Customer acquisition cost (CAC) benchmarks
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the average sales and marketing cost to acquire one new customer. Here is every published figure we can show, side by side, with what each one counts.
$64 to $1,143
Published CAC figures vary by an order of magnitude depending on industry, channel and whether a figure is blended (organic + paid together), organic-only, or paid-only. First Page Sage's own client data runs from $86 (B2B e-commerce) to $1,143 (B2B education) across 27 industries, and paid-channel CAC runs higher than organic in every industry it tracks. Separately, SaaS-specific sales-efficiency surveys (KeyBanc/Sapphire, Aleph x Benchmarkit) track a related but different ratio — net new revenue per dollar of sales-and-marketing spend — which improved industry-wide between 2022 and 2025; neither survey states a dollar CAC figure. 26 figures from 3 sources, grouped by what they count (b2b cac by average contract value is charted too, but not part of the headline range). We never average them.
Published customer acquisition cost (CAC) figures by way of counting, from $64 to $32,268. Every figure is listed in the source list below.
Tap or hover a point to see its source.
Key findings
Each one cites its source figures.
First Page Sage's B2B client data spans more than 13x across 27 industries, from e-commerce at the low end to education at the high end.
First Page SageB2B SaaS: $205 organic vs $341 paid. B2C legal services: $189 organic vs $457 paid — more than double.
First Page SageSaaS sales-efficiency surveys (a different, ratio-based measure, not a dollar CAC) show the industry median 'Magic Number' improving from KeyBanc/Sapphire's 2022 survey data to Aleph x Benchmarkit's 2025 data.
KeyBanc Capital Markets and Sapphire VenturesAleph and BenchmarkitSame data, different answers
How the way of counting changes the number, on one scale.
Organic vs. paid acquisition cost, by industry
Where First Page Sage splits organic from paid, the gap between the two varies by industry — B2C Legal Services shows the widest gap (2.4x paid over organic), B2B eCommerce the narrowest.
Source by source
Open any source for its definition, sample and method.
First Page SageAverage Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) By Industry: B2B Edition · 2026 edition$86combined/blended cac$87organic-channel cac$81paid/inorganic-channel cacGrade A
- What counts
- CAC = total sales and marketing cost attributed to a channel ÷ new customers acquired through that channel, for First Page Sage's own B2B client engagements. The 'combined' column blends organic and inorganic at a fixed 75/25 weighting set by First Page Sage's own service mix, not by each industry's actual channel split.
- Statistic
- Average, weighted 75% organic / 25% inorganic for the 'combined' column
- Sample
- First Page Sage's own B2B client engagements across 27 published industries
- Data window
- January 2022 – August 2025
- Method
- First Page Sage's own client CAC data from January 2022 to August 2025, split into organic (SEO, organic social) and inorganic (PPC/SEM, paid social) channels, per industry.
- Published cuts
- industry (27) · channel (organic vs inorganic)
- Limitations
- Vendor-reported: reflects First Page Sage's own client base and service mix (SEO- and content-focused), not a random sample of B2B companies
- The 'combined' figure uses a fixed 75/25 organic/inorganic weighting set by the vendor's own business, not by each industry's real channel mix
- Excludes email, events, direct mail and other channels for lack of data
- Data window spans 3.5 years without one single stated reporting year
- Licence
- First Page Sage publishes this as a citable report page; terms not re-checked this pass. Full industry table, attributed and linked.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
First Page SageAverage Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by Industry: B2C Edition · 2025 edition$64organic-channel cac · eCommerce — organic (B2C)$68paid/inorganic-channel cac$135organic-channel cac · SaaS — organic (B2C)Grade A
- What counts
- Same CAC formula as the B2B edition, applied to First Page Sage's B2C client engagements; organic and paid CAC reported separately, with organic weighted toward SEO by the vendor's own service mix.
- Statistic
- Average, organic and paid reported separately (no combined column)
- Sample
- 103 B2C client engagements across 20 published industries
- Data window
- 2021–2025
- Method
- First Page Sage's own B2C client CAC data, 2021–2025, split into organic and paid channels, per industry.
