CAC Payback Calculator
Enter CAC per customer, monthly revenue per customer, gross margin %, monthly S&M salaries, S&M tools and ad spend not already in CAC, new customers per month, and monthly churn. See gross profit per customer, fully-loaded cost, total CAC, base payback months, churn-adjusted payback, efficiency rating, and annual profit after payback. Use it to know if your growth is efficient before you scale spend.
Instant calculations · Editable fee assumptions · Export-ready results
Inputs
Values update results instantly. Adjust fee assumptions to match your seller dashboard.
Costs
Total cost to acquire one customer — ads, sales, tools
Monthly salaries for SDRs, AEs, marketers
CRM, outreach tools, ad spend not in CAC
Revenue
Monthly revenue per customer
Revenue minus COGS/hosting divided by revenue
Volume
Customers acquired monthly
Retention
Monthly churn rate
Results
Live estimates based on your inputs and editable fee assumptions.
Gross profit per customer / mo
$66.75
Revenue × margin.
Fully loaded S&M per customer
$766.67
(Salaries + tools) / new customers.
Total CAC (base + fully loaded)
$1,616.67
True cost to acquire.
Payback months (base)
24.22
Total CAC ÷ gross profit.
Payback months churn-adjusted
88.58
Payback with churn drag.
Efficiency rating
needs work
Excellent <12mo, Good <18, Okay <24.
Annual profit per customer after payback
-$815.67
Gross profit × (12 − payback).
Months revenue needed to be profitable
24.22
Same as payback for cohort.
What this means
Gross profit $66.75/mo. Fully loaded $767 + base $850 = $1617 total CAC. Payback 24.2 months base, 88.6 months churn-adjusted. Rating needs work. Annual profit after $-816 per customer.
Cumulative profit vs CAC payback crossover
Interactive breakdown of fees, costs, and remaining profit.
Distribution
- Total CAC$1,616.6789.0%
- Monthly gross profit$200.2511.0%
Total $1,816.92 · 2 segments · interactive
Line-item breakdown
Dollar amounts, share of revenue, and visual proportion.
- Base CAC
- $850.00
- Fully loaded S&M per customer
- $766.67
- Total CAC
- $1,616.67
- Avg monthly revenue
- $89.00
- Gross profit / mo
- $66.75
- Payback months base
- 24.22
- Churn waste / mo
- $48.50
- Effective monthly after churn
- $18.25
- Payback churn-adjusted
- 88.58
- Annual profit after payback
- -$815.67
Assumptions used
- • Gross $66.75 = $89.00×75.0%
- • Fully $766.67 = ($8000.00+$1200.00)/12
- • Total CAC $1616.67 = $850.00+$766.67
- • Payback 24.2 = 1616.67/66.75
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CAC Payback Calculator
Generated 8/4/2026, 2:49:34 PM · Currency USD
Inputs
- CAC per customer (ads, sales): 850
- Avg monthly revenue per customer: 89
- Gross margin %: 75
- Monthly S&M salaries: 8000
- Monthly S&M tools and extra ad spend: 1200
- New customers per month: 12
- Monthly churn %: 3
Results
- Base CAC: $850.00
- Fully loaded S&M per customer: $766.67
- Total CAC: $1,616.67
- Avg monthly revenue: $89.00
- Gross profit / mo: $66.75
- Payback months base: 24.22
- Churn waste / mo: $48.50
- Effective monthly after churn: $18.25
- Payback churn-adjusted: 88.58
- Annual profit after payback: -$815.67
Interpretation
Gross profit $66.75/mo. Fully loaded $767 + base $850 = $1617 total CAC. Payback 24.2 months base, 88.6 months churn-adjusted. Rating needs work. Annual profit after $-816 per customer.
How it works
Methodology & formulas
This calculator is transparent by design. Review the steps and formulas so you can trust the estimate and adjust assumptions when your dashboard differs.
Calculation steps
- 1Calculate gross profit per customer from revenue and margin.
- 2Spread monthly S&M fixed costs over new customers for fully loaded cost.
- 3Add to base CAC for total CAC.
- 4Divide total CAC by gross profit for base payback.
- 5Subtract estimated churn waste (CAC×churn) from monthly profit for adjusted payback.
- 6Rate efficiency by industry benchmarks: under 12 excellent, 18 good.
Formulas
- grossProfit = avgRevenue × margin%/100
- fullyLoaded = (salaries+tools)/newPerMonth
- totalCAC = baseCAC + fullyLoaded
- payback = totalCAC / grossProfit
- effective = grossProfit − totalCAC×churn%
- paybackAdj = totalCAC / effective
- annualProfitAfter = grossProfit×12 − totalCAC
Important assumptions
- Gross profit per customer = avgMonthlyRevenue × margin%/100.
- Fully loaded S&M per customer = (salaries + tools)/newCustomersPerMonth.
- Total CAC = cacPerCustomer + fullyLoaded.
- Base payback = totalCAC / grossProfit.
- Churn drag monthly = totalCAC × churnRate/100 ; effective monthly = grossProfit − churnDrag approximated.
- Churn-adjusted payback = totalCAC / max(effective, 1) to avoid divide by zero.
- Annual profit after payback = grossProfit×12 − totalCAC if payback <12 else grossProfit×12 − totalCAC prorated negative if not yet recovered.
Worked example
$850 CAC, $89 MRR, 75% margin, $9.2K S&M
$850 base CAC, $89 revenue, 75% margin = $66.75 gross/mo. S&M $8K salaries + $1.2K tools over 12 customers = $766.67 fully loaded. Total $1,616.67. Payback 24.2 months. 3% churn waste $48.51, effective $18.24, adjusted 33.3 months.
FAQ
Common questions
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