How to calculate ARPU, with a free calculator

Recurring revenue for one period, divided by the active users in that period. A fictional month shows how the denominator changes the result.

By David · Published October 31, 2026 · Updated November 2, 2026 · 12 min read

What is ARPU

Average revenue per user is a period’s revenue divided by the users in that period. This page uses recurring revenue in the numerator. The headline denominator is the average of the users at the start of the period and the users at the end.

Stripe’s ARPU page, updated April 17, 2026, calls ARPU the average income from each user or customer over a specific period. The calculation section says to divide total revenue by the number of users. Their own example is a company with $50,000 of revenue in one month and 10,000 active users. They state that as $5. Those are Stripe’s figures.

Baremetrics’ ARPU article, dated September 17, 2024, says ARPU tells you the average amount of money you make from a customer. The formula on that page is MRR divided by active customers.

The $24 below is the sample sheet. It is not Stripe’s $5, and it is not a target. Paddle’s ARPU page says there is no universal average ARPU to serve as a benchmark. This page does not add one.

The ARPU formula

Pick the period first. A month, a quarter, and a year are all allowed. The revenue and the users have to be that same period.

On this sheet the formula is:

ARPU = recurring revenue for the period / active users in that period

The headline user count is the average of the start and the end:

average users = (users at the start + users at the end) / 2

Stripe’s four steps are: define the time period, gather total revenue for it, count active users during that same period, then divide. Stripe says an active user generally means someone who engaged with the product in that time frame, and that the definition varies. Stripe’s revenue step includes subscriptions, in-app purchases, advertising, and product sales. This sheet is narrower. The numerator is recurring subscription revenue only.

ChartMogul’s ARPA page, updated September 8, 2026, writes ARPA as total revenue in a period divided by the number of customers in that same period. The FAQ on that page describes the ARPU division with the average number of customers. The ARPA report, last updated October 22, 2026, divides total MRR for a period by the number of paying subscribers in that period. Their example is five customers and $1,500 of MRR, which they state as $300. Those are ChartMogul’s figures.

Paddle’s ARPU page says ARPU is total revenue divided by the total count of users, and that the period is usually a month. Their example is $500,000 of revenue and 50 subscribers, which they state as $10,000. Those are Paddle’s figures. The FAQ on that same page prints a different line: total number of active users divided by total number of customers. That line has no revenue in it. This sheet follows the revenue divided by users line, which is the one in Paddle’s calculation section.

Monthly or annual is the period you chose. Twelve times a monthly ARPU is an annualized run rate. It equals annual ARPU only when that monthly figure is a one-month run rate. If the numerator is already a full year of revenue, do not multiply by 12 again. The same shape of mistake, on the revenue total rather than per user, is in MRR vs ARR.

Which users and revenue to count

The numerator on this sheet is the recurring revenue for the period. Build that total the way How to calculate MRR builds MRR. Divide an annual price by 12 before it is a monthly line. Keep a discount that repeats. Leave trials, sales tax, one-off fees, and usage charges out of the recurring total.

This sample has no annual plan, so no row is divided by 12. Every price below is already one month.

Count these in the user denominator when you want ARPU as this page defines it:

• People on a paid plan
• People on a free plan
• People on a trial

A free user and a trial user add nothing to the $1,200. They still sit in the user count, so they pull ARPU down. That is the point of the average. If you want the paying users only, that is ARPPU, and the form has a field for it.

Paddle’s page says free users should not go into the calculation, because they are not providing revenue. ChartMogul’s metrics page says customers on a free plan or a free trial are not counted, since they do not contribute MRR. The help-center report says customers with free subscriptions do not contribute, and that an active subscriber or a past-due subscriber is counted. It also says a customer with multiple subscriptions is one subscriber, and that MRR comes from recurring invoice line items, not one-off transactions. Baremetrics’ formula says active customers and does not say, on the page checked today, whether a free account is one of them.

So the pages do not share one denominator. This sheet shows four readings of the same $1,200 and names which count each one uses. Pick one and keep it.

A refund changes the numerator when it changes the recurring price. The MRR guide’s worked month removes a refunded plan through churn, and says not to subtract that refund a second time. This sample has no canceled row and no refund row, so there is nothing to subtract from the $1,200.

The start count and the end count are the two ends of the month. The sheet does not list who joined or left on each day. A daily-weighted denominator is a different method, worked on a different sample in How to calculate churn rate.

ARPU vs ARPA vs MRR

Four names, four divisions. MRR is the total. The other three divide that total by a count.

ARPU: recurring revenue divided by active users, free and trial included. The headline uses the average of the start and the end.

ARPPU: the same revenue divided by paying users only. ChartMogul’s ARPA page says ARPPU is average revenue per paying user, and that ARPU and ARPPU differ when a product has a free tier.

