In the world of SaaS (Software as a Service), company growth doesn’t end with acquiring a stable customer base. Mature SaaS companies need to carefully monitor their financial and operational metrics to maintain profitability and effectively respond to market changes.
So what exactly is a mature SaaS? We’re talking about giants that offer their services in bundled subscription models – for example, Microsoft with its Office365 ecosystem and cloud solutions, Google with Workspace and Cloud, the powerful CRM platform Salesforce, or Adobe with its Creative Cloud suite for marketing, graphic design, and multimedia production. Even SAP fits here, providing ERP systems for some of the world’s largest enterprises, often in manufacturing. That’s the list of the biggest and most obvious players. But mature SaaS companies also include the tools many of us use every day as individual users – such as Splunk, Workday, ServiceNow, Atlassian, and Zendesk.
In this article, we’ll walk you through 7 key metrics for mature SaaS.
This article is dedicated:
For investors, founders, and CFOs, SaaS metrics are more than just numbers – they are the foundation for assessing a company’s health, growth potential, and scalability. Transparent metrics are often a key factor when raising capital or planning an exit strategy.
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1. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Growth
The first sign of SaaS stability is the growth rate of recurring subscription revenues. Analyzing MRR dynamics shows whether growth comes from acquiring new customers or mainly from price increases.
👉 Learn more about Net MRR in our article: Net MRR Retention – do your customers want to stay with you? A key metric in Series A.
2. Churn – Customer Attrition Rate
Mature SaaS companies must keep churn under control, i.e. the value of customers who cancel subscriptions. Losing more than 5% of customers per month is a red flag, requiring an investigation into the reasons – competition, niche shifts, or lack of product fit.
In the SaaS B2B space, a churn rate below 5% per month is generally considered healthy. Anything above that threshold should be treated as a serious risk to business stability.
3. Gross Margin Changes Over Time
A properly calculated gross margin is the foundation of financial health. In SaaS, direct costs include system maintenance, servers, and customer support. A declining gross margin can signal rising costs or reduced product efficiency.
👉 For deeper insights, see our article: Gross Margin – the key to real profits in startups at Series C stage.
4. Number of Active Customers
Regularly monitoring the customer base gives a realistic view of business stability. Growth in active users may confirm product–market fit, while declines indicate the need for corrective action.
5. Unit Economics
Unit economics analysis helps identify which customer segments (small, medium, large) generate the most revenue and margin. This shows SaaS companies where their real business foundation lies.
6. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC is a key metric for every SaaS – it measures how much it costs to acquire a new user. Comparing CAC with customer lifetime value (LTV) helps assess marketing and sales efficiency and the potential for further expansion.
👉 Learn more in our article: CAC Payback Period – how much does your growth cost? A key metric in Series B.
7. Customer-Level Profitability
At the mature stage, it’s not enough to know how many customers you have. It’s crucial to know which ones are actually profitable. Analyzing revenues and costs assigned to individual clients enables pricing optimization, tailored add-ons, and more efficient customer support structures.
👉 Learn more about why even your biggest client may actually be unprofitable: check out our article “Our largest client is unprofitable? Impossible!”
Common Mistakes When Measuring SaaS Metrics
SaaS companies often make mistakes such as focusing only on revenue, ignoring customer support costs, or calculating metrics without considering historical trends. Avoiding these pitfalls provides a much clearer picture of financial performance.
Summary
Mature SaaS companies cannot rely solely on intuition – they need clear metrics to make data-driven decisions.
The 7 key areas are: MRR, churn, gross margin, customer count, unit economics, CAC, and customer profitability. These form the foundation of effective financial management and SaaS growth.
How can we help you at incro?
If you’re running a SaaS and wondering how to effectively monitor your finances and build a competitive edge – get in touch with us.
And if, as a founder or manager, you’re looking to further improve profitability, check out our article on 10 Proven Ways to Cut Startup Costs and Reduce Your Burn Rate. One of the quickest wins is often a subscription audit – identifying the SaaS tools you’re still paying for, even if you no longer use them.
At incro, we help companies implement financial controlling, analyze key metrics, and scale their business based on data.
👉 Book a free consultation and see how we can support the growth of your SaaS.
