Monthly recurring revenue

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the most important metric for understanding your app’s financial health and growth trajectory.

One of the most common questions we get at Mantle is about the difference between our MRR numbers and the Earnings report in the Shopify Partner Dashboard. Here’s the key distinction: the Earnings report is a cash flow metric showing money that has actually moved, while MRR is a predictive KPI showing the total value of your active subscription contracts.

Think of MRR like a stack of paper contracts - each one representing a promise of future revenue unless something happens to end that agreement. While Earnings tells you what happened in the past, MRR helps you understand what reliable revenue you can expect going forward. This makes MRR invaluable for planning, forecasting, and measuring the actual growth trajectory of your business.

What this report shows

The MRR report gives you a complete picture of your recurring revenue through four key visualizations under ‘Recurring Revenue’:

• Current MRR shows how much you can expect to bill if all your monthly subscriptions renewed today
• ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) provides the annualized view of your recurring revenue
• MRR Growth Rate tracks your month-to-month revenue trajectory
• Top Plans by MRR reveals which pricing tiers drive your revenue

Below these, the MRR Changes visualization breaks down exactly what’s driving your MRR movements - from new customers and upgrades to churns and downgrades.

Understanding your numbers

MRR isn’t just a single number - it’s a story told through various revenue movements. When you’re growing, that growth comes from:

• New customers starting their first subscriptions
• Previous customers returning after cancellation (reactivation)
• Existing customers upgrading to higher-value plans (expansion)
• Frozen shops becoming active again (unfrozen)

On the flip side, MRR can decrease through:

• Customers canceling their subscriptions (churn)
• Customers downgrading to lower-value plans (contraction)
• Shops freezing their Shopify accounts (frozen)

What makes the cut

Mantle’s MRR calculations are precise about what counts as recurring revenue. We include:

• Active subscriptions at their actual paid amount (including any discounts)
• Annual subscriptions divided by 12 to show monthly impact
• Optionally, usage charges based on last 30 days billed

But we exclude:

• Trial subscriptions (until they convert)
• Frozen shop subscriptions
• One-time charges
• Raw annual amounts (we normalize to monthly)

Making the most of this report

Diving deeper

The real power of the MRR report comes from how it connects with other Mantle features. Use filters to slice your data by:

• Individual apps or your entire portfolio
• Billing providers (Shopify/Stripe)
• Custom time ranges
• Customer segments

When you spot interesting trends, Mantle’s suite of reports helps you investigate:

• High churn? Check the Churn Report for patterns
• Slow growth? The Funnel Report shows where prospects drop off
• Many frozen shops? Traffic Source Attribution might reveal targeting opportunities
• Strong trial numbers? The Trials Report previews potential MRR

Setting up for success

To get the most accurate picture of your MRR, proper configuration is crucial. Take time to set up:

1. Trial settings - both global defaults and plan-specific variations
2. Discount tracking - ensure both promotional and custom discounts are captured
3. Plan billing frequencies - especially important for annual plans
4. Usage charge preferences - decide if and how to include usage revenue

Pro strategies

The most successful teams use the MRR report as their compass for growth decisions. Here’s how:

Track your positive-to-negative MRR ratio. If new revenue (from new customers, reactivations, and expansions) consistently outpaces losses (from churn, contractions, and frozen shops), you’re on a healthy growth trajectory.

Use segments to understand MRR patterns across different customer groups. This can reveal which types of customers have the highest lifetime value or which are most likely to upgrade.

Monitor your frozen shop rate. A high number of frozen shops might indicate targeting issues - you might be attracting customers who aren’t ready for long-term Shopify success.

The MRR report isn’t just about tracking numbers - it’s about understanding your business’s health and identifying exactly where to focus for sustainable growth.