SaaS Unit Economics Dashboard

LTV, CAC, Payback Period, Magic Number & Rule of 40 — all from one input panel

Inputs — This Month

Revenue

Customers

Costs

All dollar amounts in your local currency. COGS = hosting, support, infrastructure.

Business Health
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Enter inputs to calculate
ARR
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ARPU / mo
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Gross Margin
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LTV : CAC Ratio
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CAC Payback Period
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Magic Number
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Rule of 40
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LTV
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CAC
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Customer Churn %
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MRR Churn %
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Net Revenue Retention
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MRR Growth Rate
LTV : CAC Gauge
Target: >3.0
Magic Number
Target: >0.75
Payback Period (mo)
Target: <12 months
Rule of 40
Target: ≥40

Compare your metrics against SaaS industry benchmarks by company stage. Green = meeting benchmark, Red = needs improvement.

Select Stage:
Metric Your Value Benchmark Status

About These Benchmarks

Benchmarks sourced from OpenView Partners SaaS Benchmarks Report, Bain & Company SaaS Metrics, and Bessemer Venture Partners State of the Cloud. Values represent median performance for companies at each stage. Your specific industry, market, and business model will affect what "good" looks like.

Adjust the three key levers to see projected impact on LTV:CAC and CAC Payback Period.

Improvement Levers

0%60%
0%100%
0%80%

Sliders show % improvement relative to your current dashboard values.

Current
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LTV : CAC
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Payback (mo)
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LTV
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CAC
Projected
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LTV : CAC
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Payback (mo)
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LTV
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CAC
Change
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LTV : CAC
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Payback (mo)
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LTV
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CAC

LTV:CAC Sensitivity (CAC reduction % vs Churn reduction %)

How to Use This Dashboard

1
Enter your MRR metrics — current MRR, new MRR added this month, churned MRR, and expansion MRR from upsells.
2
Add customer counts — total active customers, new customers acquired, churned, and average contract length.
3
Enter your costs — sales & marketing spend, COGS (hosting, support, infrastructure), and other operating expenses.
4
Read the dashboard — all 13 unit economics metrics calculate instantly. Health badges show green/amber/red status at a glance.
5
Use Benchmarks & Scenarios — compare against stage-appropriate targets, then model what-if improvements to CAC, LTV, and churn.

Key Formulas

LTVARPU ÷ Customer Churn Rate
CACS&M Spend ÷ New Customers
LTV:CACLTV ÷ CAC
CAC PaybackCAC ÷ (ARPU × Gross Margin)
Magic Number(New MRR × 4) ÷ S&M Spend
Rule of 40MRR Growth % + Operating Margin %
NRR(MRR − Churned + Expansion) ÷ Prior MRR × 100
ARRMRR × 12

Glossary

LTV (Lifetime Value)
Total gross profit expected from a customer over their entire relationship with your company. Calculated as ARPU divided by monthly churn rate.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Total sales and marketing spend divided by the number of new customers acquired in the same period.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
Normalized monthly subscription revenue. The core operating metric for SaaS businesses, tracked through new, expansion, contraction, and churned components.
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
MRR × 12. Used for investor reporting, valuation, and strategic planning. Represents the annualized run rate of recurring revenue.
NRR (Net Revenue Retention)
Measures revenue growth or decline from existing customers after accounting for expansion, contraction, and churn. Above 100% means the installed base is growing.
Churn Rate
The percentage of customers or revenue lost in a period. Customer churn = churned customers / total customers. MRR churn = churned MRR / prior period MRR.
Magic Number
A go-to-market efficiency metric: new ARR generated per dollar of sales and marketing spent. Above 0.75 is generally considered efficient for scaling spend.
Rule of 40
Revenue growth rate % + profit margin % should sum to at least 40 for a healthy SaaS company. Balances growth and profitability as a composite health indicator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ideal LTV:CAC ratio for a SaaS company?

The widely cited benchmark is 3:1 — meaning customer lifetime value should be at least 3× the cost to acquire them. Ratios below 1:1 mean you lose money on every customer. Ratios above 5:1 may signal underinvestment in growth. Series B+ SaaS companies typically target 4:1 or higher. Early-stage companies may accept 2:1 while iterating on their go-to-market motion.

How is the SaaS Magic Number calculated?

Magic Number = (New MRR this month × 4) / S&M spend. It measures how efficiently sales and marketing spend converts to new ARR. A score above 0.75 means every $1 spent yields $0.75 of new ARR — generally efficient. Above 1.0 is excellent. Below 0.5 suggests the go-to-market needs optimization before scaling spend further.

What is the Rule of 40 and why do investors use it?

The Rule of 40 states a healthy SaaS company's revenue growth rate plus profit margin should sum to at least 40%. A company growing 50% YoY with -10% profit margin scores 40 — passing. Investors use it because it balances the growth vs. profitability trade-off. Companies consistently above 40 command premium valuation multiples.

How do I calculate Net Revenue Retention (NRR)?

NRR = (Starting MRR + Expansion MRR − Churned MRR) / Starting MRR × 100. NRR above 100% means existing customers are growing faster than they churn. Best-in-class SaaS companies have achieved 130%+ NRR. Benchmark: Seed > 90%, Series A > 100%, Growth > 110%.

What is a good CAC Payback Period for SaaS?

CAC Payback = CAC / (ARPU × Gross Margin %). Under 12 months is excellent. 12–18 months is good for most SaaS businesses. Over 18 months becomes a concern as it ties up working capital. Enterprise SaaS may accept 18–24 months due to large contract sizes, but SMB SaaS should target under 12 months.

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