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The Ultimate SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet: 38 Metrics with Formulas, Benchmarks & Tips
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Woosung Chun
CFO, DualEntry
Last updated
April 9, 2026
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Summarize this article
Most SaaS founders track the wrong metrics at the wrong time. A Series A company obsessing over NPS while ignoring Net Revenue Retention is like checking tire pressure while the engine’s on fire.
And look, the problem isn’t a lack of things to measure. Whether you’re running a B2B SaaS startup or scaling past mid-market, the hard part is knowing which SaaS KPIs actually matter at your stage and what “good” looks like. A seed-stage company doesn’t need 38 metrics to track. It needs five, tracked honestly.1
We put this together after years of watching teams get buried in dashboards. 38 SaaS metrics across seven categories, each with a formula, benchmarks by stage (from Bessemer, OpenView, and public SaaS data), and a note on where we see things go sideways.
Want the quick-reference version? Download our free SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet PDF with all 38 metrics in a printable 12-page document.
Which SaaS Metrics Matter at Each Stage
Here’s the question nobody else answers: which of these SaaS performance metrics should you actually care about right now? It depends entirely on your ARR and what you’re trying to prove. SaaS startup metrics look nothing like growth-stage metrics.2
Start here. If you’re early-stage, don’t let the length of this post distract you from the handful of numbers that move the needle.
SaaS Revenue Metrics
Investors look here first. It’s also where sloppy measurement does the most damage. We’ve watched Series A processes fall apart because someone lumped a setup fee into MRR.3
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Predictable revenue from active subscriptions, normalized monthly. This is your baseline number.
MRR = Sum of all active subscription values (monthly)
Don’t pad this with setup fees or services revenue. Investors will find it during diligence. Awkward conversation.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
MRR times 12. Past ~$1M in revenue, this becomes the standard unit. Common mistake: ARR is a forward-looking annualization, not a trailing 12-month sum.
ARR = MRR × 12
Committed MRR (CMRR)
Think of this as MRR adjusted for reality: signed-but-not-live contracts, pending downgrades, confirmed cancellations.
CMRR = Current MRR + signed deals - known churn - known downgrades
Revenue Growth Rate
MoM percentage increase in MRR early on. Switch to YoY once you pass $1M ARR.
Revenue Growth Rate = (Current MRR - Prior MRR) / Prior MRR × 100
Net New MRR
Everything in one number: new customers, expansions, contractions, churn, reactivations.
Net New MRR = New MRR + Expansion + Reactivation - Contraction - Churned MRR
Flat Net New MRR can hide rising churn offset by aggressive new sales. Always decompose.
MRR Movement Metrics
Net New MRR is the headline. These four components tell you why it moved.
Expansion MRR
Extra revenue from existing customers: upsells, cross-sells, usage increases.
Expansion MRR = Sum of MRR + Sum of Upsells + Sum of Cross-Sells
Contraction MRR
Revenue lost from downgrades (not full cancellations).
Contraction MRR = Sum of plan downgrades + Sum of seat reductions + Sum of discount increases
Churned MRR
Gone for good. Revenue from full cancellations.
Churned MRR = Sum of full cancellations + Sum of expired contracts + Sum of non-renewals
Reactivation MRR
Previously churned customers who came back.
Reactivation MRR = Sum of resubscriptions + Sum of win-back conversions + Sum of paused-account resumptions
SaaS Unit Economics
This is where you find out if the model actually works. Quick math: $50K S&M spend in Q1, 25 new customers = $2,000 CAC. At $500/month ARPA with 24-month retention, LTV is $12,000. That’s 6:1 with 4-month payback. Strong.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Fully loaded cost per new customer. Sales salaries, marketing, tooling, content, all of it.
CAC = Total sales & marketing expenses / Number of new customers acquired
The mistake we see constantly? Leaving sales salaries and tooling out of the denominator. Flatters the number, falls apart in diligence.6
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Total gross profit from a customer before they churn. Two formulas here, and which one you use matters.
