Industry benchmarks for B2B SaaS (Enterprise)
Enterprise B2B SaaS recovers CAC in roughly 12 months, and anything past 18 starts to strain the balance sheet. A typical fully loaded CAC per logo runs $25,000 to $80,000 once you include AE and SE comp, SDR cost, marketing, and a 3 to 9 month sales cycle. ARPU sits between $3,000 and $8,000 MRR at 75 to 85 percent gross margin, with monthly logo churn of 0.4 to 0.8 percent. At $42,000 CAC against $3,510 in monthly gross profit, payback lands at 12.0 months.
The lever that decides enterprise economics is net revenue retention, not logo retention. Because gross logo churn is already low, most of the LTV upside comes from seat growth, module attach, and usage expansion inside accounts you already won, which costs a fraction of new-logo CAC. Teams that pair a 12 month payback with 120 percent NRR effectively see CAC repaid twice, since expansion revenue arrives with almost no incremental acquisition cost. Track payback by segment too, because one enterprise logo with a 20 month payback can be perfectly healthy if it expands, while a mid-market logo at the same payback usually is not.
Frequently asked questions
CAC Payback Estimator for B2B SaaS (Enterprise), answered.
What is a good CAC payback period for enterprise SaaS?
Twelve months is the standard target. Under 12 months is strong and supports faster sales hiring, 12 to 18 months is acceptable if NRR is above 110 percent, and beyond 24 months you are effectively financing growth with equity.
Should I include sales salaries in enterprise CAC?
Yes. Fully loaded CAC includes AE and SDR base plus commission, sales engineering, marketing program spend, and the tooling that supports them. Excluding comp is the single most common way enterprise CAC gets understated by half.
Why is LTV:CAC only 3x when churn is so low?
Low churn produces very long theoretical lifetimes, so most teams cap LTV at 36 to 60 months rather than dividing by a 0.6 percent churn rate. Capping keeps the ratio honest instead of rewarding a mathematical artifact.