CPC Calculator
Cost per click is your ad spend divided by your clicks. Add impressions and the same three numbers give you your CTR and CPM too.
Your numbers
Add this and you get your CTR and CPM from the same three numbers, without opening another tool.
Your cost per click
CPC
—
CTR
—
CPM
—
The formula
CPC = ad spend / clicks
Shares the numbers you entered, not your data. Everything is in the link itself.
What is CPC?
CPC is cost per click: what you paid, on average, for each person who clicked. It is the metric that sits between what the auction charges you and what your landing page does with the traffic, which makes it the first place to look when spend is going out and nothing is coming back.
It is also the metric most easily improved by accident. Cheap clicks from the wrong people are still cheap clicks.
CPC = ad spend / clicks
A worked example
A campaign spends $1,500 and earns 1,200 clicks.
CPC = $1,500 / 1,200 = $1.25
Where your CPC actually comes from
CPC is not a price you are quoted, it is an outcome of two other numbers. You are charged for impressions, and your click-through rate decides how many clicks those impressions produce.
Written out: CPC = CPM / (CTR x 10). At a $5.00 CPM, a 0.8% click-through rate gives a $0.63 CPC. Lift the click-through rate to 1.2% and the same CPM gives $0.42. Nothing about the media buy changed. The creative did.
That is why the ad is usually a cheaper lever on CPC than the targeting. Check the other half with the CTR calculator and the CPM calculator.
CPC = CPM / (CTR x 10)
Four ways to bring a CPC down
Fix the first frame, not the budget
Click-through rate is decided in the first second of a video or the first glance at a static. That is a creative problem with a cheap fix, and it moves CPC directly.
Match the promise to the click
An ad that earns clicks it cannot convert lowers your CPC and raises your CPA. Read the two together or you will optimise the wrong one.
Watch the placements separately
A blended CPC hides a placement that is quietly eating the budget. Break it out before you conclude anything about the campaign.
Give the auction a reason to like you
Platforms discount ads people engage with. Engagement is not a vanity metric here, it is a discount on your media.
Use this calculator on your own site
Free to embed and free to cite, no attribution deal needed. Writers, agencies and course authors are welcome to drop the calculator straight into a post, and a credit link back is all we ask.
Embed this calculator on your site
Cite this tool, HTML
Cite this tool, plain text
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CPC?
CPC is cost per click: your ad spend divided by the number of clicks it earned. If a campaign spends $1,500 and produces 1,200 clicks, the CPC is $1.25. It is the standard way to compare what traffic costs across platforms and campaigns.
How do I calculate CPC?
Divide total ad spend by total clicks. $1,500 across 1,200 clicks is $1,500 / 1,200 = $1.25 per click. Enter both figures above and the calculator also returns your CTR and CPM if you add impressions.
What is a good CPC?
It depends entirely on what a click is worth to you, which is a question about your margin and conversion rate rather than about a benchmark. A $4 click is cheap if it converts at 5% on a $200 order and ruinous if it converts at 0.5% on a $30 one. Work out what you can afford with the CPA calculator, then judge the CPC against that.
How is CPC related to CPM and CTR?
CPC = CPM / (CTR x 10). Your CPM is what the auction charges for impressions and your CTR decides how many clicks those impressions produce. This is why improving the creative usually lowers CPC faster than changing the targeting: CTR moves and CPM does not have to.
Why did my CPC go up without me changing anything?
Usually the auction. More advertisers bidding for the same people raises your CPM, and your CPC follows. Creative fatigue does the same thing from the other direction: the same ad shown too often loses click-through rate, so each click costs more even at a flat CPM.
Do I need an account?
No account, no email, no credit card. Nothing you type is sent anywhere: the arithmetic runs in your browser.
Cheaper clicks come from better ads
CPC is mostly click-through rate wearing a dollar sign, and click-through rate is creative. Selzee reads your reviews, comments and post results and briefs the next round of ads from what your own customers said, so the ad earning the click has something to say.
Get started for freeOur articles are still written by HUMANS! Get human written articles in your Google feed.
Add as preferred sourceMore free tools
Keep exploring
Ad Reporting Tool
Paste a Meta or TikTok export to spot winning creatives, ad fatigue, and budget leaks instantly.
Try it free 💰Ecommerce Profit Margin Calculator
Calculate gross margin, net margin, profit per unit, and break-even ROAS for any ecommerce product.
Try it free 🧾Conversion Rate Calculator
Calculate your conversion rate, graded against the published market average, plus revenue per visitor.
Try it free 📊Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate an engagement rate for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or X, graded against the published average for that platform.
Try it free 🎵TikTok Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate your TikTok engagement rate by followers and by views, graded against the published average.
Try it free 👍Facebook Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate your Facebook engagement rate by fans and by reach, graded against the published average.
