Written by Krisztián Stark
Key takeaways
- DAU/MAU is average daily active users divided by monthly active users; times 30, it is roughly how many days a month a typical user shows up.
- A good ratio depends on the kind of product: a messenger and a travel app should not be judged on the same scale.
- Read it next to retention and MAU, because the ratio can rise for bad reasons, such as casual users leaving.
What is the DAU/MAU ratio?
The DAU/MAU ratio is your average daily active users divided by your monthly active users, shown as a percentage. It is often called stickiness, because it tells you what share of the people who use your product in a month come back on a typical day. An app with 15,000 users on an average day and 75,000 users across the month has a DAU/MAU ratio of 20%.
A handy way to read it: multiply the ratio by the number of days in the month. At 20% over 30 days, the average monthly user is active on about 6 days. At 50%, it is about 15 days, which means the product has become a habit for many people.
The DAU/MAU formula
DAU/MAU = average daily active users over 30 days / unique users active in the same 30 days x 100Three details keep the number honest:
- Use the average DAU of the whole period, not one day. A single Saturday or a push notification day can swing DAU a lot.
- Count unique users for MAU. Someone who opened the app 20 times in the month is one monthly active user.
- Keep one definition of “active”. Opening the app, logging in, or completing a core action all give different ratios. A stricter definition gives a lower but more meaningful number.
Many teams use a rolling 28-day window, which holds exactly four of each weekday and removes weekly swings. Related ratios answer slightly different questions: DAU/WAU shows daily habit inside a week, and WAU/MAU suits products people use a few times a week rather than daily.
Illustrative month: a rewards app before and after a daily bonus
In March, a rewards app averages 9,000 daily active users and has 60,000 monthly active users: a ratio of 15%, or about 4.5 active days per user. In April it adds a daily check-in bonus. MAU stays at 60,000, while average DAU rises to 12,600, so the ratio climbs to 21%, about 6.3 active days. Each user now has nearly two more days a month to see ads or open the offerwall. The figures are invented to show the arithmetic.
What is a good DAU/MAU ratio?
There is no single target, because products are used at different rhythms. A few public data points help set expectations:
- Meta reported 2.11 billion daily and 3.07 billion monthly active users for Facebook in December 2023, a ratio of about 69%. That is a global social network at its peak, not a target for a new app.
- Mixpanel’s 2026 mobile gaming benchmarks say gaming stickiness in North America and Asia Pacific has leveled off at 32%.
- Mixpanel’s own explainer on stickiness notes that 20% is widely considered a strong value, while warning that a single number without context can mislead.
From those, a cautious orientation by app type looks like this. Treat it as a rough guide, not a benchmark:
| Type of product | Rough orientation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging and social | Often well above 50% for the leaders | People check them many times a day |
| Mobile games with daily loops | Around 20% to 35% | Daily rewards and energy systems bring players back |
| Rewards apps and sites | Varies widely | Depends on daily bonuses, new offers, and payout speed |
| Shopping, travel, finance tools | Often below 20%, and that can be fine | People need them a few times a month, not daily |
The most useful comparison is with yourself: the same app, the same definition of active, month over month, and split by country and acquisition source.
When the ratio misleads
- MAU falls. If casual users leave and only fans stay, the ratio rises while the business shrinks. Always show MAU next to it.
- Acquisition bursts. A large install campaign adds many monthly users who were active once, so the ratio drops even if the campaign worked.
- Fake accounts. Bots and multi-accounts can inflate both numbers, especially in rewards apps. See how to stop multi-accounting and VPN abuse.
- It hides who returns. The ratio blends new and old users. Cohort retention shows whether new users stick. App retention benchmarks covers day 1, 7, and 30.
How to raise your DAU/MAU ratio
- Give a reason to come back today. Daily bonuses, streaks that forgive a missed day, and limited-time events work in games and rewards apps. How to bring users back to a rewards app covers them in detail.
- Fix the first session. Users who never understood the app will not form a habit. Shorter onboarding usually lifts day 1 retention, which feeds DAU.
- Refresh content on a schedule. New levels, offers, or articles on known days teach users when to return.
- Send notifications people asked for. A reminder that a streak is about to break helps; daily spam drives uninstalls.
- Make progress visible. Levels, balances, and goals make each visit feel like it counts.
Higher stickiness also lifts revenue, because monthly ARPU equals average ARPDAU × days × DAU/MAU. What is ARPU? explains the revenue side.
A reason to return, paid in your own currency
A rewards section gives users something to do on days they would not otherwise open your app or site. With the Sharklio offerwall, users earn your own virtual currency, with your name, icon, and exchange rate, from offers matched to their country and device. Publishers apply once from the dashboard, and there is no minimum traffic. See Sharklio for publishers and estimate what it could add with the offerwall earnings calculator.
Related terms: ARPDAU and retention rate.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the DAU/MAU ratio?
Divide the average number of daily active users over a month by the number of unique users active in that month, then multiply by 100. 15,000 average DAU and 75,000 MAU give 20%.
What is a good DAU/MAU ratio for an app?
It depends on how often people need the product. 20% is often cited as strong for many apps, games with daily loops often sit around 20% to 35%, and leading social apps go far higher. Compare yourself with your own past months first.
Should I judge an app by DAU/MAU or by retention?
Use both, because they answer different questions. Retention shows whether new users stay at all; DAU/MAU shows how often the users you kept come back. A rising ratio with falling D30 retention usually means casual users are leaving.
Can the DAU/MAU ratio be too low?
For products people use occasionally, such as travel or tax apps, a low ratio is normal. For a game or a rewards app, a falling ratio is worth investigating early.
