Monthly Active Users (MAU)
The number of unique users who engage with your product within a 30-day period.
Definition
MAU counts unique users who perform a meaningful action in your product over 30 days. It's the standard engagement metric for consumer products and free-tier SaaS. MAU is broader than DAU and captures users with less frequent but still active usage patterns. Growth in MAU indicates expanding reach, while the DAU/MAU ratio indicates engagement depth.
MAU must be paired with retention data to be meaningful. A product could have growing MAU while losing old users faster than it acquires new ones.
Why it matters for founders
MAU represents the size of your active user base and is the denominator for conversion rate, ARPU, and engagement calculations. Investors use MAU to evaluate market penetration and growth potential.
Example
Notion grew from 1M to 30M MAU between 2019 and 2022 by creating a product flexible enough for personal notes, team wikis, and project management. Their template gallery became a viral acquisition channel, with each shared template bringing new MAU.
How Foundra helps
Foundra's Proof Signals card helps you set MAU milestones as evidence of product-market fit and track growth trajectory.
Start your free trial→Related free tools
Related terms
Daily Active Users (DAU)
The number of unique users who engage with your product on a given day.
Engagement Rate
A measure of how actively users interact with your product or content.
Churn Rate
The percentage of customers who stop using your product in a given period.
Activation Rate
The percentage of new users who complete a key action that predicts long-term retention.