Free tool 13 of 26 · Media math & programmatic
Reach & Frequency Calculator
Enter a budget, CPM and audience size. See how many people you will reach, how often, how many see you three times or more, and what a frequency cap does to delivery.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser
- Checked 19 October 2026
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How it works
How to use the Reach & Frequency Calculator
- Enter the flight budget and the CPM you expect to pay.
- Enter the audience size from your platform's forecast.
- Optionally add a frequency cap and compare reach and wasted budget.
| What | How it's worked out |
|---|---|
| Impressions | Budget ÷ CPM × 1,000 |
| Reach (no cap) | Audience × (1 − e−impressions ÷ audience) |
| Reach (with cap) | Poisson exposure model truncated at the cap |
| Average frequency | Impressions ÷ reach |
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How to use the result
- Plan for 3+ reach, not average frequency. An average of 4 can hide half the audience seeing you once and a few people seeing you twelve times.
- Use caps on small audiences. ABM and retargeting lists burn out fast; without a cap the platform piles impressions on the most active people.
- Budget that can't deliver isn't spent wisely elsewhere. When the cap blocks delivery, widen the audience or move money to another channel.
Questions
Straight answers.
How is reach calculated?
With a random-exposure (Poisson) model: reach equals audience × (1 − e^−(impressions ÷ audience)). It's the standard planning approximation when you don't have platform reach curves.
What frequency should a B2B campaign aim for?
There's no universal number. Many planners aim to reach most of the buying committee at least three times in a flight, then judge it by account engagement.
Why is real reach lower than the estimate?
Platforms deliver more to active users, so impressions concentrate on fewer people than a random model assumes.
Does a frequency cap cost more?
It can raise the CPM slightly because the platform has fewer people to bid on, but it usually cuts waste on small audiences.
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