CPC calculator, with maximum affordable bid.
Find your average cost per click from what you spent and the clicks you got, or from CPM and click-through rate. Then work out the highest CPC you can pay for a click and still make money, based on your conversion rate and what a customer is worth.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us.
Or from CPM and click-through rate:
Results
How to use the CPC Calculator
- Pick a mode: "Average CPC" to check past results, or "Max CPC" to plan a bid.
- For average CPC, enter your spend and clicks, or switch to the CPM and CTR fields.
- For max CPC, enter what a sale or lead is worth, your profit margin and your conversion rate.
- Compare the two: if your average CPC is above your maximum, the campaign is losing money.
How CPC is calculated
Cost per click is your ad spend divided by the clicks it bought: PKR 50,000 for 1,000 clicks is a CPC of PKR 50. If you only know the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and click-through rate, CPC = CPM ÷ (CTR × 1,000).
In Google Ads you don't usually pay your maximum bid. You pay just enough to beat the advertiser below you, adjusted for ad quality. That's why better ads and landing pages (a higher Quality Score) lower your CPC without lowering your position.
The maximum CPC you can afford
This is the number most advertisers never work out. If a sale is worth $200, you keep 40% of it as profit, and 2% of visitors buy, then each click is worth $200 × 40% × 2% = $1.60 in profit. Pay more than $1.60 per click and you lose money on every sale, however many you make.
For lead generation, use the value of a lead: the average job value, times your margin, times the share of leads that become customers.
Ways to bring CPC down
- Use tighter keyword match types and add negative keywords for searches that never convert.
- Write ads that match the search closely, which raises Quality Score.
- Send clicks to a focused landing page, not the home page.
- Run ads at the hours and in the areas where your customers actually are.
- Raise your conversion rate: it lifts the CPC you can afford, which is often easier than lowering the one you pay. Our conversion rate optimisation work does exactly that.
About the CPC Calculator.
How do you calculate cost per click?
CPC = total ad spend ÷ number of clicks. For example, $500 spent for 250 clicks is a CPC of $2.
What is a good CPC?
It depends entirely on your industry and what a customer is worth. A good CPC is one below your maximum affordable CPC, so each click earns more than it costs.
How do I calculate my maximum CPC?
Max CPC = value of a sale × profit margin × conversion rate. That is the most a click can cost before the sale stops being profitable.
Why is my CPC so high in some industries?
Legal, insurance, finance and some home services have very valuable customers, so many advertisers bid for the same searches.
Is CPC the same on Meta and Google?
The calculation is the same, but costs differ. Meta clicks are often cheaper but convert differently, because people aren't searching for you at that moment.
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