Subscriber lifetime value (LTV) calculator

Enter your average revenue per subscriber per month — usually your average plan price — and your monthly churn rate. The calculator shows the average subscriber lifetime and lifetime value instantly. Open the advanced panel to add your gross margin and subscriber acquisition cost (CAC); the tool then also displays your LTV:CAC ratio and payback period. Every change updates live in your browser and is stored in the URL so you can share a scenario.

The model uses three simple steps:

• Average subscriber lifetime (months) = 1 ÷ monthly churn rate. At 5% monthly churn, the average subscriber stays for 1 ÷ 0.05 = 20 months.
• Lifetime value (LTV) = ARPU × lifetime in months × gross margin. At £6 ARPU, 20 months and 90% margin, LTV = £6 × 20 × 0.90 = £108.
• LTV:CAC ratio = LTV ÷ CAC. Payback period = CAC ÷ (ARPU × gross margin). Both only appear if CAC is greater than zero.

The calculator assumes a steady monthly churn rate. Real cohorts vary by acquisition channel, plan type and season, so treat the output as a directional benchmark rather than a precise forecast.

With the default inputs — £6 ARPU, 5% monthly churn and 90% gross margin — the average subscriber stays for 20.0 months (about 1.7 years) and has a lifetime value of £108.

• Average lifetime: 20.0 months
• Subscriber LTV: £108
• Gross margin applied: 90%

If you also spent £30 to acquire each subscriber, your LTV:CAC ratio would be about 3.6:1 and you would recover that spend in roughly 5.6 months.

Media and publishing subscriptions commonly report monthly churn in the mid-single digits, with annual plans churning at roughly one-third to one-half the rate of monthly plans. Professional or niche titles often retain subscribers longer than general-interest news, which means higher LTV even at similar ARPU.

A widely used rule of thumb is an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1, with payback under 12 months for healthy cash flow. If your payback stretches beyond that, acquisition costs are eating too much of the lifetime value.

Sources

• Recurly — subscription churn benchmarks by industry
• INMA — global media subscription research and retention data
• Retention.com — publisher retention and LTV benchmarks

Benchmarks vary by market, content type and billing mix. Replace them with your own subscriber data as soon as you have it.