Cost Per Client

Add up acquisition cost across content, ads, outbound, and referrals to find the true cost of a new client.

Quarterly content investment $3,000

Quarterly ad spend $1,500

Quarterly outbound hours 30 hours

Your hourly value $150

New clients won this quarter 6

Average first-year client value $15,000

Cost per new client

All channels combined

Client value to CAC ratio

Total quarterly acquisition cost

Acquisition cost by channel

💡 CAC insight

Cost Per Client Calculator

The Cost Per Client Calculator gives you a true CAC figure for your freelance business across every channel. You enter quarterly content investment, ad spend, outbound prospecting hours valued at your hourly rate, the number of new clients won that quarter, and the average first-year value of a client. The calculator returns your all-in cost per client, the value-to-CAC ratio, and a channel breakdown of where the money goes. Use it quarterly to decide which channels deserve more investment and which are bleeding time. Healthy freelance CAC sits below fifteen percent of first-year client value; above thirty percent, the channel is either broken or undersized to the point where it cannot achieve compounding effects.