What are Active Users? (DAU/MAU)

Active users are the people who engage with your product within a set time window, counted daily as DAU or monthly as MAU.

How do active users work?

Define a qualifying action, then count the unique users who take it in the window. Daily active users (DAU) covers one day, monthly active users (MAU) covers 30. Divide DAU by MAU and you get stickiness: how often your monthly users actually show up.

Why do active users matter?

Signups measure interest. Active users measure habit. Product teams and investors treat DAU and MAU as the pulse of a product, and rising signups with flat active users warn you the bucket is leaking. Every retention and revenue number downstream draws from this pool.

Where did active users come from?

Web analytics tools made the count possible, and social networks made it a headline. Facebook reported DAU and MAU in its earnings from the start, which trained a generation of founders and investors to ask for both numbers.

How do you use active user counts well?

Define active around a meaningful action, not just opening the app. Publish the definition beside the number, track the trend by cohort, and pair active users with activation rate so you see both ends of the funnel.

Bottom line: signups tell you who tried. Active users tell you who stayed.

For more startup terminology, visit startupdefinitions.com.