CAC & LTV calculator
Work out your customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and whether the ratio between them is healthy.
Unit economics
Aim for an LTV:CAC of about 3× or higher. Below that, you are spending too much to win each customer relative to what they are worth.
Indicative estimate based on your inputs. LTV uses gross margin, so it reflects profit, not revenue. Real payback also depends on how quickly customers repeat and how long they stay.
How the CAC & LTV calculator works
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is what you pay, on average, to win one new customer: your monthly marketing spend divided by the number of new customers it brings in. Lifetime value (LTV) is the gross-margin profit a customer generates over the whole time they stay with you — average order value, multiplied by how often they buy per year, by how many years they stick around, by your gross margin.
The number that matters is the ratio between the two. Divide LTV by CAC and you see how many euros of profit each euro of acquisition buys. A ratio of about 3× or higher is considered healthy: you have room to reinvest, absorb overheads and still grow. Between 1× and 3× is thin — you make money on each customer, but there is little margin for error. Below 1× you lose money on every customer you acquire.
This calculator uses gross margin rather than raw revenue, so the LTV figure reflects actual profit. It is a planning estimate: real payback also depends on how fast customers repeat, churn, and whether your acquisition costs stay flat as you scale spend.
Around 3× or higher is the common benchmark. It means each customer is worth roughly three times what it costs to acquire them, leaving room for overheads, product costs and growth. Much higher than 3× can even signal you are under-investing in growth.
Not sure your numbers add up?
If your LTV:CAC is thin, the fix is usually better conversion, automation or retention — not just more ad spend. Book a consultation and we will look at where your unit economics leak and what to change first.