{
  "id": "cac",
  "version": "1421e1a00ca2",
  "status": "published",
  "name": "CAC Calculator",
  "question": "What is my CAC?",
  "summary": "Computes customer acquisition cost (CAC): what you spent on sales and marketing in a period ÷ the new customers you won in it, with the marketing and sales cost per customer.",
  "category": "finance",
  "subcategory": "business",
  "url": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/cac-calculator",
  "markdown": "https://www.acalculator.org/finance/cac-calculator.md",
  "kind": "function",
  "method": "CAC = (marketing costs + sales costs) ÷ new customers; marketing cost per customer = marketing costs ÷ new customers; sales cost per customer = sales costs ÷ new customers.",
  "assumptions": [
    "The costs and the new customers cover the same period.",
    "New customers are first-time buyers won in the period; returning customers do not count.",
    "Arithmetic is exact on the typed decimals; money shows to the cent, halves up."
  ],
  "inputs": {
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "marketing": {
        "title": "Marketing costs",
        "description": "What you spent on marketing in the period: ads, content, tools and marketing pay.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000000
      },
      "sales": {
        "title": "Sales costs",
        "description": "What you spent on sales in the period: sales pay, commissions and tools.",
        "type": "number",
        "x-unit": "USD",
        "minimum": 0,
        "maximum": 1000000000000
      },
      "customers": {
        "title": "New customers",
        "description": "The new customers you won in the same period.",
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 1,
        "maximum": 1000000000
      }
    }
  },
  "outputs": {
    "cac": {
      "label": "Customer acquisition cost (CAC)",
      "description": "(Marketing costs + sales costs) ÷ new customers.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "total": {
      "label": "Sales and marketing costs",
      "description": "Marketing costs + sales costs.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "marketingPer": {
      "label": "Marketing cost per new customer",
      "description": "Marketing costs ÷ new customers.",
      "format": "money"
    },
    "salesPer": {
      "label": "Sales cost per new customer",
      "description": "Sales costs ÷ new customers.",
      "format": "money"
    }
  },
  "defaultAnswer": {
    "inputs": {
      "marketing": 30000,
      "sales": 20000,
      "customers": 125
    },
    "outputs": {
      "cac": 400,
      "total": 50000,
      "marketingPer": 240,
      "salesPer": 160
    },
    "text": "$50,000.00 of sales and marketing for 125 new customers is a CAC of $400.00."
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "given": {
        "marketing": 30000,
        "sales": 20000,
        "customers": 125
      },
      "expect": {
        "cac": 400,
        "total": 50000,
        "marketingPer": 240,
        "salesPer": 160
      },
      "source": "OpenStax, Principles of Marketing, 2.4 Marketing Plan Progress Using Metrics (CAC is the cost of sales and marketing efforts divided by the number of new customers). https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/2-4-marketing-plan-progress-using-metrics; hand calculation in content.mdx: (30,000 + 20,000) ÷ 125 = 400"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "marketing": 10000,
        "sales": 0,
        "customers": 20
      },
      "expect": {
        "cac": 500,
        "total": 10000
      },
      "source": "OpenStax, Principles of Marketing, 2.4 Marketing Plan Progress Using Metrics (CAC is the cost of sales and marketing efforts divided by the number of new customers). https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/2-4-marketing-plan-progress-using-metrics; hand calculation in content.mdx: 10,000 ÷ 20 = 500"
    },
    {
      "given": {
        "marketing": 8345.67,
        "sales": 4000,
        "customers": 7
      },
      "expect": {
        "cac": 1763.6671428571428,
        "total": 12345.67
      },
      "source": "OpenStax, Principles of Marketing, 2.4 Marketing Plan Progress Using Metrics (CAC is the cost of sales and marketing efforts divided by the number of new customers). https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/2-4-marketing-plan-progress-using-metrics; hand calculation in content.mdx: 12,345.67 ÷ 7 = 1,763.667…, shown as $1,763.67"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    "OpenStax, Principles of Marketing, 2.4 Marketing Plan Progress Using Metrics: customer acquisition cost is calculated by adding up the cost of sales and marketing efforts and dividing by the number of new customers. https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/2-4-marketing-plan-progress-using-metrics (retrieved 2026-10-18)"
  ],
  "related": [
    "customer-lifetime-value",
    "roas",
    "cpc",
    "payback-period"
  ],
  "changelog": []
}