Customer lifetime value calculator

Use this customer lifetime value calculator for simple revenue, margin-based LTV or observed cohort retention. Compare LTV with CAC, payback and changes to your own assumptions.

Free, no sign-up. Runs in your browser, with no AI calls.

Simple customer lifetime value multiplies order value, annual purchase frequency and lifespan. Add gross margin for profit LTV, or paste monthly retention to calculate value within an observed cohort horizon. Compare gross profit with CAC and payback. The calculator uses your figures, shows its assumptions and never projects beyond your final retention row.

Your inputs

Use figures for the same customer group and one currency. Enter numbers using this language's decimal separator. Inputs can be up to one trillion.

Currency changes formatting only. It does not convert amounts.

Leave margin empty for the simple revenue method. Supply margin for gross profit; CAC is optional.

Your result

Enter your figures to calculate a result. No example business values are prefilled.

These estimates use your assumptions and exclude discounting, fixed overhead and tax. Churn mode assumes a constant monthly loss probability. Add margin and CAC for a gross profit ratio and payback; revenue alone cannot establish profitability.

Method sources

Sources explain the methods. All business figures come from your inputs; no industry averages are supplied.

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How to use this tool

Use a consistent customer cohort
Enter average order value and purchases per customer per year for the same group. Lifespan is in years. For subscription customers, order value may be the monthly fee and frequency twelve payments a year.
Choose lifespan, churn or observed retention
Use known lifespan in years, estimate it from constant monthly churn, or paste monthly retention of the original cohort. Retention starts at 100% in month one, can only stay level or decline, and is limited to 120 months. The cohort method sums the payments in your supplied horizon without projecting a tail.
Compare gross profit with CAC
Gross profit LTV multiplies revenue by your margin fraction. The ratio divides gross profit LTV by CAC. Simple payback divides CAC by monthly gross profit and ignores losses. Cohort payback is the first month cumulative undiscounted profit covers CAC. Optional monthly discounting changes cohort value and its ratio, assuming payments arrive at month end.

Shopify: customer lifetime value methods

Questions before you start

Leave margin empty for simple revenue CLV. Supply margin to show gross profit separately, after direct costs and before overhead and tax. Ratios use gross profit rather than revenue. Neither method proves that future customers will behave like your supplied group.

Zero observed churn cannot identify a finite lifetime in this model. Enter an estimated lifespan instead. A short observation period with no lost customers is not evidence that customers stay forever.

Only if your rows cover the complete customer lifetime. Otherwise it is value within the supplied months. Retention excludes reactivation, and monthly revenue per active customer and margin stay constant. Payback can remain unreached within the horizon. The table and copied summary preserve these limits.

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    Use this CAC calculator to include advertising, allocated salaries, tools and other costs. Compare blended CAC with up to eight channels, payback and LTV to CAC.

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  • Profit margin calculator

    Use this profit margin calculator for product pricing or accounting figures. Solve missing cost, price or profit and convert between margin and markup.

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