The predictable subscription revenue your customers owe you this month in MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), with one-time fees and usage spikes stripped out so the number actually repeats.
Buffer published its real-time MRR on a public dashboard starting in 2013, watching the number climb from around $150K MRR to over $1.6M MRR by 2020. The move turned a private SaaS metric into a marketing asset and inspired a wave of 'open startups' from ConvertKit to Baremetrics.
Two ways to express the same subscription revenue, just in different time units. Pick the wrong one in a board meeting and you'll look junior.
| Aspect | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|
| Time horizon | A single month | Annual (12 months forward) |
| Who quotes it | Seed-stage founders on a weekly cadence | Series A+ boards and investors |
| Quick conversion | ARR ÷ 12 | MRR × 12 |
| Common misuse | Quoted as a 'run rate' that ignores churn | Quoted when only one month is billed but the contract is annual |
| Best used for | Short-horizon health checks | Long-horizon planning and valuation comps |
