--- title: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for Mobile Apps description: Customer acquisition cost (CAC) for apps: paid vs blended vs fully loaded CAC, how it differs from CPI, the formula and a free calculator to try your numbers. url: https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/cac/ --- # Customer acquisition cost (CAC) Acquisition metric. How do users find and install the app? 3 Cac Customer acquisition cost Acquisition Definition ## What is customer acquisition cost? **Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total cost of winning one new customer: acquisition spend in a period divided by the new customers gained in that period.** **Customer:** the user state you decide counts as acquired, usually a first payment; for free apps, sometimes an activated user. **Blended:** calculated across paid and organic users together, so organic users lower the average cost. Formula ## How to calculate CAC `CAC = Total acquisition cost ÷ New customers` **Total acquisition cost** media spend plus, depending on the variant, creative, tools, agency fees and team costs **New customers** users who became customers in the period, as you define a customer (usually a first payment) ### Where definitions differ | Variant | Formula | When to use it | |---|---|---| | Paid CAC | Paid media ÷ New customers attributed to paid media | Shows the efficiency of paid channels only. | | Blended CAC | All acquisition cost ÷ All new customers, organic included | Lower than paid CAC; useful for company-level planning. | | Fully loaded CAC | Media + creative + tools + agency + team costs ÷ New customers | The version finance teams usually want to compare with [LTV](https://linkrunner.io/glossary/what-is-lifetime-value?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=inline). | **By channel:** Paid CAC by channel depends on knowing which customers each channel brought in, so it needs installs and first payments attributed to a source; MMPs such as [Linkrunner](https://www.linkrunner.io/?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=inline), AppsFlyer and Adjust record this. Calculator ## CAC calculator > Interactive tool (metric calculator): runs in the browser at https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/cac/#metric-calc. Its text content follows. **CAC calculator** **Example inputs: change them to your own numbers.** The examples only make the calculator show a worked answer; they are not benchmarks or targets. Runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere. **Fully loaded blended CAC** $25 **Paid media CAC** $26.67 **Share of customers from paid media** 75% **Track this automatically** Linkrunner's dashboard follows each campaign from click to install, sign-up, revenue and ROAS, so the cost of a paying customer can be read by channel. - [Revenue tracking docs](https://docs.linkrunner.io/api-reference/revenue-tracking?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=panel) - [8 ways to reduce mobile app CAC](https://linkrunner.io/blog/8-smart-ways-to-reduce-mobile-app-cac-without-cutting-quality?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=panel) [Create a free account (25k installs free)](https://dashboard.linkrunner.io/sign-in?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=panel) Answer ## What is the difference between CPI and CAC? [CPI](https://linkrunner.io/glossary/what-is-cost-per-install?utm_source=appmetricslibrary&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=metric-cac&utm_content=inline) prices an install; CAC prices a customer. Because only some installs become customers, CAC is normally many times higher than CPI, and CAC is the figure to compare with lifetime value. By vertical ## How CAC differs by vertical | [EdTech](https://appmetricslibrary.com/verticals/edtech/) | A customer is a paying learner, so CAC climbs when courses are sold after a long free trial. | |---|---| | [Fintech](https://appmetricslibrary.com/verticals/fintech/) | A customer is often a funded account or first transaction; KYC drop-off is what drives CAC up. | | [OTT and streaming](https://appmetricslibrary.com/verticals/ott/) | A customer is a subscriber, and CAC is read against months to payback. | | [Gaming](https://appmetricslibrary.com/verticals/gaming/) | Rarely used for payers, because most players never pay; games lean on CPI and ROAS instead. | Pitfalls ## Common mistakes - Counting installs or sign-ups as customers, which makes CAC look like CPA. - Leaving out creative, agency and tool costs, then comparing with a fully loaded LTV. - Reading blended CAC as paid efficiency when organic customers are pulling it down. Related ## Related metrics [1 Cpi Cost per install](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/cpi/) [2 Cpa Cost per action](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/cpa/) [30 Ltv Lifetime value](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/ltv/) [32 Pb Payback period](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/payback-period/) [28 Pcr Paying user conversion rate](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/paying-user-conversion-rate/) [7 Org Organic install share](https://appmetricslibrary.com/metrics/organic-install-share/) FAQ ## Questions **How do you calculate CAC for an app?** Add up the acquisition costs for the period and divide by the new customers gained in it. Decide first what a customer is and which costs you include, and keep both fixed so the figure is comparable month to month. **Should CAC include salaries?** For a fully loaded CAC, yes: the marketing team's cost is part of acquiring customers. Many teams track paid CAC weekly and fully loaded CAC monthly or quarterly. **Why is blended CAC lower than paid CAC?** Blended CAC divides all costs by all new customers, including organic customers who cost nothing in media. The more organic customers you have, the bigger the gap. **Why do tools report different values for the same metric?** Because definitions differ: what counts as active, which attribution window applies, whether organic users are included and how days are cut by timezone. Align the definition before comparing numbers. **Which currency do the calculators use?** The calculators show US dollars, but every formula works in any currency: enter your own figures in the currency you report in and read the results in that currency. **What is the difference between a metric and a KPI?** A metric is any measured quantity; a KPI is a metric a team has chosen as a target for judging performance. Most metrics here become KPIs only for the teams whose work moves them.