SaaS Net Burn Rate Calculator

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SaaS Net Burn Rate

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The Net Burn Rate shows how quickly a company is spending its cash reserves over time. A positive burn rate indicates the company is spending more than it's bringing in, while a negative burn rate means the company is generating more cash than it's spending.

How to Calculate SaaS Net Burn Rate

Follow these steps to accurately calculate your SaaS net burn rate:

Determine your Starting Cash Balance. This is the total amount of cash your business has at the beginning of the period you are analyzing. For example, a small SaaS startup might start with $50,000, while a larger company might have $500,000.
Determine your Ending Cash Balance. This is the total cash your business has at the end of the period you are analyzing. For example, if the startup ended with $30,000 and the larger company with $400,000.
Calculate the Cash Burn. Subtract the Ending Cash Balance from the Starting Cash Balance. Using our example, the startup burned $20,000 ($50,000 – $30,000) and the larger company burned $100,000 ($500,000 – $400,000).
Determine the Number of Months in the period you’re analyzing. This could be one month, three months for a quarter, or twelve for a year. In our examples let’s use one month.
Calculate the Net Burn Rate. Divide the Cash Burn from Step 3 by the Number of Months from Step 4. So, the startup’s net burn rate is $20,000 ($20,000 / 1) per month and the larger company’s is $100,000 ($100,000 / 1) per month.

Note: Ensure that the period for your starting and ending cash balances is the same as the period for the number of months. Also, a negative burn rate means your business is generating more cash than it is spending.

SaaS Net Burn Rate = (Starting Cash Balance – Ending Cash Balance) / Number of Months

What is Net Burn Rate?

The SaaS Net Burn Rate reflects how much cash the company is using up. It is calculated by deducting all costs from all income for a given time frame, usually a month.

Technically, the Net Burn Rate is calculated by subtracting the total expenses from the total revenues each month. If the rate is high, the company is spending its resources faster than it’s earning, indicating inefficiencies and potential profitability issues.

Monitors financial health by tracking cash spend rate, ensuring sufficient runway.
Informs strategic decisions about investments and scaling based on burn rate.
Supports financial planning by forecasting needs and setting growth benchmarks.

Practical Examples of SaaS Net Burn Rate

Example 1: In January, a SaaS company had $200,000 in cash and spent $50,000 more than they earned. By December, the burn rate calculation (Initial Cash – End Cash / 12 months) would be ($200,000 – $150,000) / 12 = $4,166 per month, indicating how much cash was used monthly.
Example 2: A startup initially with $500,000 in the bank and operational costs leading to a spend of $30,000 each month would calculate their net burn as follows: since revenues are still climbing but insufficient, they calculate their net burn for a year as ($500,000 – ($30,000 * 12)) = $140,000 burned over the year.
Example 3: Consider a company that started with $100,000 and earned $10,000 per month, but had expenses of $20,000 per month. The net burn rate per month would be calculated by the formula (Expenses – Revenues) = $10,000 burn rate per month. Over 6 months, this totals a net burn of $60,000.

Period	Starting Cash Balance	Revenue	Expenses	Net Burn Rate	Period Change	Percentage Change	Trend Analysis
Month 1	$500,000	$50,000	$150,000	$100,000	–	–	Initial burn rate established
Month 2	$400,000	$70,000	$160,000	$90,000	-$10,000	-10.0%	Burn rate decreased due to increase in revenue
Month 3	$310,000	$90,000	$170,000	$80,000	-$10,000	-11.1%	Burn rate continues to improve

SaaS Net Burn Rate = ($700,000 – $450,000) / 6 = $41,667

Different Ways to Calculate SaaS Net Burn Rate

Gross Burn Rate Less Revenue: Calculate it by subtracting total expenses from total revenue earned in a given period to ascertain the net burn rate. This method helps in understanding the company’s cash flow.
Average Monthly Net Burn Rate: Obtainit by dividing the total net burn rate by the number of months in the period. Useful for creating monthly budgets and forecasting.
Net Burn Rate from Cash Balance Change: Calculate it by dividing the beginning cash balance by the end cash balance, multiplying the result by the number of months in the period. Ideal for monitoring exact cash changes and assessing the accuracy of financial predictions.

How to Improve Your SaaS Net Burn Rate

Analyze monthly expenses: At the start of each month, categorize all expenses to identify possible savings in areas like software subscriptions and cloud services, without compromising performance.
Optimize Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC): Experiment with various marketing channels, types of content, and targeting strategies to find the most cost-effective methods.
Enhance customer retention: Focus on keeping existing customers through customer success initiatives, which tend to be more economical than acquiring new customers.
Reduce churn: Invest in customer success activities to ensure customer satisfaction and product usage, lowering the rate of customer turnover.
Expand revenue streams: Implement strategies such as upselling and cross-selling or introduce new products to diversify income sources.
Review resource costs: Regularly assess the cost-effectiveness of resources, aiming to find cheaper alternatives where feasible.
Monitor net burn rate: Regularly check your net burn rate to adjust budgeting accurately, allowing for prompt adaptation to unforeseen expenses or changes in financial context.