PPC Calculator
Find your CPC, CPM, and CTR instantly from ad spend, impressions, and clicks — plus conversion rate, CPA, and ROAS if you add conversions and revenue.
Last updated October 22, 2026
How to use the PPC calculator
- 1
Enter your ad spend, impressions, and clicks from your ad platform's report, or tap a preset to try sample numbers.
- 2
Your CPC, CPM, and CTR update instantly.
- 3
Add conversions and revenue if you have them, to also see conversion rate, CPA, ROAS, and ROI.
How these metrics are calculated
CPC = ad spend ÷ clicks. A $1,500 campaign that gets 3,000 clicks has a CPC of $0.50 — the cost of a single click, regardless of how many people saw the ad without clicking.
CPM = (ad spend ÷ impressions) × 1,000. The same $1,500 campaign shown 200,000 times has a CPM of $7.50 — the cost to put the ad in front of 1,000 people, regardless of clicks.
CTR = (clicks ÷ impressions) × 100. 3,000 clicks out of 200,000 impressions is a 1.5% CTR — the share of people who saw the ad and clicked it.
If you add conversions and revenue, the calculator also works out conversion rate (conversions ÷ clicks), CPA (spend ÷ conversions), and ROAS (revenue ÷ spend) the same way — each is just one number divided by another.
Worked example: one campaign, every metric
A campaign spends $1,500, gets 200,000 impressions and 3,000 clicks, and those clicks turn into 45 sales worth $6,000. Here is what the calculator returns:
| Metric | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| CPC | $1,500 ÷ 3,000 | $0.50 |
| CPM | $1,500 ÷ 200,000 × 1,000 | $7.50 |
| CTR | 3,000 ÷ 200,000 × 100 | 1.5% |
| Conversion rate | 45 ÷ 3,000 × 100 | 1.5% |
| CPA | $1,500 ÷ 45 | $33.33 |
| ROAS | $6,000 ÷ $1,500 | 4.00x |
| ROI | ($6,000 − $1,500) ÷ $1,500 × 100 | 300% |
Each click cost 50 cents, but each sale cost $33.33, because only 1 in about 67 clicks bought something. That gap between CPC and CPA is usually where a campaign is won or lost. A 4x ROAS looks strong, but it is revenue, not profit: if your margin on those sales is under 25%, the campaign lost money.
What each metric tells you
| Metric | Answers |
|---|---|
| CPC | How much does one click cost? |
| CPM | How much does 1,000 views cost, regardless of clicks? |
| CTR | What share of viewers actually clicked? |
| CPA | How much does one sale or sign-up cost? |
| ROAS | How much revenue came back per dollar spent? |
Why CPC and CPM can move in opposite directions
CPC and CPM split the same spend two ways, and CTR links them: CPC = CPM ÷ (CTR × 10), with CTR as a percent. At a $7.50 CPM and 1.5% CTR, CPC is $7.50 ÷ 15 = $0.50.
If CTR doubles to 3% at the same CPM, CPC halves to $0.25. If CTR drops to 0.75%, CPC doubles to $1.00 even though you paid the same per thousand views. So a rising CPC with a flat CPM usually means the ad is getting fewer clicks, not that the auction got more expensive. Check CTR before you change bids.
For a deeper comparison of when to buy on CPC or CPM, see CPC vs. CPM: which metric matters.
Everyday uses for a PPC calculator
Sanity-checking ad platform numbers: quickly confirming the CPC or CTR a dashboard shows you, or reconciling numbers across two campaigns with different totals.
Budget planning: working out roughly how many clicks a given budget should produce at a target CPC, before a campaign even launches.
Comparing campaigns: lining up CPC, CTR, and CPA side by side for two campaigns or two time periods to see which is actually performing better.
Checking real profitability: once you know your product's margin, pair your ROAS here with our Margin / Markup Calculator to see whether a campaign is actually profitable, not just revenue-positive.
Need to work out a discount or markup instead of ad metrics? Try the Discount Calculator →
Cost per thousand (CPM) explained
CPM is the cost per thousand impressions. The M is the Roman numeral for 1,000. Divide your ad spend by your impressions, then multiply by 1,000.
Example: you spend $250 and your ads are shown 100,000 times. CPM = $250 ÷ 100,000 × 1,000 = $2.50 per thousand impressions. CPM matters most for awareness campaigns where you are paying for views rather than clicks.