Three time windows for counting active users. The window you choose changes the story. This comparison covers all three plus the stickiness ratios between them.
Last updated: 2026-04-01
Daily Active Users. Unique users who perform a qualifying action within a single day, usually a calendar day in a fixed timezone. The right metric for products people are expected to use daily. The historical benchmarks below come from Mixpanel's 2024 report, page 27, using 2023 data.
Best for daily-use products: messaging, social feeds, productivity tools, news. Tracks habit formation and reacts quickly to changes.
Weekly Active Users count unique users in a rolling 7-day window. Monthly Active Users count unique users in a rolling 30-day window. These are rolling definitions; calendar weeks and months are also used.
Use WAU for weekly usage and MAU for monthly usage. Seasonal products such as tax software may need a longer window as well.
DAU = unique users active in the defined dayA user who opens your app five times in a day counts as 1 DAU, not 5. Deduplication by user ID is essential.
WAU = unique users in rolling 7 days. MAU = unique users in rolling 30 days.Rolling windows have fixed lengths. Calendar months vary in length. State which definition and timezone you use before comparing results.
| Criteria | DAU | WAU / MAU |
|---|---|---|
| Time window | Defined calendar day or rolling 24 hours | Rolling 7 days (WAU) or rolling 30 days (MAU) |
| Right for | Daily-use products | Weekly or monthly-cadence products |
| Reaction speed | Fast. Same-day signal | Slower (WAU = days, MAU = up to a month) |
| Volatility | High. Weekends and holidays distort it | Lower. Smoother trend |
| Stickiness ratio | DAU / MAU x 100 = daily share of monthly active users | WAU / MAU x 100 = weekly share of monthly active users |
| Historical DAU/MAU benchmark (2023 data) | 37% overall; technology 41%; financial services 40%; ecommerce 29% | Mean DAU / mean MAU; Mixpanel 2024 report |
| Best industry fit | Social, messaging, news, gaming | Banking, fitness, B2B tools, marketplaces |
| Reporting fit | Daily usage reporting | Weekly or monthly usage reporting |
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Use your own inputs to explore the calculations and compare results.
Compare products with similar usage patterns and active-user definitions. Mixpanel's 2024 report gives a 2023 cross-industry average of 37%, with technology at 41%, financial services at 40%, and ecommerce at 29%. Its stickiness measure uses mean DAU divided by mean MAU. These historical figures are context, not universal targets.
Use the window that matches expected usage and show the definition. For a daily-use product, MAU alone can hide a fall in usage frequency. For a monthly-use product, low DAU may be expected.
Choose an action that reflects useful activity, such as sending a message or opening an analytics dashboard. Deduplicate users within each window. A login alone may not show meaningful use.
Either convention is used. Define your day, week, month, and timezone consistently. Rolling 7-day and 30-day windows have fixed lengths; calendar windows align with reporting periods but vary in length.
No. It means daily active users are 30% of monthly active users for the measured windows. If you average DAU across the month, state that convention. Use cohort retention to study whether the same people return.