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PLG SaaS Benchmarks Calculator

Benchmarks for self-serve, product-led SaaS: high churn and low CAC, and whether your payback and expansion make the model work.

Updated · By Niraj Kumar · 3 sources

Revenue and customers

$

ARPU $25 a month.

Retention

%
0%15%

Customers who cancel each month. 3% a month is 31% a year.

%
−2%5%

Upgrades and added seats less downgrades, from customers who stay. Gives NRR of 90%.

Margin and acquisition

%
0%100%

Revenue left after hosting, support, payment fees and third-party APIs.

$

Ads, tools and the pay of sales and marketing staff. CAC $82.

Cash

$
$

R&D, G&A, rent: everything outside cost of revenue and sales and marketing.

LTV settings

%

What future profit is worth today. 0 for an undiscounted LTV.

months

How long a customer's profit counts. 60 is common.

LTV:CAC9.6:1LTV $785 · CAC $82 · payback 4.0 months
Customer lifetime value
$785
60 months, discounted 10%; simple LTV $683
CAC
$82
$9,000 ÷ 110 new customers
LTV:CAC
9.6:1
Very high: room to spend more on growth
CAC payback
4.0 months
Under 12 months: efficient
Net revenue retention
90%
Gross retention 69%; 31% of customers lost a year
Implied valuation
$1,920,000
4.0× ARR on 69% growth; Rule of 40: 53
Cash runway
Default alive
Burning $6,200 a month; profitable in month 4, before the cash runs out
What if you pulled one lever?Each row changes one input and leaves the rest as entered. Valuation moves in steps as growth, churn and NRR cross a band.
ChangeLTVLTV:CACPaybackValuationBreak-even
As entered$7859.6:14.0 months$1,920,000Month 4
Cut monthly churn by 1 point+$241+2.94–+$480,000−1 mo
Add 0.5 points of monthly expansion+$103+1.26––−1 mo
Acquire customers 10% cheaper–+1.07−0.4 mo–−1 mo
Raise gross margin by 5 points+$48+0.58−0.2 mo–−1 mo
One customer: gross profit less CACCAC not yet earned backProfit after CAC
-$100-$50$0$50$100$150$200Payback, month 4.0024681012

Expected profit from a new customer, allowing for the chance they churn and for expansion. Simple payback ignores churn: 4.0 months.

Cash in the bank, month by monthShort of cashCash in the bank
$0$500,000$1,000,000$1,500,000061218243036

Burning $6,200 a month; profitable in month 4, before the cash runs out. New customers join at today's ARPU; costs stay flat.

Against Product-led (PLG) benchmarksSelf-serve sign-up and card payments, little or no sales team. Checked October 11, 2026.
MetricYoursMedianStrongWhere you sit
Monthly churn3%3%1.5%Above median
Net revenue retention90%90%102%Above median
Gross margin82%80%85%Above median
CAC payback4.0 months6.0 months3.0 monthsAbove median

What are good Product-led metrics?

Product-led (PLG) benchmarks: monthly churn 3% (strong: 1.5%), NRR 90% (strong: 102%), gross margin 80% (strong: 85%), CAC payback 6 months (strong: 3). Product-led SaaS trades high churn for very cheap acquisition: the example earns back CAC in 4.0 months, with LTV:CAC of 9.6:1.

ARPU = MRR ÷ customers; gross profit per customer g = ARPU × gross margin; annual churn = 1 − (1 − c)^12; NRR = ((1 − c) × (1 + e))^12; GRR = (1 − c)^12; simple LTV = g ÷ c; LTV = Σ g × q^t for t = 0 … H − 1, q = (1 − c)(1 + e) ÷ (1 + d)^(1/12); CAC = sales and marketing ÷ new customers; payback = CAC ÷ g; LTV:CAC = LTV ÷ CAC; cash(t+1) = cash(t) + MRR(t) × margin − sales and marketing − other costs; runway = months until cash < 0

This page uses the same method as the SaaS Unit Economics Calculator, which explains each term and assumption in full.

Worked example

A self-serve SaaS on $40,000 MRR from 1,600 customers at $25 a month, adding 110 a month on $9,000 of marketing, with 3% monthly churn, 2.2% monthly expansion, 82% gross margin, $30,000 of other monthly costs and $350,000 in the bank.

  1. 1ARPU: $40,000 ÷ 1600 = $25; gross profit $21 a month at 82%
  2. 2Retention: 3% churn and 2.2% expansion a month give NRR 90% and GRR 69%
  3. 3LTV over 60 months at 10% discount: $785 (simple: $683)
  4. 4CAC: $9,000 ÷ 110 = $82; payback 4.0 months
  5. 5LTV:CAC: 9.6:1, very high: room to spend more on growth
  6. 6Cash: burning $6,200 a month on $350,000; runway default alive, break-even in month 4

LTV:CAC 9.6:1, payback 4.0 months, NRR 90%, growing 69% a year: about $1,920,000 at 4.0× ARR.

Frequently asked questions

Is high churn acceptable for product-led SaaS?

Up to a point. Free-to-paid users on small plans cancel easily, so 3 to 5% a month is common. It works while CAC stays low and payback stays under six months. The test is whether the users who stay expand into bigger plans or team seats: without expansion, high churn caps how big the business can get.

How should a PLG company count CAC?

Include the cost of the free tier's hosting and the team that runs onboarding and growth experiments, not only ads. PLG companies often report a tiny paid CAC that leaves out these costs, which makes LTV:CAC look much better than it is.

Sources

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