Customer LTV:CAC Calculator

Estimate customer lifetime revenue, gross-profit LTV, and LTV:CAC ratio from average order value, purchase frequency, customer lifespan, gross margin, and CAC.

Formula reviewed September 1, 2026 · Runs locally in your browser

Quick answer

Customer LTV:CAC Calculator quick answer

Formula: Revenue LTV = AOV × purchases/year × lifespan. Gross-profit LTV = revenue LTV × gross-margin rate. LTV:CAC = gross-profit LTV ÷ CAC.

Example: $80 AOV × 4 purchases/year × 3 years = $960 lifetime revenue. At 50% gross margin, modeled gross-profit LTV is $480. With $75 CAC, LTV:CAC is 6.4×.

Reviewed September 1, 2026 · Methodology

Average order value ($)Purchases per yearCustomer lifespan (years)Gross margin (%)Customer acquisition cost ($)

Enter your numbers and calculate.

Worked example

$80 AOV × 4 purchases/year × 3 years = $960 lifetime revenue. At 50% gross margin, modeled gross-profit LTV is $480. With $75 CAC, LTV:CAC is 6.4×.

What to do with the result

This is a simple planning model. Real retention curves, churn, discounting, servicing cost and cohort behavior can materially change LTV.

Public API & AI agent access

Yes — this calculator is callable programmatically. Use GET /api/v1/customer-ltv-cac, the public calculator API, or tannerd.net's MCP, A2A and WebMCP agent interfaces. Results include a human-facing citation URL.

Frequently asked questions

Why use gross-profit LTV instead of revenue LTV for LTV:CAC?

Revenue does not account for the direct cost of delivering the product or service, so gross-profit LTV is often a more conservative operating comparison.

Is this a forecast?

No. It is a scenario based entirely on the assumptions entered.

Formula provenance

API identifier: customer-ltv-cac · Formula version: tncalc.customer-ltv-cac.1.0.0 · Engine release: 6.6.1. Build provenance · Public validation · Release history.