Revenue Growth Rate Calculator — MoM, QoQ, YoY, and CAGR

Growth Rate = ((Current − Previous) / Previous) × 100

CAGR = (Ending Value / Beginning Value)^(1/Years) − 1
Multiply by 100 for percentage

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) is more meaningful than simple growth over multiple periods because it accounts for compounding and enables fair comparison between investments or businesses with different time horizons.

Growth rate % (prev A1, curr B1)

=((B1-A1)/A1)*100

CAGR (begin A1, end B1, years C1)

=((B1/A1)^(1/C1)-1)*100

Revenue Growth Rate and CAGR ExplainedSearch YouTube tutorials →

Understanding Different Growth Rate Measures

Revenue growth rate measures how quickly your revenue is expanding from one period to the next. The same formula applies whether you're measuring month-over-month (MoM), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), or year-over-year (YoY) growth — just make sure both inputs cover the same length of time.

YoY growth is the most meaningful for most businesses because it eliminates seasonality. A retail business might grow 60% from November to December every year — that's not a signal of acceleration, just the holiday season. Comparing December this year to December last year (YoY) removes that seasonal effect and gives a true picture of business trajectory.

MoM growth is useful for very fast-growing businesses (where YoY would lag the current reality) and for spotting short-term trends or anomalies. A business growing 15% MoM is growing approximately 435% YoY — extraordinary if sustained, unsustainable if it implies exponential scale forever.

CAGR: The Right Way to Measure Multi-Year Growth

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) converts multi-year total growth into an equivalent steady annual rate. Growing from $1M to $3M over 4 years is 200% total growth — but what was the annual rate? CAGR = (3/1)^(1/4) - 1 = 31.6% per year. That single number lets you compare this business's performance against any other investment or benchmark on a level playing field.

CAGR is always lower than the arithmetic average of annual growth rates for the same period. If revenue grew 50%, 20%, 30%, and 10% in four consecutive years, the arithmetic average is 27.5%. But the CAGR of the actual ending value compared to starting value would be lower, because compounding means the 30% growth in year 3 applies to a different (and likely larger) base than you might expect.

Investors and analysts frequently use CAGR to evaluate business performance over 3-5 year periods. It smooths out volatile individual years to show the underlying growth trajectory. When pitching to investors, CAGR from a low base year can look impressive — context about what the base was matters.

Growth Rate Benchmarks by Business Stage

Growth rate expectations vary dramatically by company stage and industry. For early-stage startups (under $1M ARR), 15-20%+ monthly growth is the YC benchmark for top-performing companies. For growth-stage SaaS companies ($1M-$10M ARR), 2-3× annual growth ("T2D3" — triple, triple, double, double, double) is considered strong.

For mid-market companies ($10M-$100M ARR), 30-50% annual growth is generally considered strong. Public technology companies with over $1B in revenue are considered fast-growing at 20-30% annually. Mature public companies in stable industries: 5-15% annual growth is typical. The "growth at all costs" era has given way to more emphasis on efficient growth — revenue growth combined with improving margins.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends entirely on company stage, industry, and competitive environment. For startups: "default alive" typically means 10%+ monthly growth. For growth-stage SaaS: 30-100%+ annually. For mature businesses: 5-15% annually is healthy. Context matters more than any absolute target — growing 50% in a fast-growing market may be underperforming; growing 15% in a declining market may be exceptional.

MoM (Month-over-Month) compares to the prior month. QoQ (Quarter-over-Quarter) compares to the prior quarter. YoY (Year-over-Year) compares to the same period one year ago. YoY is generally most useful because it eliminates seasonal effects. MoM is volatile and should be interpreted cautiously. QoQ is a middle ground.

To find what monthly growth rate corresponds to, annualize it: Annual = (1 + Monthly Rate)^12 - 1. A 10% monthly growth rate annualizes to (1.10)^12 - 1 = 213.8% annual growth. A 5% monthly growth rate annualizes to (1.05)^12 - 1 = 79.6% annual growth. This is why early-stage startup monthly growth rates, if sustained, would produce extraordinary annual figures.

Negative growth (decline) uses the same formula — the result will simply be negative. A business that fell from $1M to $800K in revenue has (800K - 1M) / 1M = -20% growth rate. Analyzing why growth turned negative — market conditions, competitive pressure, product issues, or churn — is more important than the number itself.