Customer growth rate is how much your active customer base grew in a period, as a percentage of where it started: end count minus start count, divided by start count, times 100.
Customer growth rate = (Customers at end − Customers at start) ÷ Customers at start × 100
On the sample data below, six months come to 8.99%.
Why it matters
It is acquisition minus churn in one figure. If it slows while new customers stay steady, churn is rising.
Worked example
The table shows the columns this metric needs from six months of a made-up subscription brand. Add each column up over the six months, then put the totals into the formula:
| Month | Subscribers at start of month | Subscribers at end of month |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 800 | 880 |
| 2026-02 | 880 | 971 |
| 2026-03 | 971 | 1,069 |
| 2026-04 | 1,069 | 1,136 |
| 2026-05 | 1,136 | 1,239 |
| 2026-06 | 1,239 | 1,348 |
| Total | 6,095 | 6,643 |
(6,643 − 6,095) ÷ 6,095 × 100 = 8.99%
Add up first, then divide. Averaging the six monthly figures gives a slightly different answer, because it counts a small month the same as a large one.
Month by month
| Month | Customer growth rate |
|---|---|
| 2026-01 | 10.00% |
| 2026-02 | 10.34% |
| 2026-03 | 10.09% |
| 2026-04 | 6.27% |
| 2026-05 | 9.07% |
| 2026-06 | 8.80% |
Customer growth rate calculator
How to read it
Over the whole period here it is computed from summed start and end counts, which gives an average monthly growth rate weighted by size.
Common mistakes
- Net growth hides gross movement. 100 new and 90 lost looks the same as 10 new and none lost, but they are very different businesses.
- Define "active" clearly; growth in sign-ups is not growth in customers.
- Percentage growth naturally slows as the base grows. Look at absolute additions too.
Calculate customer growth rate in Excel, SQL or Python
The quickest version, for the sample sheet laid out as in the CSV (headers in row 1, months in rows 2 to 7):
=(SUM(Z2:Z7) - SUM(X2:X7)) / SUM(X2:X7)- Customer growth rate in Excel and Google Sheets — per-month formula and zero-safe version
- Customer growth rate in SQL — query by month and for the period
- Customer growth rate in Python (pandas) — pandas script with expected output
Related metrics
See all business metrics, or the statistics methods that sit behind them.
Questions people ask
- What is customer growth rate?
- Customer growth rate is how much your active customer base grew in a period, as a percentage of where it started: end count minus start count, divided by start count, times 100.
- How do you calculate customer growth rate?
- Customer growth rate = (Customers at end − Customers at start) ÷ Customers at start × 100. For example, with six months of sample data: (6,643 − 6,095) ÷ 6,095 × 100 = 8.99%.
- What is the customer growth rate formula in Excel?
- With the sample data laid out as in the downloadable CSV, =(SUM(Z2:Z7) - SUM(X2:X7)) / SUM(X2:X7) gives the figure for the whole period (format the cell as a percentage). For one month, use =(Z2 - X2) / X2 and fill it down.
- What is a good customer growth rate?
- There is no figure that is right for every business: it depends on your products, prices and channels. Over the whole period here it is computed from summed start and end counts, which gives an average monthly growth rate weighted by size.
Check how stable it is
A metric moves for ordinary reasons as well as real ones. These methods separate the two: the spread shows what a normal month looks like, the moving average smooths it, the z-score flags a month that is out of line and the trend line shows the direction.
Guides
About the data on this page
The figures come from a small made-up dataset, printed above in full so you can check every number by hand. Download it as monthly.csv. The results are computed from those rows when the page is built, and the Excel formulas, SQL and Python on these pages are run against the same rows before publishing, so the code and the answers agree.
To get these numbers from your own data without writing formulas, try AnalyzeIt: ask in plain words and it shows the working behind every figure.
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