Calculate cohort CAC
Acquisition spend divided by new paying accounts gives the base customer acquisition cost.
Free SaaS unit economics tool
CAC Payback Calculator
Calculate gross-margin-adjusted SaaS CAC payback, acquisition spend per customer and cohort cash exposure from sales and revenue inputs.
- Calculated instantly from your inputs
- No signup or data submission
- A focused next step for MVP planning
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Your inputs
Estimate how long a new account takes to repay acquisition cost
Use a consistent acquisition cohort. Payback divides CAC by monthly gross profit per account, not by revenue alone.
Your calculated result
Your result
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How it works
Add variable onboarding
Account-specific onboarding cost increases the cash that must be recovered.
Adjust revenue for margin
Total CAC divided by monthly ARPA times gross margin gives estimated payback months.
Frequently asked questions
What is the CAC payback formula?
This calculator uses (acquisition spend per new account plus variable onboarding cost) divided by monthly ARPA multiplied by gross margin.
Should founder time be included in CAC?
Include it when it is a material acquisition input and you want an economic rather than cash-only view. Be consistent between periods.
Does the result account for churn?
No. Payback assumes the account remains active long enough. Compare the result with retention and customer lifetime.
Can blended CAC hide channel performance?
Yes. Calculate by acquisition channel or segment when attribution and sample sizes are reliable enough.
How we compare
| Capability | MVPHub | ChartMogul | Baremetrics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transparent payback formula | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manual scenario inputs | ✓ | — | — |
| Connected subscription analytics | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
MVPHub provides a transparent cohort scenario calculation. ChartMogul and Baremetrics provide connected recurring-revenue and SaaS metric analytics.