CPC calculator that solves for the click, the budget or the price

Cost per click is what you pay each time someone clicks an ad. On search platforms it is the price you bid on directly; on Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok you buy impressions and the CPC is a result: CPM divided by a thousand times the click-through rate. Either way the average CPC over a period is total spend divided by total clicks, and that is the number this calculator returns, or uses when you solve for the other two.

The three-way solve is what makes it useful for planning. "We have €5,000 and clicks cost €1.56" gives the clicks. "We need 3,000 clicks at €1.56" gives the budget. Both are the first line of a media plan.

Lower is not automatically better. A €0.30 click that never converts costs more than a €6 click from a buyer with intent, which is why a LinkedIn CPC of €8 can be the best deal on the account for a B2B offer. Compare CPC within a channel, against your own history, and always alongside the conversion rate behind it.

That said, each channel has a normal range. Google Search sits between €1 and €5 for most industries and reaches €20 or more for legal, insurance and software keywords. Meta clicks run €0.50 to €1.50, TikTok similar, Display and YouTube well under €1, LinkedIn €5 to €10. The table below has the ranges the calculator grades against.

CPC is a price, cost per conversion is the result. Divide CPC by the click-to-conversion rate: a €1.56 click at a 5 percent conversion rate is a €31 lead. The calculator does this when you add a conversion rate, and it is the number to optimise. Two levers move it, and only one of them is the bid.

• Conversion rate. Take the page from 5 to 7 percent and the €31 lead becomes €22 with no change to the click price.
• Click-through rate. On CPM-priced platforms a higher CTR lowers CPC directly: the same thousand impressions produce more clicks for the same money.
• Tracking. Clicks are counted by the platform and are almost always right. Conversions are counted by your pixel and often are not, so a cost per conversion built on a pixel count runs high by whatever share of conversions the pixel misses.