How to Track MRR Growth With Web Analytics Data
By Emily Redmond, Data Analyst at Emilytics · April 2026
TL;DR: Pull MRR from billing system monthly. Track in Google Sheets with MRR growth %, expansion revenue, and churn revenue. This is your single source of truth.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is the heartbeat of your SaaS company. It's your most important metric, but most founders bury it in accounting software instead of making it visible.
Web analytics tools like GA4 can't directly track MRR (they don't have access to your billing system). But you can connect them. Here's how to set up MRR tracking so you see growth week by week.
The MRR Formula
MRR = Number of paying customers × Average Monthly Revenue Per Customer
Or more precisely:
MRR = (Existing MRR) + (New customer MRR) - (Churn MRR) + (Expansion MRR)
Example:
- Start of month: 50 customers × $100 = $5,000 MRR
- New customers: 10 × $100 = $1,000
- Churn: 3 customers × $100 = -$300
- Expansion (upsells): 2 customers upgraded by $50 each = +$100
- End of month: $5,000 + $1,000 - $300 + $100 = $5,800 MRR
💡 Emily's take: Most founders calculate MRR once a month, at the end. Wrong. Calculate it weekly or even daily. You'll spot problems (churn spike) and wins (expansion surge) much faster.
Step 1: Extract MRR Data From Your Billing System
Your billing system is your source of truth. Not Google Analytics.
If you use Stripe:
- Go to Customers or Dashboard
- Export active subscriptions (date, customer ID, amount)
- Sum the amounts = your MRR
Or use the Stripe API to automate this.
If you use Chargebee, Paddle, or another tool:
Look for "Recurring Revenue" or "MRR" reports built into the platform. Most have them.
Export this data weekly into a Google Sheet:
| Date | Customer Count | MRR |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-11 | 145 | $14,500 |
| 2026-04-18 | 148 | $14,820 |
| 2026-04-25 | 151 | $15,140 |
Step 2: Break Down MRR Into Components
Simple MRR is useful. Broken-down MRR is actionable.
Track these components:
| Metric | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Existing MRR | MRR from previous month | $14,500 |
| New Customer MRR | New customers acquired × price | (5 customers × $100) = $500 |
| Churn MRR | Cancelled customers × price | (2 customers × $100) = -$200 |
| Expansion MRR | Upsells + cross-sells | (1 upgrade × $50) = $50 |
| Contraction MRR | Downgrades | (1 downgrade × -$25) = -$25 |
| Total MRR | Existing + New - Churn + Expansion - Contraction | $14,825 |
Why this matters:
- If new customer MRR is growing but churn MRR is growing faster, you have a retention problem, not a growth problem.
- If expansion MRR is 20% of total, you have strong product-market fit (customers are buying more).
- If contraction MRR is rising, your upsell motion is failing.
Step 3: Calculate Week-over-Week and Month-over-Month Growth
Track both velocities:
Week-over-week (WoW) growth: (Current week MRR - Previous week MRR) ÷ Previous week MRR × 100
Example: ($15,140 - $14,500) ÷ $14,500 × 100 = 4.4% WoW growth
Month-over-month (MoM) growth: (Current month MRR - Previous month MRR) ÷ Previous month MRR × 100
Target: 5–10% MoM growth for early-stage SaaS.
Build a simple dashboard:
| Week | MRR | WoW Growth | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | $14,500 | — | Baseline |
| Week 2 | $14,820 | +2.2% | 5 new customers |
| Week 3 | $15,140 | +2.2% | Consistent growth |
| Week 4 | $14,975 | -1.1% | 3 churn, only 2 new |
When WoW growth dips, you know something changed (churn spike, slower sales). You can act immediately.
Step 4: Connect MRR to Web Analytics
Now connect your billing data to GA4 data so you can see what's driving MRR growth.
Link the data:
In your Google Sheet, add columns from GA4:
| Date | MRR | New MRR | Churn MRR | Trial Conversions | Organic Visitors | Paid Ad Spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-18 | $14,820 | $500 | -$200 | 5 | 1,240 | $800 |
| 2026-04-25 | $15,140 | $620 | -$150 | 6 | 1,380 | $950 |
Pull GA4 data:
- New customer count (from conversion tracking)
- Organic visitors
- Trial conversion rate
- Marketing spend by channel
Now you can correlate:
- When organic traffic increases, does MRR follow (with a lag)?
