CPA Calculator

Calculate cost per acquisition (or cost per lead) from spend and conversions, and find the maximum CPA you can pay before a conversion stops being profitable.

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Average order value, or lead value for lead-gen

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CPA$40.00
Break-even CPA · Gross profit per conversion
$48.00
Profit per conversion after ads
$8.00
Total profit after ads
$1,200.00

Results update as you type. Values are kept in the URL, so you can share or bookmark this exact calculation.

How does this compare?

All Google Ads benchmarks
Your result$40.00
All industries$66.69

40% below All industries · Cost per acquisition / lead

LocaliQ / WordStream, Search Advertising Benchmarks 2026 — 13,474 search campaigns, minimum 52 active campaigns per subcategory, 1 Apr 2025 – 31 Mar 2026. Figures are medians. Report · Published in USD

What this sample is

13,474 US search campaigns (Google Ads and Microsoft Ads), lead-generation heavy

  • Despite the 'Google Ads' title, the publisher describes the sample as search campaigns across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.
  • Figures are medians, not means — the publisher notes this is to limit the effect of outliers.
  • Weighted to the agency's own customer base, which is SMB and lead-generation heavy.
  • The all-industry row is the publisher's own figure. It is not the mean of the rows above, and the two should not be presented as the same number.
  • Cost per acquisition is cost per lead in this report: Career & Employment and Health & Fitness both print $67.36, and Automotive — For Sale and Sports & Recreation both print $44.26. Verified as printed on the publisher's page.

Formula

CPA = Ad spend ÷ Conversions
Break-even CPA = Revenue per conversion × Gross margin
Profit per conversion = Break-even CPA − CPA

How to read CPA

Cost per acquisition is what one conversion cost you in media. It is the most direct efficiency metric for campaigns whose goal is a countable action — a purchase, a lead, an install — and the number you bid against when using target-CPA strategies.

The figure that matters more is break-even CPA: the gross profit one conversion brings in. Any CPA below it makes money on the first order; above it you are paying for growth and need repeat purchases (LTV) to justify it. Set target CPA as a fraction of break-even, not as a round number.

Frequently asked questions

CPA or CPL — what is the difference?
Same formula, different conversion. CPL (cost per lead) counts form fills or sign-ups; CPA usually counts paying customers. For lead-gen, use lead value (average deal value × close rate) as the revenue per conversion to get a meaningful break-even.
Why is my platform CPA lower than this?
Platforms count conversions with their own attribution windows and may include view-through conversions. Calculating CPA from your own order or CRM data with the platform's spend gives the real figure.
How does target CPA relate to ROAS?
They are two views of the same target: Target ROAS = Revenue per conversion ÷ Target CPA. A $120 order with a $40 CPA target is a 3.0× ROAS target.

CPA by platform

CPC CalculatorCalculate cost per click from spend and clicks, and the maximum CPC you can afford given your conversion rate and the value of a conversion.ROAS CalculatorCalculate ROAS from ad spend and revenue, and find the break-even ROAS your campaigns must clear given your gross margin.CAC CalculatorCalculate customer acquisition cost from marketing and sales spend, then compare it with lifetime value to get the LTV:CAC ratio and payback period.