CAC Calculator
Calculate your customer acquisition cost across all channels.
Acquisition spend
live
$
$
CAC results
CAC
Blended CAC across all channels
Industry CAC payback benchmark
0 mo122436+
Next step →
Use the LTV:CAC Ratio Calculator to gauge payback fit
How to use this calculator
- Sum your sales spend for the period: salaries, commissions, tools, overhead.
- Sum your marketing spend for the same period: paid ads, content, tools, agency fees.
- Enter the net-new paying customers acquired during that period.
- Pick the closest industry to see how your blended CAC compares to peers.
Calculation method
CAC = (Sales Spend + Marketing Spend) / New Customers
CAC alone is incomplete — pair it with LTV and gross margin to compute payback period and the LTV:CAC ratio.
Frequently Asked Questions
Include all fully-loaded sales and marketing costs: salaries and commissions, paid ads, content production, marketing tools (HubSpot, Marketo), agency fees, sales tools (Salesforce, Outreach), and overhead. Exclude product, engineering, and customer success unless they directly drive acquisition.
Benchmarks vary by ACV. SMB SaaS targets <12 month CAC payback, Mid-market ~18 months, and Enterprise can tolerate 18-24 months given larger contract values and longer retention.
CAC is the dollar cost to acquire one customer. CAC Payback is how many months of gross-margin-adjusted MRR it takes to recover that CAC. Formula: CAC / (ARPU x Gross Margin). Payback matters more than raw CAC because it accounts for monetization speed.
Yes — any cost spent before a customer first pays counts: trial infrastructure, onboarding labor, support during trial. Allocate proportionally if reused across customers.
Tag every campaign with UTM parameters, attribute first-touch and last-touch in your CRM, then divide channel-specific spend by channel-attributed new customers. Compare channel CAC against channel-attributed LTV to find the highest-leverage acquisition mix.
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Business & SaaS Disclaimer
Calculations are estimates for educational purposes. CAC benchmarks vary by ACV, sales motion, and channel mix. SaaSCalcHub is not business or financial advice. Consult business advisors, CPAs, and consultants for your specific situation.
Last updated: May 26, 2026