Free tool

Cost per lead calculator: what does each lead cost you?

Enter your ad spend and the leads it produced. Get your cost per lead, a blended cost per lead that adds your other costs, and, if you count qualified leads, the qualified rate and the cost per qualified lead. This is a free calculator on numbers you type: it does not read your ad accounts, it is not a report from SourceTrack, and nothing you enter leaves your browser. The fields are pre-filled with an illustrative example; replace it with your own figures.

What this does not include: a benchmark, a verdict on whether your cost per lead is high or low, or a cost per lead by channel. It divides the numbers you type, and it cannot tell you which channel produced the leads.

The pre-filled example

Replace these inputs with your own

$3,000

Ad spend

120

Leads

What the example works out to

Cost per lead
$3,000 ÷ 120
$25
Blended cost per lead
($3,000 + $800) ÷ 120
$31.67
Qualified rate
(42 ÷ 120) × 100
35.00%
Cost per qualified lead
$3,000 ÷ 42
$71.43
Blended cost per qualified lead
($3,000 + $800) ÷ 42
$90.48

Example values, made up for illustration. Arithmetic on the numbers typed, with no benchmark and no verdict on whether a cost per lead is high or low.

Currency symbol

Display only, nothing is converted.

Example values

Ad spend$What you paid the ad platforms for the period.Other costs$Optional. Agency fees, creative, tools or staff time for the same period. Leave blank to skip the blended figures; type 0 if there were none.LeadsThe leads you got in the same period.Qualified leadsOptional. How many of those leads you count as qualified, by your own definition. Leave blank to skip the qualified figures.

This divides the numbers you typed; it does not say whether a cost per lead is high or low, and it cannot tell you which channel produced the leads. One blended cost per lead can hide channels that cost very different amounts, so tracking the source of each lead is the step after this one.

What if?

Optional. Type your own alternative for one or both of these inputs and the results are worked out again next to yours. What-if figures are arithmetic on numbers you typed: nothing here is suggested or assumed. A field left blank keeps your number from above, and with both blank nothing is worked out.

What if ad spend were$Your own alternative to the ad spend above.What if leads wereYour own alternative to the leads above.

Show the math

Cost per leadad spend ÷ leadsWith your numbers: $3,000 ÷ 120 = $25
Blended cost per lead(ad spend + other costs) ÷ leadsWith your numbers: ($3,000 + $800) ÷ 120 = $31.67
Qualified rate(qualified leads ÷ leads) × 100With your numbers: (42 ÷ 120) × 100 = 35.00%
Cost per qualified leadad spend ÷ qualified leadsWith your numbers: $3,000 ÷ 42 = $71.43
Blended cost per qualified lead(ad spend + other costs) ÷ qualified leadsWith your numbers: ($3,000 + $800) ÷ 42 = $90.48

The formulas

Shown, so you can check them.

Nothing here is proprietary and none of it is a benchmark. It is arithmetic on the numbers you typed.

Cost per lead

Ad spend ÷ leads. What you paid the ad platforms for each lead you got in the same period.

Blended cost per lead

(Ad spend + other costs) ÷ leads. Adds agency fees, creative, tools or staff time you typed, so the figure covers more than the media bill.

Qualified rate

Qualified leads ÷ leads, times 100. The share of your leads you count as qualified, by your own definition.

Cost per qualified lead

Ad spend ÷ qualified leads, and the blended version adds the other costs first. Both need a qualified-lead count you typed.

Worked example

The pre-filled numbers, worked through.

Example valuesThe calculator opens on these illustrative values: $3,000 of ad spend, $800 of other costs, 120 leads and 42 qualified leads, all for the same period. They are made up for the example and are not a result for any account.

Cost per lead
$25
$3,000 ÷ 120
ad spend ÷ leads
Blended cost per lead
$31.67
($3,000 + $800) ÷ 120
(ad spend + other costs) ÷ leads
Qualified rate
35.00%
(42 ÷ 120) × 100
(qualified leads ÷ leads) × 100
Cost per qualified lead
$71.43
$3,000 ÷ 42
ad spend ÷ qualified leads
Blended cost per qualified lead
$90.48
($3,000 + $800) ÷ 42
(ad spend + other costs) ÷ qualified leads

Before you type

What goes into each number.

The result is only as consistent as the numbers you put in. Decide each of these once, and use the same choice every time you work out the figure.

A lead
Decide what counts, for example a form submission, a booked call or a sign-up, and count only that. Leads counted two different ways cannot be divided into one cost.
Other costs
Agency fees, creative, tools or staff time for the same period. Leave it blank to skip the blended figures; type 0 if there were none.
A qualified lead
Your own definition of qualified. The calculator does not decide it, and the qualified count cannot be higher than the lead count.

FAQ

The questions that come up every time.

How do you calculate cost per lead?

Divide your ad spend by the number of leads you got in the same period. For example, $3,000 of ad spend that produced 120 leads is $3,000 ÷ 120 = $25 per lead. Use the same period for the spend and the leads, and count a lead the same way every time.

What is the difference between cost per lead and blended cost per lead?

Cost per lead counts ad spend only. Blended cost per lead adds your other costs for the period, such as agency fees, creative, tools or staff time, before dividing by leads: ($3,000 + $800) ÷ 120 is $31.67. The calculator shows the blended figure only when you type the other costs, and a 0 means there were none.

What is a qualified lead, and how is cost per qualified lead worked out?

A qualified lead is one you count as qualified by your own definition; the calculator does not decide that for you. Cost per qualified lead is ad spend ÷ qualified leads, and the qualified rate is qualified leads ÷ leads. With 42 qualified out of 120 leads, the rate is 35.00% and $3,000 ÷ 42 is $71.43 per qualified lead.

Does the calculator say whether my cost per lead is high or low?

No. It divides the numbers you type and does not compare them with anything. Whether a cost per lead works for you depends on what a lead is worth to your business and how many become customers, and both are figures only you have.

Why can one cost per lead hide differences between channels?

It is one number for every source you paid for, so it cannot show that leads from one channel cost less than leads from another. Splitting cost per lead by channel needs to know which source produced each lead first, which is the part this calculator cannot do from two typed totals.

Are the numbers I type sent anywhere?

No. The arithmetic runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to a server or stored. Copy link puts your numbers after a # sign in the link you copy, and the page removes that part from the address bar as soon as it has read it.

A calculator cannot tell you which channel produced the leads.

This works out the cost. Splitting it by the source that produced each lead is the part that changes where the budget goes — one script tag, 28 days free.

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