Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator
What it costs to win one new customer: marketing and sales spend divided by the customers they brought – blended, marketing-only and paid-only.
What is customer acquisition cost?
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is everything you spend to win new customers – ads, content, sales salaries and commissions, agencies, tools – divided by the number of new customers in the same period.
Example: 12,000 on marketing, 6,000 on sales and 2,000 on agencies and software bring 160 new customers. CAC = 20,000 ÷ 160 = 125.
Blended, marketing and paid CAC
- Blended CAC – all acquisition costs ÷ all new customers, including those who found you on their own.
- Marketing-only CAC – marketing spend ÷ new customers (here 75). Useful when sales costs are tracked elsewhere.
- Paid CAC – marketing spend ÷ customers from paid channels (12,000 ÷ 110 = 109.09). It shows what advertising really costs per customer, without organic customers making it look cheaper.
Is my CAC good?
CAC is only good or bad compared with what a customer brings. Check it against customer lifetime value (LTV:CAC of about 3:1 is the usual target) and the payback period – both calculators are linked below.
Common mistakes
Mixing periods (spend from one month, customers from another), leaving out salaries or tools, and counting returning customers as new all make CAC look lower than it is.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate CAC?
Add up marketing, sales and other acquisition costs for a period and divide by the new customers won in that period. 20,000 ÷ 160 = 125.
Should salaries be included in CAC?
Yes for the people who work on acquisition – marketers, salespeople, their tools. Leave out customer service and product costs.
What is the difference between CAC and CPA?
CPA is the ad cost of one conversion, which may not be a new customer; CAC covers all acquisition costs per new paying customer.