ARPU (average revenue per user)
Revenue in a period divided by the number of users in the same period. Which users count (all, active, paying) must be stated.
FormulaARPU = revenue ÷ all users · ARPPU = revenue ÷ paying users
How we work it through
- 1
Use the platform’s revenue, not GMV, unless you say so.
- 2
Name the denominator: all registered, active or paying users.
- 3
Keep the period of the revenue and the users the same.
On the practice dataset
The query we run on Meridian, Atterna’s practice marketplace, and what it returns.
SELECT 67040 / 7000 AS arpu_all_buyers,
67040 / 3652 AS arppu_paying
-- platform commission over registered
-- and over paying buyersResultthree weeks of commission: €9.58 per registered buyer, €18.36 per paying buyer — same revenue, two denominators
The common trap
Dividing by paying users and calling it ARPU; that is ARPPU, and it is always higher.
When an AI answers
An AI assistant
“ARPU is €151.”
- What it didn’t know
- It divided GMV by paying buyers only — two choices it did not mention.
- Ask back
- “Which revenue and which users? Commission over all buyers is a different number from GMV over payers.”
Read next
Examples use Meridian, Atterna’s fictional practice marketplace.