Try it free 🐦Twitter (X) Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate your Twitter or X engagement rate by followers and by impressions, graded against the published average.
Try it free ▶️YouTube Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate a YouTube engagement rate by views and by subscribers, with the interactions per 1,000 views and the comment share.
Try it free 📷Instagram Engagement Rate Calculator
Calculate your Instagram engagement rate by followers and by reach, graded against the published all-industry median.
Try it free 🔍Competitor Ad Finder
Enter one brand and open all four public ad libraries at the right place, with what each one will and will not show you.
Try it free 📐Instagram Size Checker
Drop one image in and see what Instagram does to it in every format, with the crop drawn on your photo, then download the fixed file. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 🖼YouTube Thumbnail Size Checker
Drop a thumbnail in, see what YouTube does to it, and resize it to 1280 x 720, 4K or Shorts under the size limit. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 📱Instagram Story Size Checker
See the 9:16 crop and the safe zones the profile row and reply box cover, drawn on your own story. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 📘Facebook Cover Photo Size Checker
Facebook crops covers differently on desktop and mobile. See both crops and the area that survives them. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 💼LinkedIn Banner Size Checker
See the 4:1 crop, the 15 percent mobile cut and where your profile photo lands on your banner. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 📺YouTube Banner Size Checker
See the 2560 x 1440 crop and the 1235 x 338 safe area YouTube keeps on every device, drawn on your own banner. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free ⭕Instagram Profile Picture Size Checker
Drop your photo in and see what the round crop hides. Instagram publishes no size, so every figure is labelled. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free ⬇️YouTube Thumbnail Downloader
Paste a YouTube link and download every thumbnail size YouTube stores, up to 1280 x 720. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 📐Social Media Image Sizes
Every surface in one table, each figure dated against the platform own page, with a checker per surface.
Try it free 🧩Instagram Grid Maker
Split one photo across your profile grid, numbered in the order you post them so the picture assembles the right way up. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 🖼Instagram Image Resizer
Free Instagram image resizer. Pick 1:1, 4:5, 3:4, 1.91:1 or 9:16, fit the whole photo or crop it, and download it at the exact size Instagram keeps.
Try it free 🖼Facebook Image Resizer
Free Facebook image resizer. Pick feed, square, link, story or cover, fit the whole photo or crop it, and download a JPG or PNG at the exact size. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 🖼X (Twitter) Image Resizer
Free X image resizer. Pick 16:9, square, 4:5 or header, fit the whole photo or crop it, and download a JPG or PNG under the 5 MB limit. Nothing is uploaded.
Try it free 📊ROAS Calculator
Measure your return on ad spend, CPA, and CPC against industry benchmarks.
Try it free ⚖️Break-Even ROAS Calculator
The ROAS at which your ads stop losing money, from your margin or your costs per order, plus your break-even CPA.
Try it free 📈Customer Lifetime Value Calculator
Calculate CLV, monthly customer value, and your maximum acquisition cost.
Try it free ✍️AI Product Description Generator
Generate compelling product descriptions in multiple tones and lengths.
Try it free 📋Creative Brief Generator
Turn a product, an audience and real customer language into a ten-section brief: one message, the insight behind it, deliverables and success metrics.
Try it free 🎨Brand Kit Generator
Read your brand kit off your own site: the colours in your CSS, the fonts you already use, and tone words evidenced by your own sentences.
Try it free 📣CPM Calculator
Cost per thousand impressions, solved in any direction: fill any two of spend, impressions and CPM and the third is worked out.
Try it free 👆CTR Calculator
Click-through rate at two decimals, plus impressions per click and your click-to-conversion rate.
Try it free 🎯CPA Calculator
Cost per acquisition against the break-even CPA your order value and margin allow, so the number comes with a verdict.
Try it free 🧲CAC Calculator
Customer acquisition cost counting sales spend as well as marketing, plus the LTV to CAC ratio.
Try it free 🪝Hook Generator
Turn your product and real customer reviews into ad, email, and landing page hooks, each labelled with the angle it uses.
Try it free 🧰AI Content Generator
The hub for the seven. One idea into posts, captions, carousels, scripts or a week of ideas.
Try it free 📣Social Media Post Generator
One idea into three posts, each written for the platform you pick, with its angle named.
Try it free 📸Instagram Caption Generator
Describe the photo and get five captions at the vibe, length and emoji level you choose.
Try it free 🎠Instagram Carousel Generator
A topic into 5, 7 or 10 slides written in reading order, plus the caption to go under them.
Try it free 🎬Video Script Generator
A Reels, TikTok or Shorts script beat by beat: the line to say and the shot to film beside it.
Try it free 💼LinkedIn Post Generator
One thing you know into three LinkedIn posts that read like a person, not a press release.
Try it free 💡Content Idea Generator
Six post ideas for your account, each with its format, its opening line and why it would work.
Try it free