SaaS CAC Calculator

Customer Acquisition Cost · LTV:CAC Ratio · Payback Period

Customer Acquisition Cost
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Enter your spend and customer data
CAC
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LTV:CAC Ratio
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CAC Payback
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Cost Per Lead
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Monthly Spend/Customer
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Mktg Efficiency
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customers per $1k

Spend Breakdown

CAC = Spend ÷ Customers
Payback = CAC ÷ (ARPU × GM%)
LTV:CAC = LTV ÷ CAC
Bear Case
+30% Spend, -20% Customers
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Base Case
Current Inputs
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Bull Case
-30% Spend, +20% Customers
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Sensitivity Matrix — CAC by Spend × Customers

Heat map: green = lower CAC, red = higher CAC

CAC Benchmarks by Company Stage

LTV:CAC Ratio Gauge

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Critical <1 Poor 1–2 Good 3–5 Excellent >5

Industry CAC Comparison

IndustryAvg CACLTV:CAC TargetPayback
Consumer SaaS$100–$5003:16–12 mo
SMB SaaS$500–$2,0003:112–18 mo
Mid-Market SaaS$2,000–$10,0003–5:112–24 mo
Enterprise SaaS$10,000–$100k3–5:118–36 mo
E-commerce$10–$1002–3:13–6 mo
Fintech$200–$1,0003:112 mo
HR Tech$1,000–$5,0003–4:115–24 mo
Your Company———

How to Use This Calculator

1

Enter Sales & Marketing Costs

Input total spend including salaries, commissions, tools, ad spend, content, and events for the period.

2

Enter New Customers

Input the number of new paying customers acquired (not trials or free users) during the same period.

3

Analyze SaaS Unit Economics

Review your fully-loaded CAC, CAC payback period, CAC:LTV ratio, and magic number for sales efficiency.

Formula & Methodology

Fully-Loaded CAC

CAC = (Total Sales Cost + Total Marketing Cost) / New Customers

Includes all headcount, tools, commissions, and overhead — not just ad spend.

CAC Payback

Payback Months = CAC / (ARPU × Gross Margin)

Months of subscription gross profit needed to recoup the cost of acquiring a customer.

Magic Number

Magic Number = Net New ARR (Quarter) / S&M Spend (Prior Quarter)

Above 0.75 = efficient. Above 1.0 = very efficient. Below 0.5 = need to optimize.

About this calculation · Accuracy & Methodology

Key Terms

Fully-Loaded CAC
All sales and marketing costs including salaries, benefits, tools, travel, and commissions divided by new customers.
CAC Payback
The number of months of subscription profit needed to recoup the acquisition cost.
Magic Number
SaaS sales efficiency metric comparing new ARR generated to the sales & marketing spend that created it.
Organic CAC
Cost to acquire customers through non-paid channels like SEO, referrals, or word-of-mouth.
Paid CAC
Cost to acquire customers through paid channels only — ads, sponsored content, paid partnerships.

Real-World Examples

Example 1

PLG SaaS

Marketing: $35,000, Sales: $15,000, New Customers: 120

CAC: $417. With $49/mo ARPU and 85% margin: payback = 10 months. LTV:CAC = 4.8:1.

Example 2

Enterprise SaaS

Marketing: $180,000, Sales: $320,000, New Customers: 12

CAC: $41,667. With $5,000/mo ARPU and 75% margin: payback = 11 months. LTV:CAC = 5.4:1.

SaaS CAC Benchmarks by Motion

Go-to-MarketTypical CACTarget PaybackLTV:CAC Goal
Self-Serve / PLG$50-$500< 6 months> 5:1
Inside Sales (SMB)$500-$3,000< 12 months> 3:1
Inside Sales (MM)$3,000-$15,000< 15 months> 3:1
Field Sales (Enterprise)$15,000-$100,000< 18 months> 5:1

SaaS CAC: The Full Picture

Fully-Loaded vs. Partial CAC

Many companies undercount CAC by excluding salaries, benefits, and overhead. A fully-loaded CAC includes every dollar spent on sales and marketing: team salaries and benefits, commissions and bonuses, software tools, ad spend, content creation, events, and allocated overhead. Partial CAC (ad spend only) can be 3-5× lower than fully-loaded, giving a dangerously optimistic view of unit economics.

The Magic Number

The SaaS Magic Number (popularized by Scale VP) measures how efficiently sales and marketing spend converts to recurring revenue. Calculate it as: Net New ARR this quarter divided by total S&M spend last quarter. Above 0.75 means each dollar of S&M generates $0.75+ of new ARR — a signal to invest more aggressively. Below 0.50 signals that the go-to-market motion needs fundamental optimization before scaling.