DAU/MAU stickiness

Formula

DAU / MAU (DAU month-averaged)

Unit

%

Models

All models

What it is

DAU/MAU stickiness is the ratio of daily active users to monthly active users, expressed as a percentage. The formula is: DAU / MAU (DAU month-averaged). It quantifies how often users return to the product within a month — a higher ratio means users engage on more days out of every 30.

How to calculate it

Compute the average daily active user count across all days in a calendar month, then divide by the monthly active user count for that same month. Multiply by 100 for a percentage. Ensure your active-user definition is consistent across both daily and monthly counts — a mismatch (e.g., login for DAU but any event for MAU) will distort the ratio.

Why it matters

Stickiness is a leading indicator of retention and monetization depth. Products with high DAU/MAU have users who build habitual behaviors, making them harder to churn and more likely to expand usage. It is particularly important for ad-supported and consumer subscription models, where revenue is proportional to time-in-product. For B2B tools, stickiness also signals whether the product has become embedded in daily workflows vs. remaining a peripheral utility.

Benchmarks & pitfalls

For B2C products, a16z benchmarks 25% as OK, 40% as good, and 50%+ as great (Mixpanel 2026). B2B SaaS averages ~31% (Mixpanel 2026). A critical pitfall: the 20%/50% thresholds widely cited in product circles are consumer benchmarks — applying them to B2B tools sets a misleading bar, since most enterprise software is not used daily by design. The metric is also sensitive to active-user definition: a broad definition (any session) will produce lower stickiness than a narrow one (a meaningful action). Segment by user cohort and product area before drawing conclusions about aggregate DAU/MAU.