SaaS Metrics Calculator
Subscription businesses live and die by a handful of recurring-revenue metrics. This calculator takes your customer count, average revenue per account, monthly churn, and customer acquisition cost, then computes monthly recurring revenue, annual recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, and the LTV to CAC ratio. Every figure is derived only from your own inputs using the standard published definitions; nothing is assumed about your market. Use it to sanity-check a board deck, compare scenarios, or see how a change in churn ripples through lifetime value.
SaaS metrics formulas
MRR = customers * avg revenue per account
ARR = MRR * 12
LTV = avg revenue per account / (churn% / 100)
LTV to CAC ratio = LTV / CAC
Lifetime value uses the reciprocal of monthly churn as the expected customer lifetime in months. A 3 percent monthly churn implies an average lifetime of about 33 months. The LTV to CAC ratio is a core efficiency gauge.
Reading your metrics
- ARR is the headline number investors track for subscription businesses.
- Lower churn sharply raises LTV because lifetime is one divided by churn.
- An LTV to CAC ratio near or above 3 to 1 is a common health benchmark.
- This simple LTV ignores gross margin; multiply by margin for a contribution-based LTV.
- Use your own audited figures; this tool assumes none of them.
SaaS metrics: frequently asked questions
What is MRR and ARR?
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is your number of paying customers times the average revenue per account per month. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) is simply MRR times 12. Both measure predictable subscription revenue and are the backbone of SaaS reporting.
How is customer lifetime value calculated?
A common formula is LTV = average monthly revenue per account divided by monthly churn rate (as a decimal). The reciprocal of churn is the expected lifetime in months, so dividing monthly revenue by churn gives the total expected revenue per customer before they leave.
What is the LTV to CAC ratio?
It divides lifetime value by customer acquisition cost (CAC). A widely cited rule of thumb is that a healthy SaaS business targets an LTV to CAC ratio of about 3 to 1 or higher, meaning each customer returns at least three times what it cost to acquire them.
What churn rate should I enter?
Enter your own measured monthly customer churn as a percentage. Churn varies enormously by market and stage, so there is no universal figure to assume. The calculator treats it as an input and converts it to a decimal internally.
Are these the only SaaS metrics that matter?
No. Net revenue retention, gross margin, payback period, and expansion revenue all matter too. This calculator covers the four most-requested headline metrics. Treat the LTV to CAC target of 3 to 1 as a guideline, not a guarantee of success.
Official sources
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: guidance on key performance metric disclosure.
- U.S. Small Business Administration: managing business finances.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 16 June 2026. See our methodology.