💰 LTV & LTV:CAC Calculator
Enter monthly revenue per user, gross margin, monthly churn, and CAC to instantly get customer lifetime value, average lifetime, LTV:CAC ratio with a health verdict, and CAC payback period — all calculated in your browser.
About
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) measures the total gross profit a business can expect from a single customer over their entire relationship. The formula used here is: LTV = (Monthly Revenue per User × Gross Margin %) ÷ Monthly Churn %. Average customer lifetime in months is 1 ÷ Monthly Churn %. The LTV:CAC ratio compares what you earn from a customer against what you spent to acquire them — a ratio above 3:1 is the widely cited benchmark for a healthy SaaS or subscription business. CAC payback period (in months) shows how long it takes to recover acquisition costs from gross profit: CAC ÷ (Monthly Revenue per User × Gross Margin %). All calculations run entirely in your browser with no data sent to any server.
How to use
- Enter the average monthly revenue generated per customer (MRR divided by total customers).
- Enter your gross margin percentage — revenue minus cost of goods sold, divided by revenue.
- Enter your monthly churn rate — the percentage of customers who cancel or lapse each month.
- Enter your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) — total sales and marketing spend divided by new customers acquired.
- Read your results: LTV, average customer lifetime, LTV:CAC ratio with a good/warning/poor verdict against the 3:1 benchmark, and CAC payback months.
FAQ
- What is a good LTV:CAC ratio?
- 3:1 is the widely accepted benchmark. Below 1:1 means you lose money on every customer. Between 1:1 and 3:1 signals tight margins or high acquisition costs. Above 3:1 indicates a healthy, scalable business. Above 5:1 may suggest underinvestment in growth.
- What is the LTV formula used here?
- LTV = (Monthly Revenue per User × Gross Margin %) ÷ Monthly Churn %. This gives the expected gross profit from a customer over their lifetime. Average lifetime in months = 1 ÷ Monthly Churn %.
- How is the CAC payback period calculated?
- CAC Payback Months = CAC ÷ (Monthly Revenue per User × Gross Margin %). It answers how many months of gross profit are needed to recover the cost of acquiring one customer. Under 12 months is generally considered strong for SaaS.
- What gross margin should I use?
- Use your product-level gross margin: (Revenue − Cost of Goods Sold) ÷ Revenue × 100. For pure SaaS this is often 70–85 %. Include hosting, support, and licensing costs in COGS. Do not use operating or net margin here.
- Does this tool save my data?
- No data is sent to any server. All calculations happen instantly in your browser. Values may persist in your browser's localStorage for convenience, but they never leave your device.