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Cost per Lead Calculator: The Most You Can Pay

The most you can pay for a lead is what a customer is worth to you multiplied by the share of leads that become customers.

Nic Crane · FounderFreeFormula on the page
Cost per lead calculator

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Break-even cost per lead—
Break-even cost per click—

Enter your figures to see the result.

If a customer brings £2,000 of gross profit and you win one lead in five, each lead is worth £400 to you. Pay less than that and the advertising makes money; pay more and it does not, however many leads it brings.

The formula

  • Break-even cost per lead=customer gross profit × close rate
  • Break-even cost per click=break-even cost per lead × click-to-lead rate

From cost per lead to cost per click

Add the share of clicks that become leads and the calculator turns the lead figure into the most you can pay per click. Set that against what clicks actually cost on your searches, and you know before spending a pound whether a search can pay. The UK Google Ads costs data on this site shows the bid ranges for common searches.

Why lead quality changes the answer

Close rates are rarely the same across channels. Leads from a search for your exact service often close at a different rate from leads that came from a social ad or a broad search, so work the figure out per channel from your own CRM, not once for the whole business. A cheap lead that never closes is the most expensive kind.

What clicks cost in the UK

Read from Google's Keyword Planner on 31 October 2026, the high end of the UK top-of-page bid range ran from £0.68 to £74.20 across 62 common searches. UK Google Ads costs, 2026.

Common questions

The questions that come up.

How do I work out a good cost per lead?

Multiply the gross profit from an average customer by the share of leads that become customers. That is your break-even cost per lead; a good one is far enough below it to leave the profit you need.

What is the difference between cost per lead and cost per acquisition?

Cost per lead is what an enquiry costs. Cost per acquisition is what a customer costs, which is the cost per lead divided by the close rate.

Should I use revenue or profit for the customer's value?

Gross profit. Revenue overstates what you can afford, because part of every sale already goes on the product or the work.

Read next

Where to go from here.

The practice

Google Ads consultancy

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The practice

LinkedIn Ads consultancy

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Calculators

Every calculator

ROAS, POAS, MER, ACoS and cost per lead, each with its formula shown.

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