Metrics · Product · Retention · Daily · count · Updated 2026-07-21

What is Daily Active Users?

Short answer: The count of unique users who perform a meaningful action in the product on a given day.

Definition

The count of unique users who perform a meaningful action in the product on a given day.

Formula

Count of distinct users with a qualifying event in a 24-hour window

How to measure

Define a qualifying 'active' event, then count distinct user IDs triggering that event within each calendar day.

Why track it

DAU is the base engagement number for daily-use products and is the numerator for the stickiness ratio.

Example

A messaging app counts 3.2 million distinct accounts that sent or opened a message yesterday.

FAQ

What is Daily Active Users?
The count of unique users who perform a meaningful action in the product on a given day.
How do you calculate Daily Active Users?
Count of distinct users with a qualifying event in a 24-hour window
Why track Daily Active Users?
DAU is the base engagement number for daily-use products and is the numerator for the stickiness ratio.
What is Daily Active Users? Definition, formula, and growth use · Cofounderbase