Daily Active Users (DAU)

Topic

The key North Star metric CZ focused on while running Binance, believing that value is created by serving more users, rather than optimizing for short-term revenue or profit.


First Mentioned

2/14/2026, 3:14:23 AM

Last Updated

2/14/2026, 3:36:07 AM

Research Retrieved

2/14/2026, 3:36:07 AM

Summary

Daily Active Users (DAU) is a fundamental software performance metric used to quantify the number of unique users who interact with a digital product or service within a 24-hour window. It is a critical indicator of user engagement and retention for social media platforms, mobile applications, and e-commerce sites. While widely adopted, the metric lacks a standardized definition for what constitutes an active interaction, allowing companies to tailor the criteria to their specific business models—ranging from simple logins to specific transactional actions. High-profile tech leaders, such as Changpeng Zhao of Binance, have historically prioritized DAU as a primary benchmark for measuring organizational growth and product-market fit.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • Definition

    Number of unique users interacting with a product in a 24-hour period.

  • Primary Use

    Evaluating user engagement and product development trends.

  • Measurement Unit

    Unique users per 24-hour period.

  • App Usage Statistic

    90 percent of digital time is spent on mobile apps, making DAU pivotal for developers.

  • Sector Applications

    Social networks, online games, mobile apps, and e-commerce.

  • Measurement Limitation

    Lack of universal definition for active interaction leads to reporting discrepancies.

Timeline
  • Changpeng Zhao launches Binance and establishes DAU as the central metric for measuring the exchange's scaling and user adoption. (Source: c84b95ee-214b-4e24-b48a-09ad00fb592f)

    2017-07-01

  • DAU remains a dominant industry standard, especially for mobile apps which account for over 90 percent of digital time spent by users. (Source: Web Search)

    2024-01-01

Active users

Active users is a software performance metric that is commonly used to measure the level of engagement for a particular software product or object, by quantifying the number of active interactions from users or visitors within a relevant range of time (daily, weekly and monthly). The metric has many uses in software management such as in social networking services, online games, or mobile apps, in web analytics such as in web apps, in commerce such as in online banking and in academia, such as in user behavior analytics and predictive analytics. Although having extensive uses in digital behavioural learning, prediction and reporting, it also has impacts on the privacy and security, and ethical factors should be considered thoroughly. It measures how many users visit or interact with the product or service over a given interval or period. However, there is no standard definition of this term, so comparison of the reporting between different providers of this metric is problematic. Also, most providers have the interest to show this number as high as possible, therefore defining even the most minimal interaction as "active". Still the number is a relevant metric to evaluate development of user interaction of a given provider. This metric is commonly assessed per month as monthly active users (MAU), per week as weekly active users (WAU), per day as daily active users (DAU) and peak concurrent users (PCU).

Web Search Results
  • Daily Active Users (DAU): Importance and Tracking Strategies

    ## What is Daily Active Users (DAU)? Daily Active Users (DAU) is a key metric that tracks the number of unique users who engage with your product each day. It’s widely used by digital businesses, including apps, websites, and online platforms, to measure user activity and assess engagement levels. The definition of an “active user” can vary depending on the product. For some businesses, an active user is anyone who logs in. For others, it may refer to users who perform specific actions, like watching a video, adding items to a cart, or completing a purchase. The criteria for what constitute an “active user” should align with the core functionality of the product and reflect meaningful engagement. Examples: [...] Anomaly Detection Identify anomalies in daily behavior Engagement Time Optimization Determine the best time to engage Unified Digital Data Automated Event Collection Capture every interaction Unified Customer Profile Get a single customer view Data Privacy & Security Protect customer data Export Manager Export data to other tools Dataroid # Daily Active Users (DAU): Why It Matters and How to Track It In today’s data-driven business landscape, tracking user engagement is essential for understanding product performance and driving growth. One of the key metrics that digital businesses rely on is Daily Active Users (DAU). DAU serves as a direct measure of user activity, offering insights into how many unique users interact with your product on a daily basis. [...] Monitoring DAU helps businesses assess user engagement, identify trends, and make informed decisions about product improvements. It’s a critical metric that reflects how well your product resonates with users and its ability to foster regular, repeat interactions. For product managers, marketers, and business leaders, keeping a close eye on DAU can reveal valuable insights into user behavior and highlight opportunities for growth. In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into what DAU is, why it matters, and how you can effectively track and use this metric to enhance your product strategy and boost engagement. ## What is Daily Active Users (DAU)?

