Shape
A snapshot at the end of each period
Chart · Subscriptions
Active subscriptions: how to count them in a subscription app
Active subscriptions is the number of paid subscriptions that still give access at the end of a period. Cancelled subscriptions count until they expire, subscriptions in a grace period count, refunded ones stop at the refund, and free trials do not count. RevenueDot counts subscriptions, not customers.
Formula
Active subscriptions = paid subscriptions with access at the end of the period (trials excluded)
API name
actives
Measures
Active Subscriptions (Count)
Filter and segment by
App, Store, Product, Product duration, Offering, Country, Platform, App version
Definition
How RevenueDot calculates Active Subscriptions
RevenueDot builds subscriptions from the purchase ledger. Each trial, purchase and renewal is one period. Periods of the same customer, store, app and product join into one subscription while each starts within an hour of the previous one ending. A longer gap starts a new subscription, which RevenueDot calls a resubscription. The exception is a billing recovery: if the store reported a billing issue and the next period is a renewal, the subscription continues.
A subscription is active at a moment when one of its paid periods covers that moment. A customer who turned off auto-renew stays active until the paid time ends. A subscription in a grace period stays active until the grace period ends. A refund ends the period at the refund time, and a reversed refund gives it back. A paid-to-paid product change ends the old subscription and starts a new one, so the customer counts once. Free trials are not counted. They have their own Active Trials chart.
The chart is a snapshot at the end of each period, and the current period is measured now and marked incomplete. Sandbox purchases, granted access and Family Sharing purchases are excluded. A customer with active subscriptions in two stores or two apps counts twice. Filter or segment by app, store, product, product duration, offering, country, platform and app version.
Open it in the dashboard under Analytics > Charts, or call GET /v2/projects/{project_id}/charts/actives. The response has the same shape as RevenueCat's Charts API.
Worked example
Active Subscriptions, step by step
Illustrative states at the end of one Monday. Only subscriptions with paid access count.
| Subscriber | State at the end of Monday | Counted? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Paid monthly plan, auto-renew on | Yes |
| B | Cancelled, paid time ends Wednesday | Yes |
| C | Paid time ended Sunday | No |
| D | In a free trial | No |
| E | Renewal failed, in a grace period | Yes |
| F | Refunded on Monday morning | No |
Active subscriptions at the end of Monday = 3 (A, B and E).
Why it matters
What Active Subscriptions tells you
The count of active subscriptions is the size of your paying base. Churn, retention and revenue per subscriber are all measured against it, so it is the first number to check when a launch, a price change or a store feature goes live.
Divide MRR by active subscriptions to get the average monthly value of a subscription. If the count grows but MRR does not, new subscribers are choosing cheaper plans. If MRR grows but the count does not, existing subscribers are moving to higher plans or prices went up.
How to read it
- A drop appears when access ends, not when the customer cancels. Use Subscription Status to see how many active subscriptions are set to cancel.
- The chart counts subscriptions, not people. Use Active Customers if you want people who opened your app.
- Subscriptions in a grace period still count, so a billing problem does not lower the chart until the grace period runs out.
- Trials are a separate chart. A trial joins this chart when its first paid period starts.
- Segment by product duration to see how many of your actives are monthly and how many are annual.
API
Get Active Subscriptions from the Charts API
Same path and response shape as RevenueCat's Charts API, so existing scripts keep working.
Requestshell
curl "https://api.revenuedot.app/v2/projects/$PROJECT_ID/charts/actives?resolution=day" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SECRET_KEY" # sk_... with charts_metrics:charts:readReference: Charts guide · REST API v2
FAQ
Active Subscriptions: questions people ask
Do cancelled subscriptions count as active?
Yes, until their paid time runs out. The customer still has access, so RevenueDot counts the subscription at the end of every period it covers.
Do free trials count as active subscriptions?
No. Trials have their own Active Trials chart. A subscription joins the active count when its first paid period starts.
What happens to a subscription in a grace period?
It stays active until the grace period ends. If the store recovers the payment, the subscription continues. If not, it leaves the count when the grace period ends.
Are active subscriptions the same as active customers?
No. Active subscriptions counts paid subscriptions with access at the end of a period. Active Customers counts customers whose app called RevenueDot on at least one day of the period.
How do you calculate active subscriptions for a subscription app?
Count the paid subscriptions that have access at the end of the period: cancelled but not expired, and in a grace period, included; trials, expired and refunded ones excluded. RevenueDot builds this from every purchase and renewal.
Get started
See your Active Subscriptions in minutes.
Connect your app to RevenueDot Cloud, free up to $10,000 a month in tracked revenue, and all 43 charts fill from your store history after import.
Already have an account? Sign in · Prefer your own servers? Self-host free