SaaS Metrics – MRR, LTV, CAC Complete Guide

Revenue Metrics

MRR: Monthly Recurring Revenue. Foundation metric.

ARR: Annual Recurring Revenue = MRR × 12.

Not: one-time revenue, one-time services.

Subscription only.

Growth Metrics

New MRR: from new customers.

Expansion MRR: from existing customers upgrading.

Contraction MRR: downgrades.

Churned MRR: cancellations.

Net New MRR = New + Expansion – Contraction – Churned.

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Retention Metrics

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR): revenue kept without expansion.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR): includes expansion.

NRR > 100%: growing from existing customers alone.

NRR is health signal.

Unit Economics

CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost. Total spend / new customers.

LTV: Lifetime Value. Revenue per customer over lifetime.

LTV:CAC ratio: >3:1 healthy. >4:1 excellent.

Payback period: months to recover CAC. <12 months ideal.

Cohort Metrics

Retention by cohort: which acquisitions retain best.

Revenue by cohort: expansion patterns.

Time to value.

Reveals product-market fit.

Engagement Metrics

DAU/MAU: Daily/Monthly Active Users.

Feature adoption: % using each feature.

Time in product.

Actions per session.

Leading indicators of retention.

Efficiency Metrics

Rule of 40: growth rate + profit margin >= 40%.

Magic Number: sales efficiency metric.

Burn multiple: cash burn / net new ARR.

Efficiency mattes more in current market.

Customer Metrics

Number of customers.

Average Revenue Per Customer (ARPC).

Customer segment distribution.

Enterprise vs SMB mix.

Pipeline Metrics

Leads: interested prospects.

MQLs: marketing-qualified.

SQLs: sales-qualified.

Conversion rates between stages.

Sales cycle length.

Support Metrics

First response time.

Resolution time.

CSAT: customer satisfaction.

NPS: Net Promoter Score.

Support ticket volume as % of MRR.

Stage-Appropriate Focus

<$1M ARR: growth over efficiency.

$1-10M: unit economics, retention.

$10M+: efficiency, expansion, market share.

Different metrics matter at different stages.

Tools

Simple: spreadsheet + manual pulls.

Growing: ChartMogul, Baremetrics.

Enterprise: custom BI stack.

Start simple, evolve.

Based on Real Projects

This guide is based on our work with:

• Platforma365
• Podd

Further Reading

If this guide helped you, you might also want to read our comprehensive guide on Custom SaaS Development.