Calculate customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, and LTV:CAC ratio with payback period and unit economics breakdown.
Put customer value and acquisition spending on the same footing. This calculator estimates lifetime value for one customer, derives the cost of acquiring one customer, divides LTV by CAC, and reports the time needed for customer contribution to recover CAC. Its unit economics breakdown shows whether revenue, gross margin, retention, or acquisition spending drives the result. Check that periods and populations are aligned, such as monthly retention assumptions with annual customer revenue, or company-wide sales expense with customers attributed to one campaign.
The LTV side combines customer-level revenue with gross margin and an expected customer duration. Revenue and duration must use compatible periods, and the same customer definition should apply throughout. Any retention, churn, or lifetime assumption must match the revenue cadence. Gross margin keeps the result focused on value remaining after delivery costs, rather than treating every dollar of revenue as available to recover acquisition spending.
The CAC side spreads entered acquisition spending across the new customers associated with it. The ratio is LTV divided by CAC. Payback instead compares CAC with customer contribution generated in each period. A strong lifetime ratio can coexist with a long recovery period when contribution arrives slowly. Margin can change LTV and payback without changing CAC.
No. It means estimated lifetime value is larger relative to acquisition cost, but it does not prove that growth is efficient. The result can rise because retention assumptions are optimistic, costs are omitted, or acquisition spending is too low to support growth. Review payback, cohort evidence, cost scope, and capacity before treating a high ratio as a target.
Not safely without checking definitions. Companies may use different revenue bases, gross margins, churn windows, acquisition-cost scopes, attribution rules, and cohort ages. One may compare contribution-based LTV with fully loaded CAC while another uses revenue-based LTV and media-only CAC. Comparison becomes meaningful only after the numerator, denominator, time basis, currency, and customer population are aligned.
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