A building block this site’s customer lifetime value calculator uses directly — LTV alone says nothing about whether growth is profitable until it’s compared against what each customer costs to acquire.
How it works
Total sales and marketing spend for a period is divided by the number of new customers acquired in that same period.
What this does not include
This uses total spend divided by total new customers — a business running multiple channels with very different costs per customer may want to compute CAC per channel separately rather than one blended figure.
How to use this calculator
- Enter total sales and marketing spend and new customers acquired for the same period.
A worked example
$100,000 in acquisition spend bringing in 500 new customers: CAC = 100,000 ÷ 500 = $200 per customer.
What the variables mean
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Spend | Total marketing and sales spend for the period |
| New customers | Number of new customers acquired during that period |
Edge cases worth knowing
CAC alone doesn’t say whether the spend was worthwhile — that requires comparing it against customer lifetime value (see this site’s LTV:CAC ratio calculator), since a high CAC can still be profitable if customers generate enough revenue over time.
Zero new customers makes CAC undefined — there’s no acquisition count to divide spend by, so the calculator returns no result.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as “spend” for CAC?
All sales and marketing costs for the period — ad spend, salaries for sales and marketing staff, tools, and related overhead — not just media spend alone.
Is a lower CAC always better?
Generally, yes, but CAC means little on its own — it has to be compared against LTV; this site’s LTV calculator computes that ratio directly.
Should CAC include existing-customer marketing?
No — CAC is meant to isolate the cost of acquiring new customers specifically, so spend aimed at retaining or upselling existing customers shouldn’t be included in the numerator.
