Cost per click (CPC) is an advertising revenue model used by websites wherein they bill advertisers based on the number of clicks on a display ad for their site. Advertisers usually set a daily budget for cost per click. When the budget is reached, the website is removed from the ad rotation for the rest of the day.

Most websites are paired with advertisers through a third party, such as Google Ads on Google AdSense. One of the most common ways to determine cost per click is by dividing the cost of your advertising campaign by the number of clicks. It's also common to determine cost per click by bidding, wherein you'd bid a price per click and the system uses algorithms to run your ads, charging you up to your bid amount but not more.

Cost per click is also sometimes called pay per click (PPC).