How should I allocate my marketing budget across channels?

There's no universal split, but a durable starting framework is 70/20/10: 70% to proven core channels, 20% to growth channels you're scaling, and 10% to experiments. From there, rank channels by ROAS (or CAC for lead-gen) and shift budget toward what performs. This tool lets you start from a business-type preset and adjust.

What percentage of revenue should go to marketing?

Benchmarks vary by model and stage. B2B companies typically spend ~6–10% of revenue (Gartner put the 2025 average near 7.7%), B2C/product brands ~10–15%, DTC ecommerce ~10–20%, and early-stage SaaS often 15–30% while mature SaaS settles to ~5–7%. Use the "% of revenue" method to apply a benchmark to your own revenue.

What is the 70/20/10 marketing budget rule?

It splits spend into 70% Core (proven, scaled channels), 20% Growth (channels showing promise that you're scaling), and 10% Experimental (new platforms, formats, and tests). It balances reliable returns with funded experimentation. The tool shows your live Core/Growth/Experimental split against these targets.

Should I budget on monthly or annual figures?

Plan annually for the big picture, then phase monthly to manage pacing and seasonality. This calculator shows both annual and monthly figures per channel, and the CSV export includes both so you can drop them straight into a tracker.

Is this marketing budget calculator free?

Yes — it runs entirely in your browser, requires no sign-up, and lets you export your allocation to CSV at no cost. Pair it with our downloadable Marketing Budget Template to track planned vs. actual spend.

Marketing Budget Calculator

Allocate your marketing budget across channels, check it against the 70/20/10 framework, and export your plan.

Start from a preset (optional)

Budget method

Total budget (annual)

Annual budget

$120,000

$10,000 / month

100% allocated

Edit Channels & Tiers

Channel	Tier	% of budget	Annual	Monthly	Remove
			$36,000	$3,000
			$30,000	$2,500
			$18,000	$1,500
			$14,400	$1,200
			$9,600	$800
			$12,000	$1,000

Budget Health Check

On track

Core70%60–80%

Growth20%10–30%

Experimental10%5–15%

Want to track planned vs. actual spend?

Export your allocation above, then drop it into our Marketing Budget Template to track pacing, actuals, and ROAS by channel all year.

A budget is only as good as the efficiency metrics that steer it. Use these definitions and calculators to set allocations from real economics — channel returns, blended efficiency, acquisition cost, and lifetime value.

Glossary terms

ROAS — Rank channels by return on ad spend, then shift budget toward the top.
MER — Blended efficiency for judging the whole budget when per-channel ROAS breaks.
CAC — Tie channel budgets to the cost of acquiring a customer.
Customer LTV — LTV:CAC sets how aggressively you can fund acquisition.

Other calculators

ROAS Calculator — Check the return each channel allocation is expected to produce.
MER Calculator — Measure blended efficiency across your whole budget.
LTV Calculator — Size sustainable acquisition spend from lifetime value.
Creative Testing Calculator — Budget the experimental reserve your mix sets aside for testing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Guide

Benchmarks & how to read your result

How to read and act on your result — research-backed context with linked sources for every benchmark cited.

How It Works

Choose a method — enter a total budget directly, or calculate it as a percentage of annual revenue using an industry benchmark.
Pick a preset — Balanced (70/20/10), B2C Ecommerce, B2B SaaS (Demand Gen), or Brand + Performance — to pre-fill a realistic channel mix.
Adjust channels — edit channel names, tiers (Core / Growth / Experimental), and percentages; add or remove channels as needed.
Check the mix — the tool flags how your Core/Growth/Experimental split compares to the 70/20/10 targets, and whether you've allocated over or under 100%.
Export — download your allocation as a CSV with annual and monthly figures per channel.

Methodology & sources

Revenue-to-marketing percentages and the 70/20/10 framework are planning heuristics — rebalance monthly against channel ROAS or CAC:LTV, not a fixed annual split. Presets reflect common mixes for each business model; edit channels to match your stack.

Gartner CMO Spend Survey
Marketing spend as % of company revenue (2025 average ~7.7% for B2B)
FirstPageSage Marketing ROI Report
Channel allocation and efficiency context
WordStream & LocaliQ Benchmarks
Paid-channel cost baselines for mix sizing
Common Thread Collective DTC Index
DTC spend intensity and experimental reserve norms

Marketing Budget Calculator

Plan and allocate your marketing budget across channels with an interactive builder. Start from a business-type preset, split spend by channel, check it against the 70/20/10 framework, and export your allocation to CSV.

Free Calculator

No sign up required. Use this calculator as much as you need.

Stop calculating by hand

Want AI to track this across every creative variant — and tie it back to ROAS automatically? That’s what AdSights does.

Request early access

Related Calculators

Incrementality Calculator

Measure the true impact of your marketing campaigns by calculating incrementality. Understand which portion of your conversions would have happened organically versus those directly caused by your marketing efforts.

Calculator

ROAS Calculator

Calculate and analyze your return on ad spend (ROAS) to optimize campaign performance. Get data-driven insights on advertising efficiency, revenue attribution, and budget allocation to maximize marketing ROI.

Calculator

MER Calculator

Calculate Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) metrics to evaluate overall marketing performance, attributed efficiency, and new customer acquisition. Use our free MER calculator to apply multiple MER formulas (MER, aMER, nMER), analyze key efficiency metrics, and optimize your marketing ROI with data-driven insights.

Calculator

Related Analyzers

Paid Social Benchmarks

Enter your CPM, CPC, or CTR and see how it compares to current published benchmarks for Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube — segmented by campaign objective where the source splits them. Free, no login, every figure cited with source and year.

Analyzer

ThruPlay Rate Benchmark

Enter your Meta ThruPlay rate and instantly see how it compares to 2026 industry benchmarks by creative length and audience temperature. Free, no login — see where you land vs the cited typical range, with sources, and what your number means for creative performance.

Analyzer

Related Terms

📊

Churn Rate

Churn rate measures the proportion of customers who discontinue their relationship with a company during a specific timeframe. For subscription businesses, this means cancellations or non-renewals. For non-subscription businesses, churn is often defined as no purchase activity within a set period. It's a critical metric for evaluating customer retention and business health.

Glossary Term

📚

Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion Rate Optimization is a data-driven methodology for analyzing and improving advertising creative and user experience to increase the percentage of users who take desired actions. CRO involves systematic testing of creative elements, messaging, calls-to-action, and user flows to identify and implement changes that drive higher conversion rates.

Glossary Term

📊

Return on Ad Spend

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a marketing performance metric that measures the revenue generated per dollar of advertising spend. Unlike ROI which considers all business costs, ROAS specifically evaluates advertising efficiency by comparing directly attributable revenue to ad spend. This metric is crucial for optimizing campaign performance, budget allocation, and overall marketing strategy.

Glossary Term