Free tool · blended and paid CAC · instant result
Work out what a new customer really costs you, blended across all of sales and marketing and for paid media alone, then how many months it takes to earn that back and what the customer is worth against it. Your CAC payback is compared with the 2026 B2B SaaS median. No email needed to see the result.
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Calculated from the numbers above. Payback here is simple: it assumes every customer keeps paying the same amount, and churn is counted only in the lifetime value.
You get your blended and paid CAC, payback and LTV:CAC with the inputs you used, plus the 2026 CAC payback benchmarks by company type, growth rate and deal size, each with its source and sample. We’ll ask you to confirm your email first, then send it. That is the only email you’ll get, unless you tick the box below.
Customer acquisition cost is everything you spent on sales and marketing in a period, divided by the new customers you won in that period. The CAC payback period turns that cost into time: the months of gross profit a new customer takes to earn it back. LTV:CAC sets the cost against what the customer is worth over their whole life with you.
Blended CAC = (paid media + other marketing + sales and marketing salaries) ÷ new customers
Paid CAC = paid media ÷ new customers from paid channels
CAC payback (months) = CAC ÷ (monthly revenue per customer × gross margin)
Customer lifetime (months) = 1 ÷ monthly churn
LTV = monthly revenue per customer × gross margin × lifetime
LTV:CAC = LTV ÷ CAC
Worked example. In one month a company spends $30,000 on paid media, $15,000 on other marketing and $45,000 on sales and marketing salaries: $90,000 in all. It wins 60 new customers, 25 of them from paid channels. Blended CAC is $1,500, and paid CAC is $1,200. Each customer pays $150 a month at an 80% gross margin, so earns $120 of gross profit a month and pays back its CAC in 12.5 months, faster than the 16-month median. At 2% monthly churn a customer stays about 50 months and is worth $6,000 in gross profit, an LTV:CAC of 4.0:1.
The most current benchmark that names its sample is the 2026 Aleph × Benchmarkit report: 198 B2B SaaS and AI-native companies that reported CAC payback, on full-year 2025 data. The median is 16 months. The cohort moves the number a lot, so compare yourself with the row that describes you.
| Group | Median CAC payback |
|---|---|
| All B2B SaaS in the sample | 16 months |
| Top quartile | 6 months or fewer |
| Bottom quartile | 24 months or more |
| Horizontal SaaS | 14 months |
| Vertical SaaS | 18 months |
| Growing faster than 50% a year | 10 months |
| Growing 21–30% a year | 22 months |
| $50K–$100K annual contract value | 22 months |
Source: Aleph, CAC payback period benchmarks for SaaS (2026), reporting the 2026 Aleph × Benchmarkit SaaS & AI Performance Benchmarks (published 1 June 2026; 342 companies, 198 reporting CAC payback; full-year 2025 data). Checked 25 September 2026.
Two older figures still get quoted. Bessemer Venture Partners sets targets of under 12 months for SMB-focused companies, under 18 for mid-market and under 24 for enterprise: what an investor wants to see, not a measured median. The KeyBanc Capital Markets and Sapphire Ventures survey of more than 100 private SaaS companies put the 2022 median near 23 months. The full comparison, and the five ways payback numbers get quoted wrong, is in CAC payback period benchmarks for B2B SaaS and fintech.
It is a guideline, not a measured benchmark. David Skok’s SaaS Metrics 2.0 says the best SaaS businesses have an LTV to CAC ratio higher than 3, and that many of the best recover their CAC in 5 to 7 months. We found no named, sample-sized LTV:CAC median, so the calculator compares your payback with the 2026 data and your LTV:CAC with the 3:1 guideline, and says which is which. Lifetime value from churn also runs high when churn is low: at 1% a month it assumes a customer stays more than eight years.
Add up everything you spent on sales and marketing in a period (ad spend, other marketing, and the salaries of the people who win customers), then divide by the number of new customers won in that period. Leave out upgrades from existing customers.
Blended CAC divides all sales and marketing spend by all new customers. Paid CAC divides ad spend alone by the customers that came from paid channels. Paid CAC is lower and is what ad reports show; blended CAC is what investors and benchmark reports use.
Divide CAC by the monthly gross profit from one customer: monthly revenue per customer times gross margin. A $1,500 CAC against $150 a month at an 80% margin pays back in 12.5 months.
In the 2026 Aleph and Benchmarkit data, the median for B2B SaaS is 16 months, the top quartile is 6 months or fewer and the bottom quartile 24 months or more. The “under 12 months” figure is an investor target for SMB-focused companies, not a measured median.
3:1 or better is the usual guideline, from David Skok’s SaaS Metrics 2.0, which says the best SaaS businesses are above 3. It is a rule of thumb rather than a measured median, and it depends on how lifetime value is calculated.
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Want your CAC worked out from your own accounts and ad data? The Acquisition Audit reviews your paid accounts, checks your tracking and turns both into a 90-day plan. US$2,500, fixed. Or book a 20-minute fit call first.