.
CAC (customer acquisition cost)
$200.00
Marketing plus sales cost, divided by new customers.
Share these inputs: the values go after the # in the link, so they never reach a server.
https://tapcub.com/tools/cac-calculator
Version v1.0Updated Update history
What CAC tells you
CAC is half of the unit-economics question. The other half is how much a customer is worth once you have them.
CAC
The fully loaded cost of one new customer. $60,000 of marketing and sales for 300 customers is $200 each.
Marketing-only CAC
The same with sales cost left out. The gap between the two shows how much of acquisition happens in the sales team rather than in marketing.
Against lifetime value
A customer has to bring in more gross profit over their lifetime than they cost to acquire. Compare CAC with LTV, not with first-order value alone.
Payback period
CAC divided by monthly gross profit per customer gives the months it takes to earn the cost back. A $200 CAC and $25 a month of gross profit pay back in eight months.
The figure here is blended: it divides all spend by all new customers, including those who came through organic search, referrals or direct visits. Paid CAC, by channel, is usually higher.
Three ways to use the calculator
The same formula works for the whole business and for one channel.
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1
Company-wide CAC
Enter total marketing and sales cost for a month or a quarter and every new paying customer in it.
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2
Per channel
Enter the spend for one channel and the customers it brought in; leave sales cost empty. Repeat for each channel.
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3
Budget planning
Divide the budget for next quarter by your CAC to see how many customers it should buy, then check that the sales team can handle them.
CAC = (marketing + sales cost) ÷ new customers
Customer acquisition cost spreads everything you spent to win customers across the customers you won. Count spend and customers in the same period.
- Include salaries, agencies and tools, not only ad spend, or say clearly that it is paid CAC
- Count new paying customers only; sign-ups and leads give a cost per lead instead
- If deals take months to close, compare spend with customers one sales cycle later
CAC
CAC = (marketing + sales cost) ÷ new customers
($40,000 + $20,000) ÷ 300 → $200.00
Marketing-only CAC
marketing CAC = marketing spend ÷ new customers
$40,000 ÷ 300 → $133.33
Payback months
payback = CAC ÷ monthly gross profit per customer
$200 ÷ $25 a month → 8 months
One quarter, four acquisition channels
A SaaS team spent $60,000 to win 300 customers. The blended CAC is $200; the channels behind it range from $100 to $500.
| Channel | Cost | New customers | CAC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid search | $18,000 | 110 | $163.64 |
| Paid social | $14,000 | 70 | $200.00 |
| Content and SEO | $8,000 | 80 | $100.00 |
| Outbound sales team | $20,000 | 40 | $500.00 |
| Total (blended) | $60,000 | 300 | $200.00 |
Marketing spend is the first three rows ($40,000), so marketing-only CAC is $133.33. In practice sales also helps close customers from other channels, so a strict split needs attribution. Sample figures.
Where CAC goes wrong
Most bad CAC figures are too low, because something was left out.
Counting ad spend only
Salaries, agencies, content and tools are acquisition costs too. Ad spend alone is paid media cost, not CAC.
Dividing by sign-ups
Free sign-ups and leads are not customers. Divide by new paying customers, or call the result cost per lead.
Ignoring the sales cycle
Spend from March and customers from March are not linked if deals take three months to close.
Hiding channels in the blend
Organic customers pull blended CAC down. A good average can hide a paid channel that costs more than customers are worth.
Know which campaign each customer came from
CAC per channel needs the customer tied to a source. TapCub reads UTM parameters and ad click IDs on arrival, keeps the source on the visitor, and shows first and last touch on the same person.
Campaign and channel reports
Sessions, conversions and conversion rate per campaign, source and medium.
Learn moreChannel ROI
Import spend and see return per channel next to the traffic it bought.
Learn moreFirst and last touch
The campaign that introduced a customer and the one that closed, on the same person.
Learn moreCAC questions
Still have a question?
Chat with the team behind TapCub — we usually reply within a few hours on business days.
What is customer acquisition cost (CAC)?
The average cost of winning one new paying customer: all marketing and sales cost for a period divided by the new customers in that period. See the CAC glossary entry.
How do I calculate CAC?
The CAC formula is CAC = (marketing spend + sales cost) ÷ new customers in the same period. $40,000 of marketing and $20,000 of sales for 300 new customers is ($40,000 + $20,000) ÷ 300 = $200.
What should be included in CAC?
Ad spend, agency and freelancer fees, content production, events, marketing and sales tools, and the salaries and commission of the people doing acquisition. Leave out costs of serving existing customers, such as support.
What is the difference between CAC and CPA?
CPA is ad spend per conversion on one channel, and the conversion can be a lead or a sign-up. CAC covers all acquisition cost and divides by paying customers. CAC is almost always the larger number. Try the ad metrics calculator for CPA.
What is a good CAC?
One that a customer pays back with margin to spare. Since that depends on price, margin and how long customers stay, compare CAC with lifetime value rather than with other companies. The customer lifetime value calculator gives the other side.
What is blended CAC versus paid CAC?
Blended CAC divides all spend by all new customers, including organic and referral. Paid CAC divides paid media cost by customers from paid channels only. Paid CAC is higher and is the one to use when deciding on ad budgets.
How often should I calculate CAC?
Monthly for a quick check and quarterly for decisions, since one month can be skewed by a large deal or a campaign that pays off later.
Update history
New features, fixes and data refreshes for this tool, newest first.
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· v1.0
LaunchedFirst release.
Missing something or found an error? Tell us — requests that come up often go into the next update. All tool updates
Trace every new customer to a source
Connect your site and every tagged campaign shows visits, conversions and revenue beside its cost.