This free cpm calculator works out the cost per thousand impressions of a display, video or social campaign from its total spend and impression count — and in reverse it can estimate how many impressions a budget buys at a set CPM, or what a planned reach will cost.
CPM is the price of showing an ad one thousand times. Enter any two values and the third is worked out for you.
What the campaign spent in total.
How many times the ad was shown.
The amount paid for every thousand impressions.
Used for the money figures only — the maths is the same.
Enter any two values and the third is worked out for you. The formula is CPM = Total Cost ÷ Impressions × 1,000. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored.
How this cost per mille calculator works
Mille is Latin for thousand, so CPM is simply the cost of a thousand impressions. The tool has three inputs: total cost, impressions, and the CPM itself, plus a currency selector that only changes how money figures are displayed. Fill in any two values and the third is recalculated instantly — the calculator always updates the field you have edited least recently. No figures leave your browser.
The CPM formula
CPM = Total Cost ÷ Impressions × 1,000. A campaign that spends $500 for 100,000 impressions has a CPM of $5.00. In reverse, Impressions = Total Cost ÷ CPM × 1,000 shows the reach a budget buys, and Total Cost = CPM × Impressions ÷ 1,000 shows what a planned campaign will cost.
When is CPM pricing used?
CPM is the standard model for display and banner advertising, video ads and social campaigns bought for reach and brand visibility rather than direct response. You pay for exposure whether or not anyone clicks, which makes it the natural choice when the goal is to be seen by the right audience many times.
CPM vs CPC: which model fits your goal?
CPM buys exposure while CPC buys visits, and the cheaper-looking option is not always the cheaper result. A low CPM with a weak click-through rate can cost more per visitor than a straightforward cost per click campaign, so run your real CTR figures through the CTR Calculator and compare against the CPC Calculator before choosing how to buy.
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Frequently asked questions
Divide the total cost by the number of impressions, then multiply by 1,000. $500 ÷ 100,000 impressions × 1,000 = a $5.00 CPM.
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser and the figures you enter are never uploaded or stored.
Choose CPM when the goal is reach and visibility, and CPC when the goal is visits and conversions — CPC means you only pay when someone actually clicks.
CPM stands for cost per mille — the cost of one thousand ad impressions. It is the standard pricing unit for display, video and many social media campaigns.
It depends on the platform, audience and targeting. Broad audiences usually cost less per thousand than narrow, high-value ones, so judge a CPM against the quality of the audience reached, not the number alone.
Effective CPM: the revenue or cost per thousand impressions worked out after the fact from a campaign priced another way, so different pricing models can be compared on one scale.
Pricing per single impression would produce fractions of a cent. Bundling impressions into thousands keeps the numbers easy to compare between campaigns and platforms.