- Published cuts
- industry (20) · channel (organic vs paid)
- Limitations
- Vendor-reported, same skew as the B2B edition
- No combined/blended figure published for B2C, only the two channel figures
- Per-industry sample size is not stated, only the overall n of 103 clients
- Licence
- Same First Page Sage reporting approach as the B2B edition. Full industry table, attributed and linked.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Norwest2025 B2B Sales & Marketing Benchmark Report · 3rd annual, 2025$1,547b2b cac by average contract value · <$25K ACV$4,750b2b cac by average contract value · $25K-$50K ACV$32,268b2b cac by average contract value · >$50K-$100K ACVGrade A
- What counts
- Self-reported B2B customer acquisition cost, broken out by average contract value (ACV) band rather than by industry — an independent publisher outside the First Page Sage family.
- Statistic
- Average, self-reported, broken out by average contract value (ACV) band
- Sample
- 177 B2B sales and marketing leaders (77 Norwest portfolio respondents, 100 third-party North American respondents)
- Data window
- Survey fielded August 2025
- Method
- Survey of B2B sales and marketing leaders fielded August 2025, covering North America and Israel portfolio/third-party populations.
- Published cuts
- average contract value (ACV) band
- Limitations
- Self-reported survey; the report notes a substantial share of respondents answered "do not know" for this metric, so the effective respondent base is smaller than 177
- ACV bands are not identical to First Page Sage's industry cuts, so compare by band, not by industry
- Licence
- Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Norwest has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Its Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate for the whole norwest.com domain; we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded.
- Checked
- Oct 1, 2026 · Read the source
KeyBanc Capital Markets and Sapphire VenturesPrivate SaaS Company Survey (14th annual) · 14th annual survey · older dataContext sourceGrade A
- What counts
- CAC payback period: months of gross margin from a new customer needed to recover the cost of acquiring them. Gross/Net Magic Number: a sales-efficiency ratio of net new ARR to prior-quarter S&M spend, not a dollar CAC figure.
- Statistic
- Median
- Sample
- 100+ privately held global SaaS companies; median 2022 ARR of $25.5 million
- Data window
- 2022 data (survey released December 2023)
- Method
- Survey of senior executives at 100+ privately held global SaaS companies, self-reported financial and go-to-market metrics for 2022, compared with 2021.
- Published cuts
- company stage/ARR band (not fully captured this pass)
- Limitations
- Stale: 2022 data, the most recent edition we could confirm and access (no 2026 edition located)
- Self-reported by survey respondents, not audited
- Reports payback period and Magic Number, not a dollar CAC figure, so it is not directly comparable to the First Page Sage tables above
- Licence
- Published press release from both named organisations; terms not re-checked this pass. Figures quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Aleph and Benchmarkit2026 SaaS & AI-Native Metrics · 2026 editionContext sourceGrade B
- What counts
- Magic Number: net new ARR generated per dollar of prior-period sales & marketing spend, a sales-efficiency ratio rather than a dollar CAC figure. Blended CAC Ratio: S&M spend divided by new ARR, expressed as a ratio.
- Statistic
- Median, by growth-rate cohort
- Sample
- 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native software companies (132 reported the Magic Number metric specifically)
- Data window
- Full calendar year 2025
- Method
- Survey/submission-based benchmark data from 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native companies for full-year 2025, segmented by growth-rate cohort.
- Published cuts
- growth-rate cohort · quartile (median, bottom quartile)
- Limitations
- Only 132 of 342 companies reported the Magic Number metric specifically
- Self-submitted data; verification methodology not detailed on the page we read
- Reports a ratio, not a dollar CAC, so it is not directly comparable to the First Page Sage $ tables
- Licence
- Published benchmark summary page; terms not re-checked this pass. Headline figures quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
By industry
Selected figures, each with its source. Full tables live in each publisher's report.
Why sources disagree
Each factor moves the number on its own.
The median SaaS 'Magic Number' (net new ARR per dollar of prior-quarter sales & marketing spend) rose from about 0.7 in KeyBanc/Sapphire's 2022 survey data (100+ private SaaS companies) to 1.37 in Aleph x Benchmarkit's full-year-2025 data (342 companies) — a sign that SaaS acquisition efficiency improved industry-wide over that period, even though neither source states a dollar CAC figure.
KeyBanc Capital Markets & Sapphire Ventures; Aleph x BenchmarkitBlended, organic-only or paid-only
First Page Sage publishes organic and paid CAC separately and then blends them at a fixed 75/25 weighting set by its own service mix, not by each industry's real channel split. A business that runs mostly paid acquisition should read the paid-only column, not the blended one.
B2B or B2C
The same industry can carry two different CACs depending on the buyer. First Page Sage's tables are separate B2B and B2C editions built from different client sets over different date ranges (27 B2B industries, January 2022–August 2025, vs 103 B2C engagements, 2021–2025), so cross-comparing a B2B figure against a B2C one mixes two different samples.
