Unit economics first
If LTV:CAC and payback don't work, no channel tactic will save you. Start here, always.
The growth marketer's calculator toolkit
Run the numbers that decide
whether growth is actually working.
Six instant, precise calculators for the metrics growth marketers, founders, and agencies live by — unit economics (CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC, payback), ROAS, funnel conversion, viral K-factor, A/B significance, and email ROI. No signup. Results as you type.
6calculators
8in-depth guides
3:1the LTV:CAC target
Educational only. Benchmark figures on this site are industry ranges, not guarantees — every business is different. These calculators are planning aids, not financial, investment, or earnings advice, and make no promise of results. Verify current figures against the cited primary sources before you act.
The calculators
Pick a tool. Every field is pre-filled with sensible defaults, so you see a result instantly — then swap in your own numbers. Inputs are capped at sane limits so the tool never models an impossible scenario.
Unit economics — CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC & payback
The single most important relationship in growth: what it costs to win a customer vs. what they're worth.
Formulas & benchmarks
- CAC = total marketing & sales spend ÷ new customers acquired.
- LTV = ARPU × gross margin × lifespan (months). Margin-adjusted LTV is the honest number.
- LTV:CAC — a widely-cited target is 3:1 (David Skok, SaaS Metrics 2.0, forEntrepreneurs). Below 1:1 you lose money per customer; above ~5:1 you may be under-investing in growth.
- CAC payback = CAC ÷ (ARPU × gross margin), in months. Many SaaS teams target under 12 months (Bessemer Venture Partners, State of the Cloud). Ranges vary by segment.
Data & sources Last reviewed: 2026-07-04
Volatile benchmark figures used across this toolkit are kept here with their dated, named primary sources. Treat all figures as ranges and verify the current number at the source.
- LTV:CAC ≈ 3:1 target — David Skok, SaaS Metrics 2.0, forEntrepreneurs (accessed 2026).
- CAC payback < ~12 months — Bessemer Venture Partners, State of the Cloud / Cloud benchmarks (accessed 2026). Varies by segment.
- Email ROI ≈ $36 per $1 (range $30–$45) — Litmus, 2019 State of Email; corroborated by DMA/Data & Marketing Association. Verify current figure.
Guides
Plain-English, sourced explainers for the metrics behind each calculator. Every guide shows when it was last reviewed and cites named primary sources.
How to calculate CAC
The right way to measure customer acquisition cost — and the costs teams forget to include.
Read guide →How to calculate LTV
Margin-adjusted lifetime value, churn-based vs. lifespan-based methods, and common traps.
Read guide →What's a good LTV:CAC ratio?
Why 3:1 is the rule of thumb, when higher is bad, and how to act on the number.
Read guide →CAC payback period
How fast you recover acquisition cost, why 12 months matters, and how cash flow ties in.
Read guide →AARRR pirate metrics
Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue — the classic growth framework.
Read guide →The North Star Metric
How to choose one metric that captures the value you deliver — with real examples.
Read guide →SaaS conversion benchmarks
Visitor-to-trial, trial-to-paid, and free-to-paid ranges — with dated sources.
Read guide →Email marketing benchmarks
Open, click, and conversion rate ranges by industry — and how to read them.
Read guide →Why these six
These are the metrics that come up in every growth review, board deck, and agency report. Get them right and the rest of the playbook falls into place.
Channel efficiency
ROAS and email ROI tell you which channels earn the next dollar of budget.
Conversion & experiments
The funnel finds the leak; A/B significance keeps you honest about whether a "win" is real.
Compounding growth
The K-factor reveals how much growth is built into the product itself, before you spend a cent.
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