B
Evidence Grade B
Graded
accuracy verified by the review judge
Safe to Cite
Current
12
12 -- cac payback period benchmark for SaaS industry (2026)
A healthy customer acquisition cost (CAC) payback period for SaaS companies is benchmarked at under 12 months.
- Stated as an industry rule-of-thumb/health benchmark ('under 12 months') rather than an empirical average
Attribution:
View source
Lighthouse Research Team
Last verified:
·
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Source verified
Evidence graded
Value
12
Unit
Duration Months
Data Vintage
2026
Entity
Evidence Quality
B
Strong, reliable evidence
Sourced from a well-regarded research firm or industry leader with transparent methodology and a reasonably large sample.
Single source - not yet corroborated
Score breakdown
Extraction
75
Source Trust
60
Citation Chain
20
Independence
30
Methodology
45
Freshness
95
Source
Foundry CRO
Primary
Tier B
https://foundrycro.com/blog/customer-acquisition-cost-by-industry-2026/ ↗
Source Article
Customer Acquisition Cost by Industry 2026 + Free Calculator | Foundry CRO
The short version:
- CAC has risen 60 to 75% over five years for SaaS; iOS ATT added a 38.3% spike for DTC brands
- Fintech leads at $1,450 average CAC; ecommerce/DTC is lowest among digital-first at $45 to $70 paid
- SaaS CAC ranges from $205 (SMB) to $25,000+ (enterprise) depending on segment
- Th…
Original Research
Foundry CRO
· Original study ↗
Methodology
Reported as healthy maximum threshold ('under 12 months')
Methodology documented
Trend Over Time
| Period | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 18 | |
| 2026 (current) | 12 | -33.3% |
Segmentation
Industrymarketing
Cite this stat
Plain Text
SaaS industry: 12 cac payback period benchmark. Source: Foundry CRO (2026). Via Lighthouse Intelligence -- https://lighthousedata.io/data/saas-cac-payback-healthy-benchmark
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<blockquote cite="https://lighthousedata.io/data/saas-cac-payback-healthy-benchmark" style="border-left:3px solid #2563eb;padding:12px 16px;margin:16px 0;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;background:#f0f4ff;"><strong>12</strong> -- cac payback period benchmark for SaaS industry<br><small>Source: Foundry CRO (2026) · <a href="https://lighthousedata.io/data/saas-cac-payback-healthy-benchmark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Intelligence</a></small></blockquote>
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