Cost Per Action or CPA, or sometimes called as Pay Per Action or PPA, is an online advertising pricing model, where the advertiser pays for each specified action linked to the advertisement.



Cost Per Action or CPA pay every time a user clicks on their listing and is redirected to their website. They do not actually pay for the listing, but only when the listing is clicked on. Learn more about CPA with the .

This system allows advertising specialists to refine searches and gain information about their market. Under the Pay per click pricing system, advertisers pay for the right to be listed under a series of target rich words that direct relevant traffic to their website, and pay only when someone clicks on their listing which links directly to their website.

Direct response advertisers consider CPA the optimal way to buy online advertising, as an advertiser only pays for the ad when the desired action has occurred. An action can be a product being purchased, a form being filled, etc. Visit the to learn more about CPA.

Google has incorporated this model into their Google AdSense offering while eBay has recently announced a similar pricing called AdContext.

CPA is sometimes referred to as "Cost Per Acquisition", which has to do with the fact that most CPA offers by advertisers are about acquiring something.

Using the term "Cost Per Acquisition" instead of "Cost Per Action" is not incorrect. It is actually more specific. "Cost Per Acquisition" is included in "Cost Per Action", but not all "Cost Per Action" offers can be referred to as "Cost Per Acquisition".

A related term, eCPA or effective Cost Per Action, is used to measure the effectiveness of advertising inventory purchased via a CPC, CPM, or CPT basis.

eCPA is used to measure the effectiveness of advertising inventory purchased (by the advertiser) via a CPC, CPM, or CPT basis. In other words, the eCPA tells the advertiser what they would have paid if they purchased the advertising inventory on a CPA basis. For more information regarding CPA, then visit the for details.