AI SaaS MRR & Gross Margin Calculator

Calculate MRR, ARR, and gross margin after per-user LLM inference and RAG infrastructure costs.

Inputs

Active subscribers

ARPU ($/mo)

Monthly churn: 0.05

New subscribers / month

LLM cost / user / month ($)

RAG + vector cost / user / month ($)

Current MRR

$20,000.00/month

Decision Summary

Best move

Launch a churn-reduction program

Expected savings

$65,994.49 /yr (16.7% reduction)

Watch out

Validate quality, latency, and reliability on your own workload before changing production traffic.

Next step

Review the comparison table and pricing sources before making the decision.

Launch a churn-reduction program

Cutting monthly churn by 2 percentage points would lift projected ARR in 12 months by $65,994.49.

$65,994.49

saved / year (16.7%)

Current ARR

$240,000.00/year

Projected MRR (12mo)

$32,869.92/month

Projected ARR (12mo)

$394,439.01/year

AI inference + RAG COGS

$3,750.00/month

Margin after AI COGS

81.3%

Monthly churn

5.0%

Cost breakdown

Item	Monthly	Yearly
MRR	$20,000.00	$240,000.00
LLM inference COGS	$3,000.00	$36,000.00
RAG / vector COGS	$750.00	$9,000.00
Gross profit after AI COGS	$16,250.00	$195,000.00
Projected (12mo)	$32,869.92	$394,439.01

Comparison

Option	Monthly	Yearly
Current churn (5.0%)current	$32,869.92	$394,439.01
Improved churn (3.0%)cheapest	$38,369.46	$460,433.50

Pricing sources

Last verified 2026-06-30 · ChartMogul SaaS Benchmarks chartmogul.com/reports/saas-benchmarks/ · Bessemer Cloud Index www.bvp.com/atlas/state-of-the-cloud · David Skok LTV:CAC standard www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics/

Industry Benchmark

Monthly churn vs. 5% planning referenceIndustry avg: 5 % monthly

You are at the 50th percentile

Pricing sources

Trends & comparison

Trend

Comparison (monthly vs. yearly)

How to use this calculator

Enter subscribers, ARPU, churn, growth, and measured per-user LLM and RAG costs. The result separates recurring revenue from AI-specific COGS.

Why churn dominates SaaS growth

Because churn compounds, retention improvements often beat acquisition spend on ROI. The scenario comparison makes the trade-off explicit.

Sources

Benchmark medians are sourced from public SaaS industry reports including ChartMogul and OpenView, versioned in the platform configuration.

Frequently asked questions

How is MRR calculated?▾

MRR = active subscribers × ARPU. ARR = MRR × 12. The 12-month projection compounds new subscribers minus churn each month.

How does churn affect ARR?▾

Churn compounds monthly, so even a 2-point reduction can add significant ARR over a year — the calculator shows the exact delta.

How are AI COGS calculated?▾

Monthly AI COGS = subscribers × (LLM inference cost per user + RAG/vector cost per user). Gross margin shown here excludes payroll, support, hosting, payment fees, and other COGS.

Related calculators

Compare verified first-party API prices on the same standard workload → AI Model Price Leaderboard