Last updated October 12, 2026 · Report an error
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is one of the most important numbers in growth marketing: it tells you how much, on average, you spend to win each new customer. Without it, spending decisions are guesswork.
This calculator divides your total marketing and sales spend by the number of new customers acquired in the same period to get your CAC.
How it works
Enter your total marketing spend, optional sales cost, and the number of new customers acquired over the same period. The tool divides the combined cost by new customers to give your CAC.
- Enter total marketing spend.
- Enter total sales cost (optional).
- Enter new customers acquired.
- Click Calculate to see your results.
Examples
CAC for a $12,000 acquisition budget
$10,000 in marketing spend plus $2,000 in sales cost, acquiring 100 new customers, gives a CAC of $120 per customer.
Who should use it
- Evaluating whether marketing spend is producing efficient customer growth.
- Comparing CAC against customer lifetime value to check unit economics.
Industry applications
- Marketing and growth
- SaaS and subscription businesses
Advantages
- Simple, fast calculation from numbers most businesses already track.
- Combines marketing and sales cost for a more complete acquisition cost figure.
Limitations
- A single blended CAC can hide large differences between acquisition channels.
- Doesn't account for how quickly a customer becomes profitable (payback period).
Common mistakes to avoid
- Only counting ad spend and leaving out sales team cost, understating true CAC.
- Comparing CAC across very different time periods without normalizing for seasonality.
Best practices
- Track CAC alongside customer lifetime value (CLV) — a healthy business generally needs CLV meaningfully higher than CAC.
Tips
- Calculate CAC separately per acquisition channel (paid ads, organic, referral) when possible — a blended number can hide a channel that's quietly unprofitable.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, with no signup and no limit on how many calculations you run.
For a complete CAC figure, yes — many companies undercount CAC by only including ad spend and ignoring sales team cost, which understates the true cost of acquisition.
It depends entirely on your business model — a good CAC is one that's meaningfully lower than your customer lifetime value (CLV). Compare your CAC against our CLV calculator to check that ratio.
Use a consistent period (monthly, quarterly) that matches how your marketing and sales spend and customer counts are tracked, so the ratio is comparing like with like.