LTV = ARPA / Customer churn rate (or ARPA x Gross margin % / Revenue churn rate)
Below 70% margins? Use the GM-adjusted formula. The simple version will flatter you.7
LTV:CAC Ratio
Probably the most-cited metric in SaaS unit economics.
LTV:CAC = Customer Lifetime Value / Customer Acquisition Cost
Above 5:1 sounds amazing. But it might just mean you’re leaving growth on the table.
CAC Payback Period
Months until a customer’s gross profit covers acquisition cost. When cash is tight (and when isn’t it?), this matters more than LTV.
CAC Payback = CAC / (ARPA x Gross margin %)
Shorter payback = faster reinvestment without raising. Enterprise deals with 18-month payback need a real balance sheet.
ARPA / ARPU
Average monthly subscription revenue per account. Simple but useful.
ARPA = MRR / Total active paying customers
Annual Contract Value (ACV)
Annualized value of one customer contract. Excludes one-time fees.
ACV = Total contract value / Contract term in years
Grab the PDF with all 38 metrics, benchmarks, and formulas in one printable document.
SaaS Growth & Efficiency Metrics
Growing 100% YoY while burning $3 for every $1 of new ARR? That’s not scaling. That’s buying revenue.
SaaS Quick Ratio
Revenue in (new + expansion) versus revenue out (contraction + churn).
Quick Ratio = (New MRR + Expansion) / (Churned + Contraction)
Rule of 40
Growth rate plus profit margin. The number boards love.
Rule of 40 = Revenue growth rate (%) + EBITDA margin (%)
Two paths to 40: 60% growth / -20% margin vs. 25% growth / +15% margin. Same score. Wildly different risk.
SaaS Magic Number
How efficiently S&M spend converts into new ARR.
Magic Number = QoQ net new ARR / Prior quarter S&M spend
Burn Multiple
Cash burned for each dollar of net new ARR. Popularized by David Sacks.
Burn Multiple = Net cash burned / Net new ARR
Gross Margin
Revenue minus COGS divided by revenue. In SaaS, COGS means hosting, support, onboarding.
Gross Margin = (Revenue - COGS) / Revenue x 100
The most frequent reporting error we see in SaaS? Not including support and onboarding in COGS.
Revenue Per Employee
Blunt instrument, but reveals a lot about operational efficiency.
Rev/Employee = ARR / Total full-time employees
Cash Runway
How many months before the money runs out at current burn.
Runway = Cash balance / Monthly net burn rate
SaaS Sales Metrics
Your go-to-market engine, measured. If unit economics look fine but revenue growth is flat, dig here.
Sales Velocity
How fast your team generates revenue: deals × size × win rate ÷ cycle length.
Sales Velocity = (Opps x Win rate x Avg deal size) / Avg cycle length
Average Sales Cycle Length
Days from first qualified contact to closed-won.
Avg Cycle = Sum of days to close all deals / Number of deals closed
Win Rate
What percentage of qualified opps actually close.
Win Rate = Closed-won / Total closed (won + lost) x 100
Above 40%? You might not be pursuing enough opportunities. Below 15%? Lead qualification needs work.
Pipeline Coverage Ratio
Pipeline value relative to target.
Coverage = Total pipeline value / Revenue target
Lead-to-Customer Conversion
Full-funnel conversion from raw lead to paying customer.
Lead to Customer Conversion = New customers / Total new leads x 100
SaaS Retention & Churn Metrics
A SaaS company can survive slow growth. It cannot survive high churn. Full stop. Everything else in this post is downstream of retention.14
Customer Churn Rate (Logo Churn)
Percentage of customers who cancel, regardless of what they were paying.
Customer Churn = Customers lost / Customers at start of period x 100
Revenue Churn Rate
Percentage of MRR lost to cancellations and downgrades combined.
Revenue Churn = (Churned + Contraction MRR) / Beg. MRR x 100
One thing: be clear about whether you’re reporting gross or net churn. Investors will ask.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
THE retention metric. Revenue retained after expansion, contraction, and churn. Public companies above 130% NRR trade at significantly higher multiples.15
NRR = (Beg MRR + Expansion - Contraction - Churn) / Beg MRR x 100
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Revenue retained without expansion. Capped at 100%. This is your true retention floor.