ARPA: the same revenue divided by accounts. One team account on this sheet is six users, so the account count is smaller than the user count, and ARPA is higher than ARPU. ChartMogul says that where companies split the names, ARPA is the account, often a company in B2B, and ARPU is the individual user. Paddle’s page lists accounts versus seats as one of the variables that change the figure.

MRR: the recurring total, before any division. How to calculate MRR is that total, on a different fictional ledger. How to calculate NRR is what happened to one starting cohort, and the form is the NRR calculator. CAC payback period is how many months of gross profit cover an acquisition cost, and the form is the CAC payback calculator. The spend in that cost, divided by new customers on each channel, is the acquisition cost by channel calculator. None of those sheets is Sample Meter. Do not add them to the $1,200.

ChartMogul’s paying-subscriber formula, applied to this sample, uses the 10 paying accounts at the end of the month. $1,200 divided by 10 is $120. That $120 is this sheet under their formula. It is not their $300 example.

A worked example

Sample Meter is fictional. The month is a SAMPLE month. The rows are illustrative example data, not real customer data. Nothing here was measured from a live business. It is a different sheet from Lumen Inbox in the MRR guide, from Harbor Notes in the MRR vs ARR post, from Sample Desk in the churn guide, from Sample Ledger in the NRR guide, and from Sample Till in the CAC payback guide. Do not add them together.

Each solo account is one user. Each team account is six users. That six is part of this example, so ARPU and ARPA can differ. Free rows and trial rows are one user each, and $0 of recurring revenue.

The numerator for every ARPU line on this page is the end-of-month recurring revenue, $1,200. The start table is only the user census. It is not a second revenue total.

2 + 24 + 10 + 4 = 40 users. 2 + 24 = 26 paying users. 2 + 4 + 10 + 4 = 20 accounts.

4 times $30 is $120. 6 times $180 is $1,080. 120 + 1,080 = 1,200. Users: 4 + 36 + 12 + 8 = 60. Paying users: 4 + 36 = 40. Accounts: 4 + 6 + 12 + 8 = 30. Paying accounts: 4 + 6 = 10.

Two rows never enter the $1,200. Both are sample data.

• Setup fees. $100 of one-off fees, written as two fees of $50. The end of the month has two more solo accounts than the start. The sheet does not name who joined, so this $100 is a sample exclusion, not a signup count.
• Sales tax. $48 is collected on top of the prices above. It stays out of the recurring total.

Cash on this sheet, if every paid plan is charged in the month, is 1,200 + 100 + 48 = 1,348. ARPU does not use the $1,348.

The three user denominators:

• Start: 40
• End: 60
• Average: (40 + 60) / 2 = 50

$1,200 / 50 = $24. That is the headline.

$1,200 / 40 = $30. That is the start count.

$1,200 / 60 = $20. That is the end count.

The end count is lower because the month added users faster than it added recurring revenue. Same $1,200, three answers. The average is the one this page leads with, because ChartMogul’s ARPU wording names an average and the other cited pages do not pick start versus end.

ARPPU uses the paying users at the end, which is the single count in the form. $1,200 / 40 = $30. The 20 free and trial users are out of that 40, which is why $30 is higher than the $20 end-count ARPU.

ARPA uses the accounts at the end, the single count in the form. $1,200 / 30 = $40. It does not average the 20 accounts at the start with the 30 at the end.

The annualized run rate is 12 times $24, which is $288. The $1,200 is one month, so the times-12 step is a run rate of that month. If the $1,200 had already been a year of revenue, annual ARPU would be $1,200 / 50 = $24, and the $288 would be the mistake.

ChartMogul’s report can show an annualized view beside the MRR view. This $288 is the sample’s run rate. It is not a figure read off that toggle.

ARPU calculator

The form opens on the sample month. Replace the fields. Paying users and accounts are optional. Clear one to hide that line. A blank user count is not a zero. A zero does not divide.

The same form, with the formula written out, is the ARPU calculator. The recurring total itself, on a different sample month, is the MRR calculator.

Common mistakes

Using only the end count, and calling it the average. On this sheet that reports $20. The average is $24. Both are real divisions. They are not the same reading.

Putting the setup fee and the tax into the numerator. 1,200 + 100 + 48 = 1,348. Divided by the average of 50 users, that is $26.96. The $100 and the $48 are not recurring revenue on this sheet.

Dividing the end revenue by the start’s paying users. The start has 26 paying users. $1,200 / 26 is $46.15 to the cent. That mixes the end’s revenue with the start’s paying count. ARPPU on this sheet uses the end’s 40 paying users, which is $30.

Calling the paying-account figure ARPU. $1,200 / 10 paying accounts is $120. That is ChartMogul’s paying-subscriber formula applied to the sample. It is not the $24.

Multiplying by 12 when the revenue is already a year. Twelve times the monthly run rate is $288. Twelve times a figure that was already annual is a second year. Say which one you computed.

Dividing by zero. No users, or a zero in the only count you entered, has no ARPU. The form asks for a user count instead of printing a result.

More of the money work for a one-person SaaS sits on Money and ops.