SaaS Cash Runway & Burn Rate Calculator

Instantly calculate your net monthly burn, cash runway in months, and projected cash-out date from your current cash balance, MRR, and operating expenses.

Cash & Revenue Details

Presets:

Cash Position

Current Cash Balance

Total cash in the bank right now

Monthly Revenue & Expenses

Monthly Revenue (MRR)

Enter 0 if pre-revenue

Monthly Operating Expenses

Total monthly burn before revenue

Growth Projection (Optional)

Monthly MRR Growth Rate (%)

Leave at 0 for a simple flat-burn estimate

Runway Results

Awaiting Calculation

Cash Runway

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Enter your cash, revenue, and expenses to generate an analysis

Net Monthly Burn $0.00 Expenses − Revenue

Cash-Out Date — Projected date cash reaches zero

Current Cash Balance $0.00 As entered

Monthly Net Cash Flow $0.00 Revenue − Expenses

Runway Health Scale Threshold: 12 months

0mo 6mo 12mo (Typical Min) 24mo+

What Is Cash Runway?

Cash runway is the number of months a startup can keep operating before its cash balance reaches zero, given its current rate of net cash burn. It is one of the most closely watched metrics by founders, operators, and investors because it answers a single, urgent question: how much time is left to reach profitability or raise the next round.

Runway is directly tied to net monthly burn — the amount of cash a company spends beyond what it brings in from revenue each month. A company with high revenue relative to expenses burns less cash and has longer runway; a pre-revenue or early-stage company typically burns closer to its full expense total each month.

The Runway & Burn Rate Formula

Runway (months) = Current Cash Balance / Net Monthly Burn

Where:

Net Monthly Burn = Monthly Operating Expenses − Monthly Revenue (MRR). If revenue meets or exceeds expenses, net burn is zero or negative and the company is profitable — runway is not a limiting factor.
Cash-Out Date = today's date + runway, in months. Only calculated when net burn is positive.

What Is a "Healthy" Runway?

Investors and operators commonly group runway into rough health tiers. These are widely-cited industry rules of thumb, not a hard rule for every company or stage:

Runway Range	Status	What It Means
< 6 months	Critical	Immediate action needed — cut burn, raise funding, or grow revenue fast. Most investors expect active fundraising to already be underway well before this point.
6 – 12 months	Concerning	Time to start a fundraise process now if one isn't already running — a typical raise takes several months from first pitch to closed cash in the bank.
12 – 18 months	Healthy	The commonly-cited standard target range for an operating startup — enough time to hit meaningful milestones between raises.
18+ months	Strong	Substantial buffer. Gives real negotiating leverage in a future raise and room to weather a slow quarter without panic.

Assumptions & Scope Notes

This calculator uses standard flat or growth-adjusted burn projections:

Flat Burn (default): Assumes this month's net burn rate holds steady every month until cash runs out.
Growth-Adjusted Projection (optional): If a monthly MRR growth rate is entered, burn is recalculated month-by-month as MRR compounds, giving a more realistic — though still simplified — projection.
Out of Scope: One-time cash events (a funding round, a large one-time expense), seasonal revenue swings, and expense growth are not modeled. For detailed planning, pair this with a full financial model.