Free tool
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
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CTR
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CPM
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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 cheapest lever on CPC is usually the ad rather 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.
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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 rather than the account. 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.
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