Finance Calculator
CAC Payback
Compare CAC against monthly gross profit per customer to estimate payback speed and efficiency.
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Unit economics
Use fully-loaded acquisition cost per customer.
Monthly average revenue per account.
Defaults to 80% for a simple SaaS-style baseline.
Live results
Snapshot
CAC payback
Incomplete
Enter CAC and ARPA to estimate payback.
Gross margin
80%
Payback is based on gross profit only. It does not factor in churn, cash collection timing, support costs, or expansion revenue.
CAC Payback Calculator
Use this calculator to estimate how many months it takes to recover customer acquisition cost based on revenue per customer and gross margin. It gives a quick efficiency view, not a full growth forecast.
Explanation
CAC payback is calculated from customer acquisition cost divided by monthly gross profit per customer. Monthly gross profit is revenue per customer multiplied by gross margin. If gross profit is low, CAC takes longer to recover.
When to Use
Use this when evaluating marketing efficiency, planning growth budgets, preparing investor metrics, or comparing acquisition channels. It also helps when forecasting sales efficiency.
Common Mistakes
Founders often use revenue instead of gross profit, exclude sales costs, or ignore marketing overhead. Those choices can make CAC payback look shorter than it really is.
FAQ
Customer Acquisition Cost is the total sales and marketing spend required to acquire one new customer.
ARPA stands for Average Revenue Per Account. It represents the average monthly revenue generated per customer.
Many SaaS companies target 12 months or less, though the right benchmark varies by industry and growth stage.