A dollar cost, or an efficiency ratio
CAC payback period (months to recover the cost) and the 'Magic Number' (new ARR per S&M dollar) measure acquisition efficiency without stating a dollar CAC at all. KeyBanc/Sapphire's 2022 survey and Aleph x Benchmarkit's 2025 survey use these ratios, so they cannot be read onto the same $ axis as First Page Sage's tables.
One agency's client base, not the whole market
Every $ figure on this page comes from First Page Sage's own client engagements. It reflects that agency's own client mix and service delivery (skewed toward SEO and content), not a blind market-wide survey of CAC.
What is a good customer acquisition cost (CAC)?
It depends on how your platform counts and who you send to.
E-commerce
First Page Sage's e-commerce CAC is the lowest industry in its B2B table ($86 combined; $87 organic, $81 paid) and one of the lowest in its B2C table ($64 organic, $68 paid). Compare your own blended CAC against this floor, not against a SaaS or professional-services benchmark.
B2B SaaS
First Page Sage's B2B SaaS combined CAC is $239 ($205 organic, $341 paid). As a cross-check, SaaS-specific efficiency surveys show the median sales-and-marketing-to-new-ARR ratio ('Magic Number') improving from roughly 0.7 in 2022 survey data to 1.37 in 2025 data — a different measure, but a useful signal on whether acquisition is getting more or less efficient industry-wide.
High-consideration B2B services (education, real estate, financial services, legal)
These sit at the top of First Page Sage's B2B table ($1,143, $791, $784 and $749 respectively), consistent with longer sales cycles and higher deal values justifying a higher acquisition cost per customer.
Before you compare
- Never blend First Page Sage's organic and paid columns into your own number: its 'combined' column uses a fixed 75/25 weighting set by its own service mix, not your actual channel split.
- Match B2B against B2B and B2C against B2C — First Page Sage's two editions come from different client sets over different date ranges.
- A dollar CAC and a sales-efficiency ratio (Magic Number, CAC payback period) are not interchangeable; the ratio sources are shown only as context, not as $ figures, because they use a different unit.
Show 2 more cautions
- Every $ figure on this page is vendor-reported from First Page Sage's own client engagements, not a blind market survey.
- CAC varies by roughly an order of magnitude with deal size or average contract value, not just industry — a company-wide average can be a poor fit if your own typical deal size sits far from a source's blended population.
How to calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Decide whether you want a blended CAC (all channels together) or a channel-specific figure (organic vs paid) before comparing against a source here; First Page Sage publishes both, but blends them at its own fixed weighting, not your actual channel mix.
- Match B2B against B2B and B2C against B2C: First Page Sage publishes these as two separate reports built from different client sets.
- A CAC dollar figure and a sales-efficiency ratio (Magic Number, CAC payback period) answer related but different questions; don't convert one into the other without the underlying revenue and margin numbers.
Questions about customer acquisition costs
Tools to measure and improve it
Chosen for what they do, not ranked.
8.0 / 10Free SaaS subscription analytics (MRR, churn) for tracking the revenue side of a CAC-to-LTV comparison.
7.8 / 10CRM and marketing platform for attributing spend and new customers by channel, the input CAC is calculated from.
Sources and licence notes5 sources · 3 quoted · 0 linked only · checked Oct 1, 2026
- First Page Sage, Average Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) By Industry: B2B Edition · 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026First Page Sage publishes this as a citable report page; terms not re-checked this pass. Full industry table, attributed and linked.
- First Page Sage, Average Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by Industry: B2C Edition · 2025 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026Same First Page Sage reporting approach as the B2B edition. Full industry table, attributed and linked.
- KeyBanc Capital Markets and Sapphire Ventures, Private SaaS Company Survey (14th annual) · 14th annual survey · last checked Sep 30, 2026Published press release from both named organisations; terms not re-checked this pass. Figures quoted with attribution.
- Aleph and Benchmarkit, 2026 SaaS & AI-Native Metrics · 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026Published benchmark summary page; terms not re-checked this pass. Headline figures quoted with attribution.
- Norwest, 2025 B2B Sales & Marketing Benchmark Report · 3rd annual, 2025 · last checked Oct 1, 2026Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Norwest has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Its Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate for the whole norwest.com domain; we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded.
These are figures reported by the platforms themselves about their own customers; we do not measure them ourselves. Found an error or a newer edition? Tell us