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Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Calculator

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is what you spend, on average, to win one new customer. It's a cornerstone metric for judging whether your growth is profitable.

Your details

Customer acquisition cost
$40.00
Total spend
$8,000.00

Marketing vs sales spend

$8.0KTotal
Marketing
$5,000.0063%
Sales
$3,000.0038%
Customer acquisition cost$40.00

Formula

CAC = (marketing spend + sales spend) ÷ new customers acquired, over the same period.

How it works

CAC only means something next to lifetime value (LTV). A healthy SaaS business often targets an LTV:CAC ratio of about 3:1 — if you spend $40 to acquire a customer worth $840, you're in great shape.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good CAC?

There's no universal number — it depends on your price and margins. The key is that your customer lifetime value is comfortably higher than your CAC, often around 3× or more.

What costs go into CAC?

All sales and marketing costs to acquire customers in a period: ad spend, salaries, tools, agencies, and commissions — divided by the customers won in that period.

How do I lower CAC?

Improve conversion rates, lean on organic and referral channels, sharpen targeting, and shorten the sales cycle. Retention also helps by raising LTV against the same CAC.

Sources & methodology

Total sales + marketing spend ÷ new customers for the period. Simple average; excludes payback-period timing.

Last updated: 2026-07-22

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