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What are my subscription unit economics?

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Numbers to enter
Calculate subscriber contribution, a constant-churn lifetime estimate, LTV, CAC payback and LTV:CAC without spreading CAC into monthly operating cost and then counting it again.

Use customer/logo churn for the same cohort definition. The lifetime estimate assumes that churn rate remains constant over time.

Costs that scale with keeping one subscriber active, such as service delivery, processing or usage-based infrastructure.

Enter a per-subscriber amount only if you allocate this cost consistently. Leave 0 if it is already included above.

Use total acquisition spend ÷ genuinely new subscribers for the same acquisition definition. Enter the total CAC once — not an amortised monthly amount.

Finance / industry term: CAC — Customer Acquisition Cost

Koala's Calculated Result
Contribution LTV before acquisition, then payback and net contribution when CAC is entered.

Enter the numbers you know

The detailed explanation will appear here once the calculator has a result.

Add monthly price and a positive monthly churn rate. Add per-subscriber costs and CAC for a fuller unit-economics view.

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Definition and method

What this calculator answers

Combine price, per-subscriber costs and churn to estimate contribution LTV, then add CAC if you want payback and acquisition economics.

Contribution per active month

Monthly contribution = subscription price − variable cost per active subscriber − support/service cost per active subscriber. CAC is kept separate rather than amortised into this monthly operating figure.

Worked example: your figures

The interactive result above is the worked example. Change any input and the same deterministic engine recomputes the answer; this page does not insert a generic example business or silently treat example values as a benchmark.

  • No market benchmark or outcome is silently inserted by this page.

What should I check next?

Frequently asked questions

What is subscription LTV?

Subscription LTV (lifetime value) is the cumulative per-month contribution minus per-month costs, times the expected lifetime in months — the total expected profit from a single subscriber across their lifetime.

Subscription Profitability

Why does churn matter so much?

Expected subscriber lifetime = 1 / monthly churn rate. A 5% monthly churn gives ~20 months; a 10% monthly churn gives ~10 months. Even a small churn improvement doubles the LTV at the same contribution.

Subscription Profitability

What is the "LTV to CAC" ratio?

LTV to CAC is the lifetime value divided by the cost to acquire a customer. The standard rule of thumb is 3× or higher — at 3× the subscription economically pays for itself; below 1× you are paying to lose money.

Subscription Profitability

What is "amortized CAC"?

Use the calculator result for the inputs entered and keep any market-response or operating recommendation separate from the deterministic calculation. Support that additional assumption with the business’s own evidence or an explicitly labelled scenario.

Subscription Profitability

Educational use, not financial advice. Numbers are estimates for planning; consult a qualified professional before acting on them.