For growth teams tracking user acquisition but lacking clear growth rate visibility and benchmarks
Calculate user growth rate, compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and churn-adjusted growth metrics. Understand if your current monthly growth is sustainable, compare against benchmarks, and see projected user counts over time with current growth trajectories.
Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
125%
Period Growth
50%
Churn Rate
25%
Your user base grew 50.0% over 6 months (125.0% CAGR). You added 7,500 users but lost 2,500 (25.0% churn), resulting in 5,000 net growth.
Industry benchmarks vary widely by sector: consumer apps target 15-25% monthly growth (200-400% CAGR), B2B SaaS aims for 10-20% monthly growth (100-300% CAGR), while marketplaces typically see 10-15% monthly growth (80-200% CAGR). High-growth startups maintaining 15%+ monthly growth can achieve 10x user growth annually.
The relationship between growth rate and churn rate is critical—a 5% monthly churn rate requires 5%+ monthly growth just to maintain user count. Companies achieving sustainable growth keep monthly churn below 3-5% for consumers and 1-2% for B2B. The most valuable metric is often net growth rate (new users minus churned users), as gross growth numbers can hide retention problems.
Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
125%
Period Growth
50%
Churn Rate
25%
Your user base grew 50.0% over 6 months (125.0% CAGR). You added 7,500 users but lost 2,500 (25.0% churn), resulting in 5,000 net growth.
Industry benchmarks vary widely by sector: consumer apps target 15-25% monthly growth (200-400% CAGR), B2B SaaS aims for 10-20% monthly growth (100-300% CAGR), while marketplaces typically see 10-15% monthly growth (80-200% CAGR). High-growth startups maintaining 15%+ monthly growth can achieve 10x user growth annually.
The relationship between growth rate and churn rate is critical—a 5% monthly churn rate requires 5%+ monthly growth just to maintain user count. Companies achieving sustainable growth keep monthly churn below 3-5% for consumers and 1-2% for B2B. The most valuable metric is often net growth rate (new users minus churned users), as gross growth numbers can hide retention problems.
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Book a MeetingUser growth rate is the primary health indicator for digital products and platforms. Monthly growth rates compound over time, with higher rates driving substantial expansion. Understanding your growth rate clarifies whether you will hit key milestones in shorter versus longer timeframes - a critical difference for fundraising, hiring, and strategic planning. Yet many teams track absolute user counts without calculating growth rates or CAGR, missing the trend.
Growth rates vary dramatically by stage and business model. Pre-PMF startups target higher monthly growth rates to prove product-market fit. Post-PMF growth-stage companies sustain moderate monthly growth as they scale. Mature products maintain lower monthly growth rates on large bases. Consumer social products often show strong early growth but face sharp deceleration, while B2B SaaS demonstrates steadier sustained growth over longer periods. Benchmarking your growth rate against stage-appropriate targets reveals performance gaps.
Churn-adjusted growth (net growth) provides the real picture. A product can have strong gross acquisition numbers while experiencing significant user churn, resulting in much weaker net growth - unsustainable for reaching scale. Many early products show strong gross acquisition but weak net growth due to retention issues, leading to the leaky bucket problem. Tracking both gross and net growth rates identifies whether growth challenges stem from acquisition or retention.
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Pre-PMF products should target higher monthly growth rates. Post-PMF early-stage aims for strong monthly growth. Growth-stage companies sustain moderate monthly growth. Mature products see lower monthly growth rates. Consumer apps often show higher early growth but steep deceleration, while B2B demonstrates steadier sustained growth.
CAGR = [(Ending Value / Beginning Value)^(1/Years)] - 1. It smooths out volatility showing average annual growth. Monthly growth rate = [(Ending / Beginning)^(1/Months)] - 1. Use CAGR for multi-year trends, monthly rate for operational tracking.
Track both. Gross growth (total new users) shows acquisition strength. Net growth (new minus churned) shows sustainable growth. If gross is strong but net is weak, you have a retention problem. If both are weak, you have an acquisition problem. Net growth determines actual trajectory.
Pre-PMF, prioritize finding initial growth channels even if engagement is mediocre. Post-PMF but pre-scale, balance growth and engagement to avoid leaky bucket. At scale, prioritize engagement over growth rate since small engagement lifts on large base drive more value than marginal growth rate increases.
Growth rates naturally decelerate as user base grows (law of large numbers). Maintaining the same percentage growth requires adding more users as the base grows larger. Expect meaningful deceleration in growth rate as you significantly scale your user base. Plan for this in projections and don't interpret deceleration as failure.
Accelerations often come from new channel breakthroughs (viral loop, successful paid campaign, PR hit, partnership). Decelerations stem from channel saturation, seasonality, product changes affecting activation, increased competition, or market maturity. Analyze growth by channel and cohort to diagnose changes.
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