SaaS Metrics

The numbers that matter. Plainly explained.

Definitions, formulas, benchmarks, and — more importantly — what to do when a metric is trending the wrong way. Written by an operator who lived with these numbers every Monday for 16 years.

01 — Growth
9 metrics

How fast are you adding revenue?

The top-line numbers your board sees first. MRR, ARR, growth rate, and the pipeline math that tells you whether the next quarter will hold up.

  • MRR
  • ARR
  • Net New ARR
  • Growth Rate
  • Pipeline Coverage
  • Win Rate
  • ACV
  • Sales Cycle Length
  • Sales Effectiveness
Explore Growth metrics →
02 — Retention
5 metrics

How much of it are you keeping?

The metrics that separate compounding SaaS from leaky-bucket SaaS. NRR, GRR, churn — and how to read them together instead of in isolation.

  • Net Revenue Retention
  • Gross Revenue Retention
  • Logo Churn
  • Revenue Churn
  • Customer Lifetime
Explore Retention metrics →
03 — Unit Economics
10 metrics

Does the business actually work?

The math investors quote at you. CAC, LTV, payback, Rule of 40, Burn Multiple — the numbers that decide whether you're building a real company or burning capital.

  • CAC
  • CAC Payback
  • LTV
  • LTV:CAC
  • Magic Number
  • Rule of 40
  • Burn Multiple
  • Burn Rate
  • Runway
  • Quick Ratio
Explore Unit Economics →
04 — Product Engagement
5 metrics

Are customers actually using it?

The leading indicators that show up in your product analytics months before they show up in your churn report. Activation, adoption, and time to value.

  • DAU / MAU
  • Activation Rate
  • Time to Value
  • Product Qualified Leads
  • Feature Adoption
Explore Product Engagement →
05 — Customer Support
5 metrics

Are customers getting help fast enough?

The operational metrics that determine whether your support function is scaling with the customer base — or quietly becoming the reason customers churn.

  • First Response Time
  • Time to Resolution
  • CSAT & NPS
  • Ticket Volume per Customer
  • Self-Service Resolution Rate
Explore Customer Support →
06 — Engineering
5 metrics

Are you shipping fast — and safely?

The DORA-style metrics that separate teams who ship continuously from teams that batch quarterly. The leading indicator of whether your product can keep up with what sales is selling.

  • Deployment Frequency
  • Uptime %
  • Change Failure Rate
  • Mean Time to Restore
  • Bug Backlog
Explore Engineering →

Why we built this

A glossary written by someone who actually ran the numbers.

Every SaaS metrics glossary on the internet was written by a content marketer. This one was written by someone who ran a $7M ARR SaaS for 16 years and obsessed over these numbers every Monday morning.

Definitions matter. Formulas matter. But what matters most — and what most glossaries skip — is knowing what to do when the number is wrong. When NRR drops below 100%, what's the actual play? When CAC payback creeps past 18 months, what changes? When activation rate stalls at 30%, where do you start?

Every page in this collection answers four questions, in this order: What is it. How do you calculate it. Why does it matter. And — the part nobody else writes — what do you do when it's trending the wrong way.

If you've ever sat in a Monday meeting staring at a red metric and thinking "I don't actually know what to do about this" — these pages are for you.

Start here

Featured metric.

If you only read one metric guide this week, make it this one. NRR is the single number investors will ask about first — and the one most operators get to too late.

Retention metric

Net Revenue Retention

The one your board cares about.

How much revenue you keep and grow from your existing customers — before you sell to a single new one. Above 100% means your customers compound. Below means you're filling a leaky bucket. Includes worked examples, benchmarks by stage, and three plays to run when it's trending down.

Read the full guide →
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