CAC calculator
The short answer
How to calculate customer acquisition cost: divide acquisition spend by new customers. This CAC calculator is a customer acquisition cost calculator that does the division by channel and prints blended CAC, paid CAC, and fully loaded CAC. On the labeled sample, $6,000 divided by 10 new customers is a $600 blended CAC. The fields are example data for a fictional product, not a live business.
How to use the calculator
The rows open on the sample month from the CAC payback guide. Paid ads are $4,800 and 4 new customers. Content and tools are $1,200 and 6 new customers. Those inputs are example data for a fictional product, Sample Till. Replace them.
Mark Paid on a row when the spend is ads and the customers came from those ads. The salary field opens on that sheet's salary scenario, $3,000. The $3,000 is not part of the base $6,000 of channel spend. Clear the salary field and fully loaded CAC matches blended CAC. Add a channel for another invoice. A blank row is skipped.
The same sample rows are in the CAC template (CSV).
What counts as acquisition spend
Put ads, tools, and contractor invoices on the channel rows, next to the new customers you attribute to that work. On the sample, the ad invoice is the paid row and the content and tools invoice is the other row. The sample has no contractor row.
Salaries go in the salary field. That amount is what fully loaded CAC adds on top of the channel invoices. Founder time counts only after you have turned the hours into a dollar amount and typed that amount here. The form does not set an hourly rate. The $3,000 is a labeled scenario, not a measured payroll and not a price for hours.
Keep spend for customers you already had off these rows. The sample invoices are for the new customers only.
Blended vs paid vs fully loaded CAC
The customer acquisition cost formula is spend divided by new customers. The spend you include, and the customers you divide by, are what change the three results.
Blended CAC divides every channel invoice by every new customer on the rows. The salary field stays out of that numerator. Paid CAC divides the rows marked Paid by the new customers on those rows. Fully loaded CAC adds the salary field to the channel invoices, then divides by every new customer.
On the sample inputs, blended CAC is $6,000 / 10 = $600. Paid CAC is $4,800 / 4 = $1,200. Fully loaded CAC is ($6,000 + $3,000) / 10 = $900. Those three figures are the example inputs. They are not targets.
CAC by channel
Each row has its own CAC: that row's spend divided by that row's new customers. On the sample, paid ads are $4,800 / 4 = $1,200, and content and tools are $1,200 / 6 = $200.
A row with spend and zero new customers does not produce a row CAC. The spend still sits in the blended numerator. Use the customers that the spend was meant to buy. Paid spend divided by every customer, or every invoice divided by only the paid customers, are different divisions. The payback guide walks through both on this sample month.
What to do with the number
Read the result next to what a new customer pays you, and next to how many months of that pay cover the cost. Recurring revenue per user is the ARPU calculator. The rules for which users go in that division are in how to calculate ARPU. Months of gross profit to cover the spend are the CAC payback calculator. If the customer leaves before the spend is covered, the rate for that loss is the churn rate guide. The same month of spend also sits in operating costs when you measure gross burn, net burn, and runway.
The other calculators are on the tools page.
FAQ
What is a good CAC for SaaS?
This page does not give a dollar target for a good CAC. Set the result next to what a customer pays you, and next to how many months of that pay cover the cost. Revenue per user is the ARPU calculator. Months to cover the spend are the CAC payback calculator. A higher customer acquisition cost against the same revenue per user takes longer to pay back. The sample $600, $1,200, and $900 are example inputs, not targets.
Should founder time count in CAC?
Count founder time only when you type a dollar amount in the salary field. The form has no hourly rate. Hours with no dollar amount stay out of the division. The $3,000 loaded in that field is the salary scenario from the sample sheet. It is not a price for founder time, and it is not inside the base blended spend of $6,000.
Do free signups count?
A free signup counts only if you type it into a new-customer field. The sample uses 10 new customers from that month. It has no separate free-signup total. Adding free signups to the customer count spreads the same spend over more people, so CAC falls. Use the count you mean to divide by.
How often should I calculate CAC?
Match the spend and the new customers to the same period. The sample is one month. Calculate again when the next period closes, so the invoices and the new customers stay in one window. A week uses the same customer acquisition cost formula on a shorter window. This page does not require a fixed calendar cadence.
CAC vs CPA?
CAC on this CAC calculator is acquisition spend divided by new customers. CPA, cost per acquisition, is that same division when the acquisition is a new customer. Ad accounts often use CPA for a click, a lead, or a signup that is not a customer yet. When the denominator is not a new customer, the figure is not the CAC this form prints. Paid CAC here is paid-channel spend divided by customers from the paid rows, not cost per click.