MRR growth rate is the single number most investors, accelerators, and founders use to gauge the health of a SaaS business. But what's actually "good"?
Growth rate benchmarks by stage
| Stage | Monthly MRR growth | Annual growth equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-product-market fit | 5–10% | 80–214% |
| Early traction (seed) | 10–20% | 214–792% |
| Y Combinator benchmark | 5–7% week-over-week | Implied ~20–30%/month |
| Series A target | 15–25% | 435–1,355% ARR growth |
| Series B+ scale | 5–10% | 80–214% |
| Public SaaS (median) | 2–5% | 27–80% ARR |
The YC "default alive" framework: at your current MRR growth rate and burn, will you become profitable before running out of money? The MRR calculator above can project this for you.
How to calculate your MRR growth rate
Month-over-month growth rate = ((MRR this month - MRR last month) / MRR last month) × 100
If your MRR was $8,000 last month and is $9,000 this month: ((9,000 - 8,000) / 8,000) × 100 = 12.5% MoM growth
What drags down growth rate: net churn
A 15% gross churn rate can completely offset strong new customer acquisition. If you're adding $2k in new MRR each month but losing $1.8k to churn, your net new MRR is only $200, regardless of how fast you're growing the top of the funnel.
Use the churn impact calculator to see exactly how your churn rate is affecting your MRR trajectory.