Four steps to calculate daily active users, monthly active users, and the DAU/MAU stickiness ratio. Formula, 2024 benchmarks, and tips for product managers.
Last updated: April 2026
DAU and MAU are only useful if everyone on the team agrees on which event counts as active. Pick the action that signals real value, not a passive ping.
Formula
Active user = unique user who fired the chosen value event in the time windowPro tip: Document the active-user definition so changes in tracking do not look like changes in engagement.
DAU is the number of unique users who fired the active event on a given day. The unit of analysis is the user, not the session, so de-duplicate.
Formula
DAU(day) = count of distinct user IDs that fired the active event on that dayPro tip: For B2B products with weekend drops, report DAU on a weekday-only basis or use a 7-day rolling average. A flat DAU chart with weekly seasonality is harder to read than a smoothed one.
MAU is the number of unique users active across the trailing 30 days. Use a rolling window so the metric updates daily, not just at month-end.
Formula
MAU(date) = count of distinct user IDs active on any of the prior 30 daysPro tip: Calendar-month MAU and rolling 30-day MAU use different windows. Label the choice and apply it consistently.
The stickiness ratio is just DAU divided by MAU, expressed as a percentage. It tells you what fraction of your monthly users come back on any given day.
Formula
Stickiness = (DAU / MAU) x 100%Pro tip: Mixpanel’s 2024 report measured 37% average stickiness across industries in 2023, using mean daily active users divided by mean monthly active users. Category averages included technology 41%, financial services 40%, and ecommerce 29%. Match that definition before comparing your result.
Skip the SQL. Use our free DAU/MAU calculator with built-in benchmarks, trend tracking, and category comparisons.
Open Free DAU/MAU CalculatorMixpanel’s 2024 report found 37% average stickiness across industries in 2023: technology 41%, financial services 40%, and ecommerce 29%. It used mean daily active users divided by mean monthly active users. These historical averages describe its sample, not targets for every product.
Rolling 30-day MAU updates daily; calendar-month MAU follows reporting months. Choose the window that fits your reporting needs, label it, and keep comparisons consistent.
The event that signals the user got value. For a chat app, that's sending or reading a message. For a CRM, it's logging activity or updating a record. Avoid passive events like app foreground or push-notification delivery, which inflate the numbers without reflecting real engagement.
Yes. MAU counts someone active once the same as someone active daily. DAU/MAU adds frequency information, but it still does not measure depth of use. Pair it with retention and key-action completion.
Stickiness summarizes activity frequency, while retention follows a defined customer group over time. A high DAU/MAU can coexist with poor retention in a new-user cohort, so inspect both.