Google Ads Calculator for SaaS: Leads, CAC and Pipeline
Enter your budget, click cost and funnel rates to see what a month of Google Ads should produce, what it costs per customer and whether your click prices can work at all.
How do you use the Google Ads calculator?
Enter your monthly budget, average cost per click, three conversion rates, your annual contract value, gross margin, sales cycle and target payback. The calculator shows expected customers a month, the cost per lead, SQL and customer, payback after gross margin, and the highest cost per click your economics can support.
Change any number. Results update instantly. Defaults are illustrative, so replace them with your own last-90-day data.
Illustrative only. Figures turn red when fewer than one customer a month is expected, when payback is longer than your target, or when your cost per click is above what you can afford. Funnel bars use a log scale. The model assumes deals close within the month; real deals arrive one sales cycle later. Fees, tools and sales time are not included.
The defaults describe a fictional company and are there to show the method. Replace every one with your own numbers from the last 90 days before relying on the results.
Where do the input numbers come from?
The inputs come from three places: Google Ads or Keyword Planner for cost per click, your analytics for the landing page conversion rate, and your CRM for the lead, SQL and win rates. Use the last 90 days rather than your best month, and use the rates for paid traffic only if you can separate them.
| Input | Where to find it | If you have no data yet |
|---|---|---|
| Average cost per click | Your account, or Google’s Keyword Planner for new keywords | Use the Keyword Planner estimate for your main category terms |
| Landing page conversion rate | Google Ads conversions ÷ clicks, or analytics | Use a cautious 2% for a demo request |
| Lead to SQL rate | CRM: paid leads accepted by sales | Use your rate for all inbound leads |
| SQL to customer rate | CRM: closed-won ÷ SQLs, over a full cycle | Use your overall win rate |
| Annual contract value | Average first-year value of new customers | Use your most common plan’s annual price |
| Gross margin | Finance: revenue minus hosting, support and payment costs | 80% is a common starting assumption for software, not a benchmark |
How should you read the results?
Read the results from the bottom of the funnel up. If expected customers a month are below one, a monthly test cannot show whether Google Ads works, so the question becomes how many months you can fund. Then compare payback after gross margin against your target. A payback longer than the target means the current funnel cannot scale profitably.
The spend before the first deal closes line shows how much you commit before any revenue can appear, based on your sales cycle. If that number worries you, read our guide on when to pause or scale Google Ads before starting.
What is the most you can afford to pay per click?
The most you can afford per click is your maximum customer acquisition cost multiplied by the share of clicks that become customers. Maximum acquisition cost is the monthly gross profit per customer times your target payback in months. If the average cost per click in your market is above that number, the funnel has to improve before spend can grow.
With the default figures, a $12,000 contract at 80% margin gives $800 of gross profit a month. An 18-month payback target allows $14,400 to acquire a customer. Three percent of clicks become leads, 30% of those become SQLs and 20% of SQLs become customers, so 0.18% of clicks become customers. That makes the break-even cost per click $25.92. These figures are illustrative.
If the maths fails on paper, it fails in the account.
A calculator can’t make Google Ads work, but it tells you in five minutes whether it can. Fix the funnel before you raise the budget.
What should you change first if the numbers don’t work?
If the numbers don’t work, change the funnel before the budget. Improve the landing page conversion rate first, then lead quality, then the cost per click through tighter keywords. Adding budget to a funnel that loses money at the margin only loses money faster.
If you already run campaigns and the real results fall short of the calculator, the diagnosis pages will help: clicks but no demos when the landing page rate is the gap, and leads that never become customers when the SQL or win rate is the gap.
Frequently asked questions
How many leads will I get from a $5,000 Google Ads budget?
Divide the budget by your cost per click, then multiply by your landing page conversion rate. At an $8 click and a 3% rate, $5,000 buys 625 clicks and about 19 leads.
What is a good cost per lead for B2B SaaS?
A good cost per lead is one your funnel can afford: low enough that, after your SQL and win rates, customer acquisition cost stays within your payback target. The calculator works it out from your own numbers.
What conversion rate should I use for my landing page?
Use your own rate from the last 90 days of paid traffic. Without data, use a cautious 2% for a demo request and replace it once you have results.
How do I calculate CAC from Google Ads?
Divide total Google Ads spend by the customers it produced in the same period, allowing for the sales cycle. Include management fees and tools if you want the full cost.
What is the maximum cost per click I can afford?
Multiply your maximum acquisition cost by the share of clicks that become customers. With the calculator’s illustrative defaults, the break-even is about $25.92 a click.
Why is my real CAC higher than the calculator shows?
The calculator ignores fees, tools, sales time and the months before deals close. It also assumes your conversion rates hold as spend grows, and they usually fall.
Sources & further reading
Platform settings and policies change. These sources let you check the current details directly.