What is this CAGR calculator?
A free, browser-based calculator for the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) — the constant year-over-year rate that takes a beginning value to an ending value over a number of years. Enter the beginning value, ending value, and years and it returns the CAGR, the total growth over the whole period, and the end-to-begin multiple. Everything runs locally in your browser, so your data is never uploaded.
How CAGR is calculated
CAGR = (ending value ÷ beginning value)^(1 ÷ years) − 1. It is a geometric mean: the single annual rate that, compounded each year, turns the beginning value into the ending value. This differs from a simple (arithmetic) average of yearly growth rates, which ignores compounding and tends to overstate growth when the yearly figures are uneven.
- Beginning value, ending value, and years must all be greater than 0.
- Years can be fractional — for example 1.5 years for 18 months of data.
- Example: 1,000,000 → 2,000,000 over 5 years gives a CAGR of about 14.87%, total growth of 100.00%, and a 2.0x multiple.
How to use it
- Enter the beginning value (the value at the start of the period).
- Enter the ending value (the value at the end of the period).
- Enter the number of years between them, then read the CAGR, total growth, and multiple on the right.
Common use cases
- Summarizing multi-year revenue, profit, user, or MRR growth as a single annual rate.
- Comparing an investment's return across several years on an apples-to-apples basis.
- Projecting or benchmarking market-size growth in a plan or pitch deck.
Limitations of CAGR
CAGR uses only the beginning and ending values, so it smooths over everything in between. A path that spiked and crashed can show the same CAGR as one that grew steadily. Because it hides this volatility, CAGR alone says nothing about risk or the shape of growth within the period — pair it with year-by-year figures when those matter.