mau

MAU, short for Monthly Active Users, is a metric used to gauge the size and engagement of a digital product’s user base over a month. It typically counts unique users who performed a defined action within a month, such as logging in, completing a transaction, or any session that meets criteria, depending on the product and data architecture. The key requirement is that each user is counted at most once per month, regardless of how many times they use the product.

Calculations and variants: Many organizations report trailing MAU for a calendar month or a rolling 30-day window. Some platforms pair MAU with MAU cohorts to analyze retention and growth. Data is usually anchored to unique user identifiers, such as account IDs or device IDs; privacy and de-duplication rules shape the result.

Interpretation and use: MAU is widely used to assess market traction, growth, and engagement, and to compare against competitors or internal targets. It is often reported alongside Daily Active Users (DAU) and Weekly Active Users (WAU) to show engagement patterns. Limitations: MAU does not measure depth of engagement and treats all active users equally; a high MAU may reflect many low-intensity users or bots. It can be biased by account creation spikes, churn, and cross-device usage. As a relative metric, MAU is most informative when analyzed with retention cohorts, ARPU, monetization metrics, and other context.