Compute customer acquisition cost. This dedicated page is built for fast, clean calculations and search visibility.
Enter your values, click calculate, and see the result instantly. The page uses a simple, focused layout to improve usability on mobile and desktop.
How to use this calculator
- Open the cac calculator page.
- Enter the required values in the form fields.
- Click Calculate to see the result and breakdown.
- Use the related links to explore similar tools.
Customer Acquisition Cost and why it matters
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is total marketing and sales spend divided by new customers acquired in the same period. CAC = (Marketing Costs + Sales Costs) ÷ New Customers. A startup spending ₹5 lakh/month on ads and sales staff to acquire 100 new customers has a ₹5,000 CAC. Whether that's good or terrible depends entirely on Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
The LTV:CAC ratio is the primary health metric for subscription and recurring revenue businesses. Industry standards: LTV:CAC of 3:1 or above indicates a healthy business. Below 1:1 means you're losing money on every customer. Above 5:1 might indicate underinvestment in growth.
Common CAC calculation errors
- Excluding salaries: Sales team costs should be included. A founder doing sales has an opportunity cost even if not explicitly paid.
- Blended vs. paid CAC: Blended CAC includes all channels (organic + paid). Paid CAC includes only paid marketing spend and directly attributable customers. Blended CAC appears lower because organic customers are counted but organic investment isn't fully accounted for.
- Time mismatch: Marketing spend in month N often acquires customers in months N+1 to N+3. Lagging your customer count by your average sales cycle gives a more accurate CAC.
CAC typically decreases as brands mature: organic/word-of-mouth channels grow, paid channels are better optimized, and referral programmes activate existing customers. For content sites, SEO-driven organic traffic has CAC approaching zero per customer once content is created.