On this page
- Get the right export
- Question 1: What is our MRR, and how has it moved?
- Question 2: Where does MRR movement come from?
- Question 3: What is our churn rate, and where is it concentrated?
- Question 4: How do signup cohorts retain?
- Question 5: How concentrated is our revenue?
- Put it together on one canvas
- Common mistakes
- FAQ
Key takeaways
- One subscriptions export from Stripe is enough to answer the five questions that matter most.
- Normalise annual plans to monthly and exclude trials before you calculate MRR.
- Ask the questions in order: MRR, its movement, churn, cohorts, then concentration.
- Each answer should end in a decision, not just a chart.
Get the right export
Everything below works from one file: a subscriptions export from the Stripe Dashboard. Column names vary by export settings, but you need these fields, whatever they are called:
| Field | Typical column | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription ID | id | One row per subscription |
| Customer ID | customer | Group subscriptions by account |
| Plan or price | plan / price | Break metrics down by plan |
| Amount | amount | Recurring price, usually in the smallest currency unit |
| Interval | interval | Month or year, to normalise to MRR |
| Quantity | quantity | Seats, for per-seat pricing |
| Status | status | active, trialing, past_due, canceled |
| Created | created | Start date for cohorts |
| Canceled at / Ended at | canceled_at, ended_at | When churn happened |
Before you upload, check three things:
- Amounts in cents. If
amountis4000for a $40 plan, divide by 100 or say "amounts are in cents" in your first question. - Annual plans. Divide yearly amounts by 12 so every row is a monthly figure.
- Trials. Decide whether
trialingcounts. For MRR, usually not.
Adding a column called mrr_usd (monthly amount × quantity, in dollars) before upload makes every question simpler.
Question 1: What is our MRR, and how has it moved?
What you get: a line chart of MRR by month.
What to look for:
- The growth rate, month over month. Is it steady, speeding up or slowing down?
- Any month where MRR fell. That is where question 2 starts.
Decision it drives: whether the growth you feel matches the growth you have.
Question 2: Where does MRR movement come from?
What you get: a bar chart per month showing the four parts of MRR movement.
- New: MRR from customers who started this month.
- Expansion: increases from existing customers (upgrades, more seats).
- Contraction: decreases from existing customers who stayed.
- Churned: MRR lost from customers who cancelled.
What to look for: growth that depends entirely on new customers while churn quietly rises. If new MRR stalls for one month, total MRR falls.
Decision it drives: whether the next quarter's effort goes to acquisition, expansion or retention.
Question 3: What is our churn rate, and where is it concentrated?
Ask: "What is monthly customer churn rate and MRR churn rate by plan for the last 6 months?"
What you get: two rates per plan per month. Customer churn counts accounts; MRR churn weights them by revenue.
What to look for:
- One plan with much higher churn than the others. Often the cheapest plan, sometimes the newest.
- MRR churn higher than customer churn, which means larger accounts are leaving.
- A spike in a single month. Follow up with "Which accounts churned in that month?"
Decision it drives: where to focus retention work, and whether a plan is priced or positioned wrong.
Question 4: How do signup cohorts retain?
Ask: "Show the share of customers still active after 1, 3 and 6 months, by signup month."
What you get: a cohort chart or table, one row per signup month.
What to look for:
- A steep drop after month 1 points to onboarding: customers never reach the value they signed up for.
- Newer cohorts retaining better than older ones means recent product or onboarding changes are working.
- One weak cohort often lines up with a specific campaign or channel.
Decision it drives: whether to invest in onboarding and activation before spending more on acquisition.
Question 5: How concentrated is our revenue?
Ask: "What share of MRR comes from the top 10 customers, and how has that changed over 12 months?"
What you get: a share figure and a trend line.
What to look for: a rising share from the top 10. That feels good while those accounts grow, and becomes a risk the day one of them leaves. As a rule of thumb, many founders get uneasy when a single customer is more than about 10% of MRR.
Decision it drives: how much account management the largest customers need, and how urgently the business needs more mid-sized accounts.
Put it together on one canvas
Arrange the five answers on one canvas, in order:
- MRR trend (the headline)
- MRR movement (why it moved)
- Churn by plan (the biggest leak)
- Cohort retention (whether it is getting better)
- Revenue concentration (the risk)
That is your monthly SaaS metrics review. Re-upload the export next month, or connect your data on the Team plan so it refreshes on a schedule.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Effect | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Counting annual plans at full value | MRR inflated in the renewal month | Divide yearly amounts by 12 |
| Including trials | MRR that has not been paid | Exclude trialing |
| Ignoring quantity | Per-seat revenue understated | Multiply amount by quantity |
| Forgetting discounts | MRR overstated | Use the discounted price where available |
| Mixing currencies | Totals that do not add up | Convert to one currency first |
| Treating past_due as churn | Churn overstated | Track it separately until it is cancelled |