CAC Payback Period Calculator
Free CalculatorTurn CAC, ARPU and gross margin into the number of months it takes to earn back what you spend to win a customer.
100% private
Runs in your browser — no numbers leave your device.
Your numbers
Cost to acquire one customer.
Average revenue per customer, per month.
Share of revenue left after direct costs.
CAC payback period
7.5 mo
Months of gross margin to earn back CAC — under ~12 months is healthy for SaaS.
Monthly gross margin / customer
US$40
ARPU × gross margin.
How it works
Enter your CAC
Total sales & marketing spend divided by customers won.
Add monthly ARPU
Average recurring revenue per customer, per month.
Add gross margin
The percentage of revenue left after direct costs.
Read the payback
Your CAC payback period in months updates live.
Win customers with creative that converts
Reverze rebuilds your App Store screenshots into higher-converting creative — lowering CAC and shortening payback.
What is a CAC payback period and how do you calculate it?
Your CAC payback period is the number of months it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a customer from the gross margin they generate. The formula is simple: CAC ÷ (monthly ARPU × gross margin). This CAC payback period calculator does the maths instantly — enter what you spend to win a customer, their monthly revenue and your gross margin, and you get the payback in months.
The shorter the payback, the faster you recycle cash into growth. As a rough SaaS benchmark, under 12 months is healthy, 12–18 months is workable for higher-priced or enterprise products, and beyond 18 months your acquisition is straining cash flow. Lowering CAC — often by optimising the creative that drives installs — is the fastest way to shorten payback, and exactly what Reverze helps with.