What it does#
The SaaS Metrics Calculator turns one set of inputs — your ARR, churn, expansion, customer counts, and sales spend — into the full set of unit economics: LTV, CAC, payback period, net revenue retention, gross revenue retention, magic number, burn multiple, and the Rule of 40. One calculation, one source of truth, one shareable view.
Who it’s for#
CFOs preparing board materials. Founders pulling together a fundraise. Operators trying to settle the same argument every quarter about what the real LTV is. RevOps teams who want their numbers to match finance’s.
How to use it#
Enter your ARR by cohort, customer counts, churn and expansion rates, and your CAC components. The calculator returns every standard SaaS metric with the formula visible — no black box. Outputs are shareable as a link or exportable as a PDF for board decks.
Why this exists#
Most teams have a spreadsheet that computes some of these. Most spreadsheets define LTV differently from each other. The version shown to the board is rarely the version operations runs on day-to-day. This calculator pins one definition of each metric to the standards the best CFOs use, so everyone is arguing about the same numbers.
Built by an ex-CFO who has had this argument enough times to know it deserves a tool.
- How do you calculate LTV and CAC?
- LTV (lifetime value) is the gross margin a customer generates over their lifetime — commonly ARPA × gross margin ÷ churn rate. CAC (customer acquisition cost) is fully-loaded sales and marketing spend divided by the new customers acquired in the same period. The ratio of the two (LTV:CAC) is the headline efficiency number; 3:1 is a common benchmark, though it varies by model.
- What is a good CAC payback period?
- CAC payback is how many months of gross profit it takes to earn back the cost of acquiring a customer — CAC ÷ monthly gross margin per customer. For most B2B SaaS, under 12 months is healthy and under 6 is excellent; longer paybacks strain cash even when LTV:CAC looks fine.
- What is the burn multiple, and what's a good one?
- The burn multiple is net burn divided by net new ARR over a period — how many dollars you burn to add a dollar of recurring revenue. Lower is better: under 1x is exceptional, 1–2x is good, and above 2–3x signals inefficient growth. It's become a key efficiency metric in a capital-disciplined market.
- What is the Rule of 40?
- The Rule of 40 says a healthy software company's revenue growth rate plus its profit margin (often EBITDA or free-cash-flow margin) should add up to at least 40%. It's a quick balance check between growth and profitability: you can lead with either, but the sum should clear 40.