Chart: Average Revenue Per Account
The Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) chart tracks how the average monthly recurring revenue (MRR) per paying subscriber changes over time.
Also known as ARPU or ARPC, it's a key metric for SaaS businesses looking to evaluate the effectiveness of their pricing, messaging, and acquisition channels. Unlike LTV, which measures total customer value over time, ARPA gives a snapshot of what your average subscriber is worth right now.
If you’re new to ChartMogul, get to know how charts work.
If you’re interested in analyzing the change in average initial price of new subscriptions, see Average Sale Price.
ARPA vs. LTV
There’s a bit of confusion when it comes to the difference between the Average Revenue per Account and the Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). They’re not the same.
LTV tracks the total amount of money an average customer pays you before they churn. As such, it is a measure of how well you’re retaining customers. This can be a useful indication of whether your marketing department is doing a good job of targeting the best customers and how well your customer success team is doing.
ARPA is better suited to evaluate the performance of factors such as your pricing, your messaging and the effectiveness of the channels you’re using to reach customers.
Chart Notes
- ChartMogul calculates ARPA using MRR, which comes from recurring invoice line items (subscriptions or trials) or manual subscriptions and not transactions. Customers with free subscriptions do not contribute to this chart.
- Customers with an Active Subscriber or Past-due Subscriber status are counted as subscribers. Learn more about customer and subscription statuses.
- A customer with multiple subscriptions is counted as one subscriber.
Calculation
ChartMogul calculates Average Revenue Per Account as the total MRR in a given period divided by the number of paying subscribers in that period.
For example, you have five customers:
- Customers 1 and 2 pay $100 per month
- Customer 3 pays $300 per month
- Customers 4 and 5 pay $500 per month
The Average Revenue Per Account is $300 ($1,500 MRR ÷ 5 customers).
Chart Data
See Chart Data.
Next Steps
- Learn about ARPA in our SaaS metrics library.
- Segment this chart by marketing channel, region or training program completion to see which subscribers bring in the most revenue.
- Measure the number of Subscribers.
- Track the total expected subscription revenue over the lifetime of an average subscriber with Customer Lifetime Value.