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Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator

Calculate your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and LTV:CAC ratio. Break down marketing vs. sales spend and benchmark against industry standards.

CAC Calculator

Calculate your Customer Acquisition Cost and LTV:CAC ratio

Ads, content, SEO, events, etc.

Salaries, commissions, tools, etc.

Enter CLV to see LTV:CAC ratio

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Customer Acquisition Cost

$150

per customer ($15,000 total spend / month)

$100

Marketing CAC

$50

Sales CAC

LTV:CAC Ratio

Enter CLV above

Spending Breakdown

Marketing$10,000 (66.7%)
Sales$5,000 (33.3%)

LTV:CAC Benchmarks

> 5:1 — Under-investingCould grow faster with more spend
3:1 - 5:1 — IdealHealthy and efficient
2:1 - 3:1 — AcceptableRoom for improvement
1:1 - 2:1 — WarningBarely profitable
< 1:1 — UnsustainableLosing money on every customer

How to reduce CAC

  • Improve conversion rates — optimize landing pages and signup flows
  • Invest in organic channels — SEO, content marketing, and referrals have lower CAC long-term
  • Email marketing has one of the lowest CACs at $1-5 per acquisition via lead magnets
  • Reduce sales cycle length — shorter cycles mean lower cost per deal
  • Focus on retention — it is 5-25x cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one

About this tool

Customer Acquisition Cost is how much you spend to win each new customer. Tracking CAC alongside lifetime value reveals whether your growth is profitable or you're buying customers at a loss. The LTV:CAC ratio is one of the most important SaaS metrics — investors look for 3:1 or better. Use our CLV calculator to find your lifetime value, and our MRR calculator to understand revenue impact. Email marketing typically has the lowest CAC of any channel — measure it with our email ROI calculator and optimize with our conversion rate calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions