CPM Calculator
Calculate your advertising costs, target impressions, and CPM rates to plan better campaigns.
Compare Second Campaign
Campaign B
What is CPM?
CPM stands for Cost Per Mille (“mille” is Latin for thousand). In simple terms, it is the price you pay for every 1,000 times your advertisement is shown to a potential customer.
Unlike CPC (Cost Per Click), where you pay for engagement, CPM is about visibility. It is the standard currency for brand awareness campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Google Display Network, and LinkedIn.
Think of CPM as the “rent” you pay for digital real estate. If the rent is too high, your campaign becomes unsustainable before you even get a single click.
The Math Behind the Tool
The Core Formula:
CPM = Total Cost / Impressions x 1000You can also flip the formula to find other missing variables:
- To find your Budget: (CPM x Impressions ) / 1000
- To find expected Views: (Budget / CPM) / 1000
CPM vs. CPC vs. CPA: Which One Matters?
| Metric | Stands For | Best Used For… |
| CPM | Cost Per Mille | Brand Awareness. You want as many people as possible to see your new product launch or video. |
| CPC | Cost Per Click | Traffic. You want people to visit your website or read a blog post. |
| CPA | Cost Per Action | Sales/Leads. You only care if someone buys a product or fills out a form. |
Pro Tip: Even if you are bidding on a CPA (Cost Per Action) basis, platforms like Facebook still calculate a “backend CPM.” If your ads are boring and no one stops to look, the platform raises your CPM, which eventually drives up your Cost Per Action. Lowering your CPM almost always lowers your cost per sale.
How to Use the “Compare” Feature
You’ll notice a “Compare Second Campaign” toggle in the calculator above. This is critical for A/B testing.
Rarely does a marketer run just one ad. You might be running one campaign on Instagram Stories and another on TikTok.
- Enter your Instagram spend and views in the top section.
- Open the comparison toggle and enter your TikTok data.
- The calculator will instantly show you which platform is charging you less for the same amount of visibility.
3 Proven Ways to Lower Your CPM
If you plug your numbers into the calculator and the result is higher than you expected (e.g., above $20 for a standard Facebook feed ad), here is how to fix it:
1. Broaden Your Audience Hyper-targeting is expensive. If you try to target “Left-handed golfers in Atlanta,” there is very little inventory available, so the price skyrockets. Expanding your audience to “Golf enthusiasts in Georgia” will usually drop your CPM significantly.
2. Refresh Your Creative Ad fatigue is real. When the same people see your ad 4 or 5 times, they stop looking. Algorithms notice this drop in attention and penalize you with higher costs. If your CPM creeps up week over week, it’s time to change the image or video.
3. Watch Your Frequency In the calculator’s Insights Box (the blue section that appears after calculation), we give you a quick look at scale. If you are spending heavily but your audience size is small, your frequency will shoot up. High frequency = wasted budget.
What is a “Good” CPM?
- Display Ads: Often very cheap ($0.50 – $4.00), but lower quality visibility.
- Facebook/Instagram: Moderate ($5.00 – $15.00), highly dependent on industry.
- LinkedIn: Premium ($20.00 – $50.00+), because you are targeting specific job titles.
Sources: ClickZ, Omni Calculator, Marketing Dive, Upwork, CPM Calculator, CalculateStuff, GRIN, WebFX.