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Customer Acquisition Cost Calculator

What does it really cost you to win a customer? Add your sales and marketing spend, split it by channel, and see your blended and paid CAC along with how quickly each customer pays you back.

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Your inputs
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₹
%
Monthly acquisition spend
₹
₹
₹
₹
₹
Blended CAC
Excellent
₹4,083
Each customer pays back their CAC in about 2.2 months
Paid CAC
₹3,810
Payback period
2.2 mo
Total spend
₹4.9 L
Cheapest channel
Referral & other
CAC by channel
Cost to win a customer per channel
Google / Search₹4,412
Meta / Social₹4,487
Sales team₹5,357
Content & SEO₹2,604
Referral & other₹2,500
Payback period
061218
2
Excellent
Spend mix
Where your acquisition budget goes
₹4.9L
Total spend
Google / Search37%
Meta / Social29%
Sales team18%
Content & SEO10%
Referral & other6%
How this calculator works

Spend over customers won

Blended CAC divides all acquisition spend by every new customer. Paid CAC isolates paid channels. Compare CAC to gross profit for payback.

The formulas
Blended CAC
Total spend ÷ Customers won
Paid CAC
Paid spend ÷ Paid customers
Gross profit
Revenue per customer × Gross margin
Payback (months)
CAC ÷ Monthly gross profit
Every field explained

What each input actually means

Customers won this period
The number of new paying customers you acquired in the period you are measuring. Keep the period consistent with your spend.
Avg revenue per customer
Average monthly revenue a customer brings in, often called ARPA. It feeds the payback calculation.
Gross margin
The share of revenue left after the direct cost of serving a customer. Payback uses gross profit, not raw revenue.
Google / Search ads
Spend on search and shopping ads. A paid channel, so it counts toward your paid CAC.
Meta / Social ads
Spend on social platforms like Meta, LinkedIn or YouTube. Also a paid channel.
Sales team & tools
Salaries, commissions and software for the people who close customers. Real acquisition cost.
Content & SEO
Investment in content, SEO and organic growth. Lowers blended CAC but takes time to compound.
Referral & other
Referral incentives, partnerships and anything else that brings customers in.
Benchmarks

What CAC payback is healthy?

Faster payback means growth funds itself, so watch this number as you scale paid channels.

Payback under 6 months
Excellent. You recover acquisition cost fast, so growth largely funds itself and you can scale with confidence.
Payback 6 to 12 months
Healthy for most startups. Keep an eye on it as you scale paid channels, since CAC usually rises with volume.
Payback 12 to 18 months
Getting slow. Tighten targeting, lift conversion, or raise prices so each customer pays back faster.
LTV to CAC of 3 or more
The classic healthy ratio. If a customer is worth at least three times what they cost, your unit economics work.
Questions, answered

CAC FAQ

Customer acquisition cost, or CAC, is the average amount you spend to win one new customer. You calculate it by dividing total sales and marketing spend in a period by the number of new customers gained in that period.
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