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CAC / LTV Calculator: Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Value & Payback

Check whether acquiring customers makes money. Enter sales and marketing spend, new customers, monthly revenue per customer, gross margin and churn to get CAC, LTV, the LTV:CAC ratio and payback months.

QUICK ANSWERCAC = sales and marketing spend ÷ new customers. LTV = monthly revenue per customer × gross margin ÷ monthly churn. A healthy business has LTV:CAC of 3:1 or better and recovers CAC within 12–18 months.

CAC = S&M spend ÷ New customers
LTV = ARPU × Gross margin ÷ Churn
Payback (months) = CAC ÷ (ARPU × Gross margin)

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What the CAC & LTV Calculator does

✅ CAC per customer
✅ Gross-margin LTV
✅ LTV:CAC ratio
✅ CAC payback months
✅ Benchmark verdict

How to use the CAC & LTV Calculator

STEP 1
Enter your numbers
Type the figures you know. Every field starts with a realistic example so you can see how it works.
STEP 2
Read the result instantly
Results, tables and the plain-English explanation update as you type. No submit button, no login.
STEP 3
Test scenarios
Change one assumption at a time (valuation, growth, dilution, exit) to see what really moves the outcome.
STEP 4
Share or save
Copy the summary, send it on WhatsApp or print to PDF for your co-founders, board or investment committee.

Common CAC and LTV mistakes

Leaving out sales salaries, agency fees and tools understates CAC. Using revenue instead of gross margin, or a very low early churn rate, overstates LTV. Both make unit economics look better than they are.

Payback is often more useful than LTV:CAC for early companies because it does not depend on guessing customer lifetime.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LTV to CAC ratio?

3:1 or higher is the common benchmark. Much higher than 5:1 can mean you are under-investing in growth.

What is CAC payback?

The number of months of gross profit from a customer needed to recover what it cost to acquire them.

Should CAC include salaries?

Yes, include salaries of sales and marketing staff, agency costs and tools, not just ad spend (“fully loaded CAC”).

Is this tool free? Do I need to sign up?

Yes. It is completely free, needs no login and has no usage limit. FastFee builds payment collection software; these startup and investor tools are free resources for founders, angels and fund managers.

Is my data private?

Yes. Everything you type stays in your own browser on this device (local storage). Nothing is uploaded to FastFee. Export or print a copy if you need to keep it.

Use it together with

SaaS Metrics Calculator →Full SaaS dashboard: MRR movement, ARR, NRR, GRR, logo churn, ARPU, payback, quick ratio, Rule of 40.D2C Metrics Calculator →AOV, ROAS, break-even ROAS, CAC, repeat share and CM1/CM2/CM3 for D2C brands.

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