CAC Calculator
See what it costs you, on average, to win one new customer.
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What is CAC?
CAC, short for Customer Acquisition Cost, is the average cost of winning a customer: what you spent in a period divided by the new customers you gained in that same period.
CAC is an amount, not a ratio. It measures only first time customers rather than repeat purchases from existing ones, which is why it describes the cost of growth specifically.
How it is calculated
CAC = Total Spend ÷ New Customers
Divide total spend for a period by the number of customers who bought for the first time in that same period. Counting repeat orders as new customers makes CAC look lower than it is.
What you include in spend defines the answer. Ad budget alone measures media cost; adding agency fees and tool subscriptions measures true acquisition cost. Whichever you choose, keep it constant when comparing periods.
How to read the result
CAC is neither good nor bad on its own; it only means something next to the value a customer brings you. If the profit from one customer sits below your CAC, every new customer arrives at a loss.
CAC tends to rise over time, because the easiest to reach audience is reached first. That makes the trend more informative than any single measurement.
Frequently asked questions
Which costs belong in CAC?
The narrowest definition is ad spend alone. A fuller picture adds agency fees, creative production and marketing tool subscriptions. What matters most is keeping the same definition every period.
Is CAC the same as CPA?
They are close but not identical. CPA can measure the cost of any conversion; CAC is specifically the cost of gaining a new customer. They coincide only when your conversion is a purchase and every buyer is new.
Where do I get the new customer count?
You need to separate first time buyers in your order data. Most e-commerce platforms report new versus returning customers; without that split, you can look at first order date per unique customer ID.