GRR = (Beg MRR - Contraction - Churn) / Beg MRR x 100
We’ve seen companies with 120% NRR and 75% GRR. Expansion was masking serious churn. Smart investors check both.
Expansion Revenue Rate
How much new revenue your existing customers generate via upsells and usage growth.
Expansion Rate = Expansion MRR / Beginning MRR x 100
Cohort Retention Analysis
Retention tracked by signup cohort, not blended averages. Only way to tell if things are actually getting better.
Cohort Retention = (Customers remaining in cohort / Original cohort size) × 100 at month 1, 3, 6, 12, 24
SaaS Engagement & Product Metrics
Leading indicators. By the time a customer actually cancels, the engagement warning signs were showing up in your SaaS metrics dashboard months earlier. These tell you who’s about to leave.
Free Trial Conversion Rate
What percentage of trial users convert. Swings dramatically based on whether you gate with a credit card.
Trial Conversion = Paid conversions / Total trial starts x 100
Time to Value (TTV)
How fast new users hit their first meaningful outcome. Best PLG companies get this under five minutes.
TTV = Time from signup to first activation event
Activation Rate
Signups who complete the actions that predict long-term retention.
Activation Rate = Users who hit activation milestone / Total signups x 100
DAU/MAU Ratio (Stickiness)
Are users coming back daily or just logging in once a month? This ratio tells you.
Stickiness = Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users x 100
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Promoters minus detractors. Decent sentiment check. Not a standalone KPI.
NPS = % Promoters (9-10) - % Detractors (0-6)
What Investors Look For by Funding Round
Not all metrics carry equal weight in a fundraise. Different stages, different priorities. Knowing what’s coming lets you close the gaps before your first partner meeting.
How SaaS Metrics Connect to Each Other
None of these 38 metrics exist in isolation. They form dependency chains. Understanding those chains is what separates operators who stare at dashboards from the ones who actually fix things.
Here’s the core chain: Churn rate drives LTV. Combine LTV with CAC and you get the LTV:CAC ratio. Divide CAC by ARPA and margin to find payback. Expansion offsetting churn gives you NRR. NRR feeds the Quick Ratio. Quick Ratio plus Rule of 40 gives the executive health summary.
Pull one thread, feel it everywhere. Drop churn by a single percentage point and LTV, NRR, Quick Ratio, and Rule of 40 all improve. Increase CAC without better conversion? LTV:CAC and payback both deteriorate. Once you see these connections, picking what to focus on gets obvious.
Download the Free SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet PDF
All 38 metrics in a designed, printable 12-page PDF. Formulas, benchmarks, tips. Pin it to your desk, share it with finance, throw it in with your pitch deck.
Get the complete SaaS Metrics Cheat Sheet PDF with all 38 metrics with formulas, benchmarks, and pro tips.
Conclusion
Thirty-eight metrics is a lot. The point was never to track all of them. It’s to know where to look when something feels off. Start with the stage framework, pick the 5-8 key SaaS metrics that match where you are right now, trace root causes through the dependency chains instead of chasing symptoms.
If you want a platform that tracks these SaaS financial metrics natively, with a real-time SaaS metrics dashboard, MRR decomposition, cohort retention, and automated reporting, that’s what we built DualEntry for. Schedule a demo to see it in action.
See the full power of DualEntry in 30 minutes
Woosung Chun
CFO, DualEntry
Woosung Chun is the CFO of DualEntry with experience in corporate finance, accounting, strategy, and acquisitions. He previously grew from scratch and led the M&A and Finance teams at Benitago, where he completed more than 12 acquisitions in 2 years. He graduated with a BS from NYU Stern. At DualEntry, Woosung writes about AI in accounting, revenue recognition, foreign currency accounting, hedge accounting, and ERP modernization for finance teams navigating complex, multi-entity environments.
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