CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the fully-loaded sales and marketing spend required to win one new customer.

What is CAC?

CAC includes salaries, ad spend, tools, and commissions divided by new customers added. CAC payback period — months to recoup CAC from gross profit — is the most-watched companion metric.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's a good CAC payback period?: Under 12 months is healthy SaaS. Under 6 months is exceptional. Over 24 months suggests a unit-economics problem.