Turn customer additions, churn, and recurring revenue assumptions into a structured monthly waterfall that shows how the subscriber base and active revenue change over time.
This Excel workbook is designed for SaaS founders, operators, revenue teams, and investors who need a clearer view of monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Users enter key operating assumptions in the input area, while the prebuilt formulas organize the results into customer-account, revenue, and growth views for ongoing performance review.
Trace customer movement
Review new customers, churned customers, and the resulting active-customer base in one monthly waterfall.
Separate revenue inflow and churn
See new recurring revenue alongside churned revenue instead of relying only on a single ending MRR figure.
Review growth patterns
Use the revenue-growth chart to identify stronger and weaker months and relate those movements to customer activity.
What does the recurring revenue waterfall help you analyze?
A recurring revenue total is more useful when the movements behind it are visible. The template connects customer activity with revenue changes so users can review both the scale of the subscription base and the quality of monthly growth. This structure helps distinguish a month supported by customer additions from one in which churn offsets much of the new business. It also makes it easier to discuss retention and acquisition using the same operating view.
Customer acquisition and churn: compare monthly new customers with customer losses and track the resulting active-customer count.
New and churned revenue: separate recurring revenue gained from recurring revenue lost to make the monthly bridge easier to interpret.
Active recurring revenue: follow the cumulative revenue base as inflows and churn change from month to month.
MRR and churn rates: use the workbook's input variables and calculated outputs to review recurring revenue and churn indicators.
Monthly growth variability: compare revenue changes across periods rather than judging performance from a single month in isolation.
What is inside the workbook?
The workbook combines an assumptions-driven input workflow with prebuilt calculations and visual outputs. The verified preview shows customer waterfall, revenue waterfall, and revenue-growth charts presented across a 24-month view and a five-year view. The shorter view supports detailed monthly review, while the longer view provides context for how the active customer and revenue bases develop across a broader planning period.
Editable operating inputs
Enter the key variables used to build the customer and recurring revenue progression in the workbook's input area.
Prebuilt waterfall calculations
Formulas connect new customers, churn, active customers, new revenue, churned revenue, and active revenue without requiring users to construct the bridge from scratch.
Monthly chart outputs
Use the visual summaries to compare customer movement, revenue movement, and revenue growth across short- and longer-term views.
The workbook preview displays customer waterfall, revenue waterfall, and revenue-growth charts for a 24-month period and a five-year period.
Connect customer activity to recurring revenue
The customer charts show new customers, churned customers, and active customers, while the revenue charts show the corresponding new revenue, churned revenue, and active revenue. Reading these views together helps users determine whether MRR movement is being driven by acquisition, retention, or a combination of both. The growth chart adds a period-by-period view of the resulting revenue change.
How do you use the template?
Enter the core assumptions
Populate the input area with the customer and recurring revenue variables relevant to the analysis.
Review customer movement
Check how new customers and churned customers affect the active-customer base each month.
Read the revenue bridge
Compare new recurring revenue with churned revenue and follow the resulting active revenue line.
Evaluate the trend
Use the 24-month and five-year chart views to identify changes in growth consistency and retention performance.
Who is this template for?
The template is suited to subscription and SaaS teams that want a structured way to examine recurring revenue movement. Founders can use it for operating reviews, revenue teams can connect acquisition and churn to the active base, finance professionals can organize MRR analysis for planning discussions, and investors or advisers can use the charts to examine growth quality and retention dynamics. It is most relevant when the business can express customer and recurring revenue changes through monthly assumptions.
