What Are Daily Active Users?
Daily Active Users (DAU) counts the unique users who engage with a product in a single day. Monthly Active Users (MAU) is the same metric over 30 days. The DAU/MAU ratio — sometimes called the stickiness ratio — measures what fraction of monthly users return daily.
Formula
DAU/MAU Ratio = Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users × 100
Benchmarks
| DAU/MAU | Stickiness Level | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| > 50% | Exceptional — daily habit | Messaging apps, work tools |
| 25% – 50% | Strong — regular usage | Collaboration, productivity |
| 10% – 25% | Moderate — periodic usage | Analytics, reporting |
| < 10% | Low — infrequent usage | Seasonal tools, tax software |
Facebook historically maintained ~65% DAU/MAU. Slack and similar work tools target 40%+.
Defining "Active"
The definition of "active" matters enormously:
| Definition | Quality |
|---|---|
| Opened the app | Vanity — too broad |
| Loaded the dashboard | Better — shows intent |
| Performed a core action | Best — signals real engagement |
A project management tool should define active as "created, updated, or commented on a task" rather than "logged in." Choose the action that correlates with retention.
DAU/MAU Limitations
- Irrelevant for low-frequency products (monthly invoicing tools)
- Can be gamed with notifications and dark patterns
- Does not capture depth of engagement
- B2B workday patterns skew the ratio
DAU/MAU in AI-Run Companies
AI-run companies often see different engagement patterns than traditional SaaS. If the AI is doing work on behalf of the user, the user may not need to log in daily — the product works autonomously. This makes DAU/MAU less meaningful for some AI-run businesses and requires alternative engagement metrics.
On EvolC, engagement metrics are contextualized by company type. A high DAU/MAU for an AI writing tool is impressive; a low DAU/MAU for an AI company that runs autonomously might actually be a feature, not a bug.