Free calculator

How much can I spend to acquire a customer?

Your ceiling is the lower of two limits: what a customer is worth over their lifetime, and what you can afford to wait to earn back. Change any assumption and the answer updates.

Example: a $120/month service at 70% margin losing 4% of customers a month

Price per customer per month ($)Gross margin (%)Customers lost per month (%)Longest payback you can carry (months)Target lifetime value to acquisition cost3 means a customer should be worth 3× what it cost to win.Cash available for acquisition ($)

You can spend up to $504 to acquire one customer. The cash payback limit sets this ceiling.

Monthly contribution per customer: $84
Expected customer lifetime: 25 months
Lifetime contribution: $2,100
Ceiling from 3:1 lifetime value: $700
Ceiling from 6-month payback: $504
Maximum cost to acquire a customer: $504
Customers your acquisition cash covers: 9

How this is calculated (v1.0.0)

monthly contribution = price × gross margin
lifetime = 1 ÷ monthly churn
lifetime ceiling = monthly contribution × lifetime ÷ target LTV:CAC
payback ceiling = monthly contribution × payback months
ceiling = the lower of the two
One-off sales: set churn to 100% and payback to 1 month to get a single-purchase ceiling.
Margin should include delivery and payment costs, not only product cost.

Continuing carries these exact inputs and results into Business Ontology — 3 free runs, no account needed.