SaaS Ad Budget Calculator
How much should you spend on ads? Start from the customers you want. Your price and funnel rates give the monthly budget, your CAC and how fast the ads pay back.
How we work it out
The calculator works back from your goal, one funnel step at a time. Every number comes from the boxes you fill in.
| Number | How it is worked out | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| New customers | Your goal, or new MRR ÷ price | The customers the budget has to bring in each month. |
| Trials or demos | New customers ÷ trial or demo to paid rate | At 20%, 10 customers need 50 trials or demos. |
| Clicks | Trials or demos ÷ click to trial or demo rate | At 5%, 50 trials or demos need 1,000 clicks. |
| Cost per trial or demo | Cost per click ÷ click to trial or demo rate, or the cost you enter | What one trial or demo costs in ads. |
| Monthly ad budget | Trials or demos × cost per trial or demo | What you pay the ad platforms each month. |
| CAC on ads | Ad budget ÷ new customers | The ad cost of one new customer. |
| CAC with fees | (Ad budget + fees) ÷ new customers | What one customer costs with the people who run the ads. |
| Payback | CAC ÷ (price × gross margin) | Months until a customer's gross profit covers what it cost, on ads alone and with fees. |
The model is a straight line: twice the customers need twice the budget. Real ad accounts are not. In SaaS Metrics 2.0, David Skok notes that a lead source gives fewer leads per dollar as you spend more on it. The same article is the source of the 12-month payback guideline in the results.
No minimum budget, only your math
We do not ask for a set ad budget. The right budget is the one your goal and your funnel need, and it has to pay back. If you do not know your rates yet, a small test budget gives you real ones first.
A budget before the first ad
Your goal, price and funnel set the test budget, the most a lead may cost and when an ad stops.
Real costs every Monday
Ad platform costs and your sign-ups go into the same math each week. The budget moves with them.
More spend where it pays back
We raise the budget on the ads whose customers pay back in time. The rest stop.
We run this math with your real costs before the first ad and every Monday after, in PPC advertising, part of the Growth Strategy™.
More Growth Strategy™ tools: CAC Payback CalculatorLTV:CAC CalculatorChannel Finder
Frequently asked questions
How much should a SaaS spend on ads?
There is no one right number. Work back from the customers you want: your trial or demo to paid rate gives the trials or demos you need, your click rate gives the clicks, and your cost per click gives the budget. A budget is right when each customer pays it back in a time your cash can carry. 12 months is a common guideline.
What if I do not know my conversion rates yet?
Run a small test budget first. Real clicks, sign-ups and payments give you your own cost per click and rates. Numbers from other companies can be far from yours.
Cost per click or cost per trial: which should I use?
Use what you know. If your ad account shows cost per click, use it with your click to trial or demo rate. If you know what one trial or demo costs, pick cost per trial or demo and skip the click step.
Should fees count in CAC?
Both views help. CAC on ads alone shows if the ads work. CAC with fees shows if the whole spend pays back, which is what your bank account sees. The calculator shows both.
Is what I enter saved?
No. The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing, to us or to anyone else. Your numbers stay in the page address after the # sign, which a browser does not send to a server, so you can bookmark or share a scenario.
Let's bring in the customers, together.
As a first step, book a free 30-minute strategy call with Ovidiu.
You leave with a plan: which channel, how much, what first.