Cost-Per-Click Calculator
Use our free tool to calculate CPC (Cost-Per-Click) for your ad campaigns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cost Per Click?
Cost Per Click (CPC) refers to the actual price you pay for each click in your pay-per-click (PPC) digital marketing campaigns. CPC is a digital marketing metric used to gauge the cost for each click on your ads in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign. It's a key metric that can help you assess the performance and return on investment (ROI) of your paid search campaigns.
How is CPC calculated?
The equation used to calculate CPC is the total cost to an advertiser divided by the total number of clicks generated by the ads. For example, if an advertiser paid $250 for a campaign that received 82 clicks, the CPC would be $3.05 (i.e., 250/82 = 3.049). You can also use our online CPC calculator.Note: calculating paid search campaign performance and return on investment can prove confusing since different platforms use different attribution models to measure conversions.
What is a good CPC?
With more than 80% of all digital marketing budgets going towards display ads and search advertising, it's critical to understand the proper metrics to execute effective online advertising campaigns. CPC represents the cost to an advertiser every time someone clicks on their ad. Most digital ad platforms require a target cost-per-click for new campaigns to run, which begs the question, "what is a good cost-per-click?" The short answer is, "it depends." Cost per click can vary significantly due to various factors: ● the advertising platform, ● the type of advertising, ● the target audience, ● the product or service, ● and the bidding strategy.
How does price impact CPC?
For anyone advertising on search engines, the product or service advertised is the single most significant contributor to cost-per-click.Most online ad platforms are auction-based. Since advertisers choose how much they're willing to pay for each click, those who opt to pay more will get more desirable placements for their ads. Similarly, the more expensive your product or service, the more your competitors will tend to pay for the clicks.
Why do I need to calculate CPC?
In case you're wondering why it's so important to calculate your CPC, you're not alone.If your cost-per-click is too high, you won't yield a positive return on your business's investment. Advertising costs add up quickly. If you don't track digital marketing metrics like CPC, you could put your business into a financial bind.Imagine that you own a bike store, and you'd like to place an ad for your bike tuning services. Suppose you only receive a few clicks on your ad, and your CPC is exceptionally high. In that case, you'll likely lose more money advertising the service than you'll make on actual sales.
When should I calculate CPC?
To save time and potential hassle in the future, we recommend calculating CPC during your ad campaign's planning stage. In addition to inputting numbers that you know to be true, like your marketing budget, you can estimate the cost of campaigns you haven't started yet.For example, you can use a CPC calculator to determine how much it would change your cost-per-click if you were to increase your campaign's total cost — perhaps during the holiday shopping season. You could also evaluate how much your CPC would change if you got more or fewer clicks.It's beneficial to know precisely how each scenario will affect your CPC, making an online CPC calculator an essential marketing tool.
What is the difference between CPC and CPM?
Cost Per Mille — or Cost Per Thousand Impressions — (CPM) is totally different from CPC as your bidding is focused and charged on the number of impressions of your ad gets rather than the number of clicks. CPM bidding is charged per thousand impressions your ad receives. See more on how to calculate CPM.
For example, with CPC, if your campaign generated 1,000 clicks at a $2 CPC, you would pay $2,000. Whereas, with CPM, if your campaign generated 1,000 impressions. A $3 CPM means you pay $3 for every 1,000 impressions your ad receives.