Finance

CAC & LTV Calculator — Customer Value & Cost Solver

Calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), LTV:CAC Ratio, and Payback Period for SaaS and e-commerce.

How to use this calculator

👉 Fill in the boxes below and your answer appears instantly — no maths needed, we do it all for you! 🎉

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In plain English — what does this do?

💵 A money helper! It works out things like how much to save, how much you owe, or how much you’ll have in the future. Just fill in the boxes and you’ll get your answer.

📌 Direct Answer & Summary

The CAC & LTV Calculator calculates the relationship between the cost to acquire a customer (Customer Acquisition Cost) and the total revenue that customer will generate over their relationship with your business (Customer Lifetime Value). This ratio (LTV:CAC) is a critical health metric for SaaS, subscription, and e-commerce startups.

SaaS Efficiency Analysis

CAC $50.00
LTV $720.00
LTV:CAC Ratio 14.4x
Payback Period 2.5 months

What is CAC & LTV Calculator — Customer Value & Cost Solver?

The CAC & LTV Calculator calculates the relationship between the cost to acquire a customer (Customer Acquisition Cost) and the total revenue that customer will generate over their relationship with your business (Customer Lifetime Value). This ratio (LTV:CAC) is a critical health metric for SaaS, subscription, and e-commerce startups.

How to use it

  1. 1️⃣ Enter the total Sales and Marketing Spend for a given period.
  2. 2️⃣ Enter the number of New Customers Acquired during that same period.
  3. 3️⃣ Enter the Average Purchase Value, Purchase Frequency per year, average Customer Lifespan, and your Gross Margin %.
  4. 4️⃣ The CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC Ratio, and Payback Period in months will update instantly.

Formula

CAC = S&M Spend / New Customers. LTV = Average Purchase Value * Purchase Frequency * Customer Lifespan * Gross Margin %. LTV:CAC = LTV / CAC. Payback Period = CAC / (Monthly Customer Margin Contribution).

💡 See it in action — a real example

If S&M is $10,000 to acquire 100 customers: CAC = $100. If each customer spends $50, 4 times/yr, for 3 yrs, with 80% margin: LTV = 50 * 4 * 3 * 0.8 = $480. LTV:CAC = 4.8x. Payback Period = 100 / (200 * 0.8 / 12) = 7.5 months.

❓ Common questions

What is a healthy LTV:CAC ratio?
For established subscription businesses, an LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or higher is considered healthy. 4:1 indicates great efficiency, while 1:1 or lower means you are losing money on acquisition.
What is the payback period?
The number of months it takes for a customer to generate enough gross profit to fully pay back the cost it took to acquire them. Under 12 months is generally considered excellent.

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