What is CPA (Cost per acquisition)?
CPA, or cost per acquisition, is the average ad spend needed to get one conversion, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a lead. The same letters also stand for cost per action. In Meta Ads Manager the closest column is cost per result, which Meta calculates as amount spent divided by results, where results are the outcomes counted for the ad set's objective under its attribution setting.
Meta says cost per result depends on the bid, the audience, the optimisation type, the creative and the schedule. Because results follow the attribution setting, the same campaign shows a different CPA under different attribution windows.
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Sources
- 1.Cost per result is amount spent divided by results and is affected by bid, audience, optimisation type, creative and schedule. Meta Business Help Centre, Cost per result. Checked 14 October 2026.
- 2.Results are counted under the selected attribution setting. Meta Business Help Centre, Results. Checked 14 October 2026.