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Use this benchmarking tool to compare your benchmarks against other companies from your peer group.
Click on "Get your benchmarks".
Insert your numbers to instantly see benchmarks like MRR growth, NDR, and runway,
Create an account to get access to all benchmarks.
Benchmarks without action are just numbers. re:cap lets you analyze, forecast, and fund – so you don't just keep up with peers, you pull ahead.
– Benchmark to make decisions, not dashboards: pick 8-12 metrics tied to your model, stage, and motion, ignore the rest.
– Use peer-matched cohorts (ARR band, ACV, sales motion, region) or your comparisons will lie to you.
– Build a benchmark-to-action loop: diagnose → hypothesize → run a sprint → re-measure.
In this article you’ll learn: what SaaS benchmarking is (and isn’t), the core metrics that matter by stage, how to build peer cohorts, where benchmarks go wrong.
Benchmarks are everywhere in startup and SaaS land. ARR multiples. Burn multiples. CAC payback. However, most founders:
- Ignore benchmarks entirely (“we’re unique, they don’t apply to us”), or
- Obsess over them blindly (“if we don’t hit 3x growth, we’re dead”).
Both are mistakes. Benchmarks are a compass — they show direction, not exact coordinates. Used well, they:
- Anchor conversations with investors and boards.
- Prevent self-delusion (“we’re growing fast” → compared to what?).
- Help CFOs and CEOs make capital-efficient choices.
But misuse them, and you risk chasing numbers that don’t fit your business model.
SaaS benchmarking is the disciplined practice of comparing your performance metrics to a well-defined peer group so you can set targets, allocate capital, and improve unit economics – not to “feel normal” about bad numbers.
A good benchmark does three things:
1. Anchors the conversation (what "good" looks like),
2. Prioritizes the gap that moves valuation,
3. Creates accountability to close the gap in weeks, not quarters.
Bad benchmarks do the opposite: they average away context, reward vanity, and stall decisions.
Three lenses matter for startups:
1. Financial benchmarking — are you turning capital into growth efficiently?
2. Operational benchmarking — are you running your engine as well as others?
3. Fundraising benchmarking — do your metrics meet investor thresholds for the next round?
Example:
- A SaaS at $5M ARR growing 80% per year looks great… unless peers grow 120%.
- A burn multiple of 2.0 might look fine internally… but if market median is 1.3, investors will push back.
The 3 rules of trustworthy benchmarks
If your cohort is wrong, your conclusions are wrong.
1. Cohort fit > sample size
Match by ARR band, ACV, motion (PLG vs. sales-led), gross margin, and market (SMB vs. mid-market vs. enterprise). A PLG $99/mo product should not compare CAC payback to an enterprise $120k ACV suite.
2. Time-bounded windows
Benchmark rolling 12 months or last 2–4 quarters; mixing 2021 anomaly-era growth with 2025 reality skews targets.
3. Actionability over aesthetics
Limit to the fewest metrics that explain growth, retention, and cash conversion. If a metric never changes a plan or a budget, drop it.
Benchmarks cluster into three categories: financial, operational, fundraising.
1. Financial Benchmarks
- ARR growth: 100%+ early, 40–60% later.
- Burn multiple: Net burn ÷ Net new ARR. Healthy = 1.0-1.5.
- Gross margin: SaaS should target 70–85%.
2. Operational Benchmarks
- Churn rate: Keep logo churn <5% annually (enterprise SaaS).
- CAC payback: Under 18 months = good, under 12 = top quartile.
- Sales efficiency: “Magic number” >0.75 is solid.
- Hiring pace: Headcount growth aligned with ARR, not vanity scaling.
3. Fundraising Benchmarks
- Series A revenue: $1-2M ARR.
- Series B revenue: $5-10M ARR.
- EV/ARR multiples: 8-12x in good markets, 4-6x in tighter ones.
- Runway at round close: 18-24 months expected.
SaaS and tech companies are different. Recurring revenue makes it easier to compare apples-to-apples.
Core SaaS Metrics
- MRR & ARR: Scale of recurring revenue.
- NRR (Net Revenue Retention): Best SaaS grow by expanding customers.
- LTV/CAC ratio: >3 is healthy; <2 signals trouble.
- Rule of 40: Growth rate + profit margin ≥ 40% = balanced SaaS.
Stage-Specific Benchmarks
- $1-10M ARR: Growth matters most. Investors forgive high burn if retention is strong.
- $10-50M ARR: Retention >110% NRR and CAC payback under 18 months.
- $50M+ ARR: Efficiency rules. Rule of 40 becomes non-negotiable.
Benchmarks are powerful in the right context:
Use them for:
- Strategic planning
- Fundraising conversations
- Board updates
Ignore them when:
- You’re pre-product/market fit (benchmarks don’t matter yet)
- Your model differs (e.g., hardware-enabled SaaS, fintech with capital costs)
- External shock changes markets (2020 SaaS multiples ≠ 2023 reality)
Where SaaS benchmarking goes wrong (common traps)
Most errors are structural, not mathematical.
– Averages hide strategy. Medians across mixed motions are useless; build like-for-like cohorts.
– Point-in-time vanity. Report trailing 12 months and seasonally adjust to avoid one-off spikes.
– No linkage to planning. Benchmarks must translate to targets, sprints, and budget reallocations, or they’re trivia.
– Metric overload. You should enforce a hard limit (8-12) aligned to the company’s growth thesis.
Pros:
- External credibility with investors
- Sets realistic expectations internally
- Useful stress tests ("are we too aggressive or too conservative?")
Cons:
- False security: looking "average" isn’t always safe
- Wrong peer group = bad conclusions
- Over-optimization: chasing a benchmark at the expense of fundamentals
Not all benchmarks are created equal.
- Stage relevance: A 200% growth benchmark is irrelevant at $50M ARR.
- Peer specificity: SMB SaaS vs. Enterprise SaaS behave very differently.
- Source quality: Prefer structured datasets (OpenView, Bessemer, re:cap) over anecdotal Twitter threads.
- Context: A fintech burn multiple of 2.0 might be fine, but for SaaS it’s high.
Treat this like a product: define scope, assemble data, ship a first version, then iterate monthly.
1. Clarify strategy → pick metrics
Decide if you’re optimizing for efficient growth (Rule of 40), dominance (share), or cash (runway). Select 2–3 metrics per pillar. (Use the outline-first approach to keep it MECE. ) Define peer cohorts
Split by ARR, ACV, motion, and market. Create 3–5 cohorts you’ll stick to for a year to keep targets stable.
2. Instrument sources
Finance (ERP), revenue (CRM), product (analytics), billing (PSP), and data warehouse. Avoid manual spreadsheets; they break audit trails and trust.
3. Normalize definitions
CAC includes paid, people, tools; NDR excludes FX noise; gross margin is after infra + support. Publish a one-pager of definitions.
4. Set targets with guardrails
Example: "Hit 14-16 month CAC payback by Q2, without pushing NDR below 110%."
5. Operationalize
– Monthly: review benchmark deltas and assign sprints.
– Quarterly: reset targets and budgets.
– Annually: revisit cohorts and strategy.
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