{"success":true,"version":"v1","request":{"tool":"get_calculator_schema","calculator_id":"cac-ltv"},"result":{"entity_type":"calculator","id":"cac-ltv","calculator_id":"cac-ltv","canonical_url":"https://tttkmbb.com/business/cac-ltv","name":"CAC and LTV Calculator","title":"CAC and LTV Calculator – Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Value, LTV:CAC Ratio and Payback","category":"business","category_name":"Business & Marketing","tool_name":"calculate_cac_ltv","featured_mcp_tool":false,"description":"Computes customer acquisition cost from marketing spend and new customers, customer lifetime value from monthly revenue per customer, gross margin and monthly churn (lifetime = 1 / churn), plus the LTV:CAC ratio and CAC payback period in months.","use_when":"You need SaaS or subscription unit economics: how much a customer costs to acquire, what they are worth over their lifetime, and how the two compare.","do_not_use_when":"Customers buy once rather than recur (LTV then equals margin per order × repeat purchases) or you only need the churn rate itself (use churn-rate).","inputs":[{"name":"marketing_spend","label":"Sales & marketing spend","type":"number","required":true,"min":0,"max":1000000000000,"description":"Total acquisition spend in the period (ads, sales salaries, tools).","example":10000},{"name":"new_customers","label":"New customers acquired","type":"integer","required":true,"max":1000000000,"exclusive_min":0,"description":"Customers won in the same period.","example":100},{"name":"monthly_revenue_per_customer","label":"Monthly revenue per customer","type":"number","required":true,"max":1000000000,"exclusive_min":0,"description":"Average revenue per customer per month (ARPU / ARPA).","example":50},{"name":"gross_margin_percent","label":"Gross margin","type":"number","unit":"%","required":false,"default":100,"max":100,"exclusive_min":0,"description":"Gross margin on that revenue. Use 100 for a revenue-based LTV.","example":80},{"name":"monthly_churn_percent","label":"Monthly customer churn","type":"number","unit":"%","required":true,"max":100,"exclusive_min":0,"description":"Share of customers lost per month; lifetime = 1 / churn.","example":5}],"outputs":[{"name":"cac","label":"CAC","type":"number","decimals":2,"description":"marketing_spend / new_customers."},{"name":"monthly_gross_profit_per_customer","label":"Monthly gross profit per customer","type":"number","decimals":2,"description":"monthly_revenue_per_customer × gross_margin."},{"name":"customer_lifetime_months","label":"Average customer lifetime","type":"number","unit":"months","decimals":2,"description":"1 / (monthly_churn_percent / 100)."},{"name":"ltv","label":"LTV","type":"number","decimals":2,"description":"monthly gross profit per customer × customer lifetime."},{"name":"ltv_to_cac_ratio","label":"LTV : CAC","type":"number","decimals":2,"description":"ltv / cac; 3 or more is the usual benchmark for a healthy subscription business."},{"name":"cac_payback_months","label":"CAC payback","type":"number","unit":"months","decimals":2,"description":"cac / monthly gross profit per customer."},{"name":"assessment","label":"Assessment","type":"string","decimals":4,"description":"Comparison of the ratio with the common 3:1 benchmark."}],"input_schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"marketing_spend":{"description":"Total acquisition spend in the period (ads, sales salaries, tools).","type":"number","minimum":0,"maximum":1000000000000,"examples":[10000]},"new_customers":{"description":"Customers won in the same period.","type":"integer","maximum":1000000000,"exclusiveMinimum":0,"examples":[100]},"monthly_revenue_per_customer":{"description":"Average revenue per customer per month (ARPU / ARPA).","type":"number","maximum":1000000000,"exclusiveMinimum":0,"examples":[50]},"gross_margin_percent":{"description":"Gross margin on that revenue. Use 100 for a revenue-based LTV. Unit: %.","type":"number","maximum":100,"exclusiveMinimum":0,"default":100,"examples":[80],"x-unit":"%"},"monthly_churn_percent":{"description":"Share of customers lost per month; lifetime = 1 / churn. Unit: %.","type":"number","maximum":100,"exclusiveMinimum":0,"examples":[5],"x-unit":"%"}},"additionalProperties":false,"required":["marketing_spend","new_customers","monthly_revenue_per_customer","monthly_churn_percent"]},"output_schema":{"type":"object","properties":{"cac":{"description":"marketing_spend / new_customers.","type":"number"},"monthly_gross_profit_per_customer":{"description":"monthly_revenue_per_customer × gross_margin.","type":"number"},"customer_lifetime_months":{"description":"1 / (monthly_churn_percent / 100). Unit: months.","type":"number","x-unit":"months"},"ltv":{"description":"monthly gross profit per customer × customer lifetime.","type":"number"},"ltv_to_cac_ratio":{"description":"ltv / cac; 3 or more is the usual benchmark for a healthy subscription business.","type":"number"},"cac_payback_months":{"description":"cac / monthly gross profit per customer. Unit: months.","type":"number","x-unit":"months"},"assessment":{"description":"Comparison of the ratio with the common 3:1 benchmark.","type":"string"}}},"formula":"CAC = marketing_spend / new_customers; lifetime_months = 100 / monthly_churn_percent; LTV = monthly_revenue_per_customer × gross_margin_percent/100 × lifetime_months; ratio = LTV / CAC; payback_months = CAC / (monthly_revenue_per_customer × gross_margin_percent/100)","method":"Simple (undiscounted) LTV with constant churn and revenue; the 1/churn lifetime is the expected lifetime of a geometric survival process. Discounting future margin or including expansion revenue would change the value.","sources":[{"name":"Wikipedia – Customer lifetime value","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifetime_value","type":"reference","retrieved_at":"2026-09-24"},{"name":"Wikipedia – Customer acquisition cost","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_acquisition_cost","type":"reference","retrieved_at":"2026-09-24"},{"name":"Andreessen Horowitz – 16 Startup Metrics","url":"https://a16z.com/16-startup-metrics/","type":"reference","retrieved_at":"2026-09-24"}],"freshness":{"type":"static","max_age_seconds":null,"note":"Deterministic formula with fixed constants; results never go stale. Inputs supplied by the caller determine the output."},"examples":[{"name":"Spend 10,000 / 100 customers, ARPU 50, 80 % margin, 5 % churn","inputs":{"marketing_spend":10000,"new_customers":100,"monthly_revenue_per_customer":50,"gross_margin_percent":80,"monthly_churn_percent":5},"expected":{"cac":100,"monthly_gross_profit_per_customer":40,"customer_lifetime_months":20,"ltv":800,"ltv_to_cac_ratio":8,"cac_payback_months":2.5},"url":"https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/cac-ltv?marketing_spend=10000&new_customers=100&monthly_revenue_per_customer=50&gross_margin_percent=80&monthly_churn_percent=5"},{"name":"Spend 60,000 / 150 customers, ARPU 30, 70 % margin, 4 % churn","inputs":{"marketing_spend":60000,"new_customers":150,"monthly_revenue_per_customer":30,"gross_margin_percent":70,"monthly_churn_percent":4},"expected":{"cac":400,"customer_lifetime_months":25,"ltv":525,"ltv_to_cac_ratio":1.31,"cac_payback_months":19.05},"url":"https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/cac-ltv?marketing_spend=60000&new_customers=150&monthly_revenue_per_customer=30&gross_margin_percent=70&monthly_churn_percent=4"}],"faq":[{"q":"Why is lifetime 1 / churn?","a":"If 5 % of customers leave every month, the expected time a customer stays is 1 / 0.05 = 20 months. This assumes churn is constant over time."},{"q":"Should LTV use revenue or gross margin?","a":"Gross margin, because only margin can repay acquisition cost. Revenue-based LTV (gross_margin_percent = 100) overstates value for low-margin businesses."}],"tags":["cac calculator","ltv calculator","customer lifetime value","ltv to cac ratio","cac payback","saas metrics"],"related":[{"calculator_id":"churn-rate","reason":"Compute the monthly churn rate from customer counts."},{"calculator_id":"mrr-growth","reason":"Project recurring revenue growth."},{"calculator_id":"roas","reason":"Return on the advertising part of acquisition spend."}],"links":{"html":"https://tttkmbb.com/business/cac-ltv","markdown":"https://tttkmbb.com/business/cac-ltv.md","json":"https://tttkmbb.com/business/cac-ltv.json","api":"https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/cac-ltv","schema":"https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculators/cac-ltv","openapi":"https://tttkmbb.com/openapi.json","mcp":"https://tttkmbb.com/mcp"},"version":"v1","updated_at":"2026-09-24"},"timestamp":"2026-09-24T01:48:13Z"}