- When trial conversion drops, does new MRR drop 2 weeks later?
- Does paid ad spend have a positive ROI (new MRR > ad spend)?
💡 Emily's take: Most founders see "MRR grew 8% this month" and celebrate. I want to see why. Did organic grow 20%? Did churn drop? Did upsells spike? The breakdown tells you what to do next month.
Step 5: Set Up Churn and Expansion Revenue Tracking
This is where the real insight lives.
Create a weekly churn report:
| Week | Churned Customers | Churn MRR | Churn Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 2 | -$200 | 1.4% |
| Week 2 | 1 | -$100 | 0.7% |
| Week 3 | 3 | -$300 | 2.0% |
| Week 4 | 2 | -$200 | 1.3% |
When churn spikes (week 3), investigate immediately. Did a big customer leave? Did a feature break? Did you anger a cohort?
Create a weekly expansion report:
| Week | Upsell Count | Expansion MRR | Cross-sell MRR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 2 | $100 | $50 |
| Week 2 | 1 | $50 | $0 |
| Week 3 | 4 | $200 | $100 |
| Week 4 | 2 | $100 | $25 |
When expansion is rising, that's your strongest signal of product stickiness. When it's flat, your upsell motion isn't working.
Step 6: Automate It (Optional)
If you're tired of copying numbers, automate:
Stripe API + Google Sheets:
Use a tool like Zapier or write a simple script:
import stripe
from google.colab import auth
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
stripe.api_key = "YOUR_STRIPE_KEY"
# Get all active subscriptions
subscriptions = stripe.Subscription.list(status='active')
# Sum their monthly amounts
mrr = sum([sub.plan.amount_recurring / 100 for sub in subscriptions])
# Write to Google Sheets
# (use Google Sheets API)
Or use a tool like Mixpanel, Amplitude, or Baremetrics that automates MRR tracking.
But honestly? A spreadsheet you update weekly beats a "perfect" automation you never look at.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Counting annual subscriptions as monthly MRR
Annual subscriptions should be divided by 12. If a customer pays $1,200/year, that's $100/month MRR.
Mistake 2: Not tracking churn separately
Churn MRR should be a line item. If you bury it in "total MRR change," you can't diagnose problems.
Mistake 3: Calculating MRR at the end of the month
Calculate it weekly. Monthly is too slow to catch signals.
Mistake 4: Confusing MRR growth % with actual revenue growth
8% MRR growth is great if you started at $100k. It's bad if you started at $1k. Always track both rate and absolute numbers.
Mistake 5: Not correlating MRR to activation/trial conversion
MRR growth comes from trial conversions (2-4 week lag) and expansion. If trial conversions drop, future MRR is doomed. Catch it early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much MRR growth should I target monthly?
A: 5–10% month-over-month is standard for early-stage SaaS. 15%+ is exceptional. Below 5% means you're not acquiring fast enough or churn is too high.
Q: What's the lag between trial conversion and MRR impact?
A: Usually 2–4 weeks. If you convert 10 trials this week, expect 8–10 of them in MRR in 2 weeks. Track this lag and use it to forecast.
Q: How do I know if my MRR growth is sustainable?
A: Look at churn rate. If MRR is growing 10% month-over-month but churn is 8%, you're on a treadmill. Sustainable growth means churn is declining.
Q: Should I include free plan users in MRR?
A: No. MRR is recurring revenue. Free plans generate zero revenue. Track free users separately.
Q: How do I forecast next month's MRR?
A: Simple: Last month MRR + (New customer MRR projection) - (Churn MRR projection) + (Expansion MRR projection).
The Bottom Line
Pull MRR from your billing system weekly. Break it into new, churn, and expansion. Track growth %. Correlate with trial conversions and churn.
That's your business in five columns. Everything else is detail.
Emily Redmond is a data analyst at Emilytics — AI analytics agent watching your GA4, Search Console, and Bing data around the clock. 8 years experience. Say hi →