MRR vs ARR: which metric should you actually report to investors?

Every founder knows MRR and ARR. Few know when to use each — and using the wrong one in a board meeting can cost you credibility.

The simple rule

Use MRR when talking about the current state of the business. It shows momentum and is easy to track month-to-month.

Use ARR when talking to investors about scale and projections. It annualizes your revenue and makes the business look comparable to larger companies.

The dangerous mistake

Reporting ARR when your contracts are monthly is misleading. ARR implies committed annual revenue. If a customer can cancel next month, that's MRR — not ARR.

What NovaMind tracks by default

We track both, but surface MRR as the primary metric on your dashboard. ARR is available as a derived metric and is automatically included in your weekly AI summary when the trend is meaningful.