  • What is DAU: Daily Active User - The Product Folks

    ## Detailed Description of ## DAU: Daily Active User Daily Active User (DAU) is a metric used in product management to measure the number of unique users who interact with a product on a daily basis. It is an important metric for understanding user engagement and retention, as it provides insight into how many people are using the product on a regular basis. DAU can be used to measure the success of product features, identify areas of improvement, and track user growth over time. Additionally, DAU can be used to compare usage across different platforms or versions of the same product. ## Examples of ## DAU: Daily Active User [...] Looking for a new role? Get referred at top companies # DAU: Daily Active User ## Definition of ## DAU: Daily Active User DAU is a metric used to measure the number of unique users who interact with an app or website on a given day. ## Detailed Description of ## DAU: Daily Active User [...] ## Examples of ## DAU: Daily Active User 1. A mobile game developer tracking the number of players who log in to their game each day. 2. An e-commerce website tracking the number of customers who make a purchase each day. 3. A social media platform tracking the number of users who post content or interact with other users each day. 4. An online streaming service tracking the number of subscribers who watch content each day. 👈🏼Go back to the main page ## Explore other terms ABM: Account-based marketing Marketing ABM is a strategy that focuses on targeting specific accounts with personalized messages and offers. ACV (Annual Contract Value) Growth ACV is the total value of a customer’s contract over a 12-month period. AOV: Average Order Value Growth

  • Daily Active User (DAU) - Baremetrics

    HELP & SUPPORT Developers Help Center Experts THE OPEN PROJECT Benchmarks Startups Accelerator COMPARISONS ChartMogul Profitwell Stripe About COMPANY About Customers Wall of Love (725) 217-4827 Sign In Get Started Business Academy Subscribe for Updates # Daily Active User (DAU) Business Academy ### Table of Contents ### More Glossary Articles Customer Success Retention Rate Cost Per Click (CPC) Daily Active Users, or “DAU”, is a term used for the total number of people who open and engage with a mobile app or web product in a given day. Your DAU number can reveal many things. It can measure the growth rate of a product. It can reveal trends, and even indicate user behavior. [...] Each active user on your platform is a potential customer. Retaining and serving those customers is key to the success of your business. Watching your DAU will tell you how many people are looking into your service, but it is then your job to engage those people so they will come back day after day, week after week. Once you establish a baseline for your DAUs, tracking it over time can become a good benchmark for your team to work around. Keep in mind, this is absolutely NOT the only number you should be looking at as you grow. But measuring your DAU and setting goals around it is a simple way to encourage a growth mindset among your team. ## Determining your DAU

  • Who Are Your Active Users? Strategies for User Analysis - Amplitude

    ## What does active user mean? Daily active users (DAU) refers to users who engage with your app on a daily basis. You can measure this for longer periods such as weeks (weekly active users or WAU) and months (monthly active users or MAU). If you have a messaging app, DAU measures the number of users engaging with your service daily. What DAU doesn’t tell you is who’s active in your app. There’s no insight into whether you’re engaging your target audience, you just know that people are interacting with it. Without knowing who your users are, it’s difficult to improve your product or position relevant marketing campaigns.

  • What is Daily Active Users (DAU), Importance, and How to Calculate ...

    # What is Daily Active Users (DAU), Importance, and How to Calculate It? ## What is Daily Active Users (DAU)? Mobile apps dominate our digital lives, with over 90% of digital time spent on them, making DAU pivotal for app developers. But, what is DAU? Daily Active Users (DAU) is a metric commonly used in the digital and online industry to measure user engagement with a particular digital product or service, such as a website, mobile app, or online platform. DAU represents the number of unique users who interact with the product or service within a 24-hour period, typically on a specific day. ## Significance of DAU for Businesses [...] | Aspect | Daily Active Users (DAU) | Monthly Active Users (MAU) | --- | Definition | The number of unique users who engage with a product or service within a single day (24-hour period). | The number of unique users who engage with a product or service within a calendar month. | | Timeframe | Measured over a single day, typically from midnight to midnight. | Measured over a one-month period, e.g., from the 1st to the last day of the month. | | Frequency of Updates | Updated more frequently, usually on a daily or real-time basis. | Updated less frequently, typically on a monthly basis. | | Use Cases | Used for assessing short-term user engagement patterns and immediate user activity. | Used for evaluating long-term user engagement trends and growth. | [...] | Aspect | Daily Active Users (DAU) | Weekly Active Users (WAU) | --- | Definition | The number of unique users who engage with a product or service within a single day (24-hour period). | The number of unique users who engage with a product or service within a seven-day week. | | Timeframe | Measured over a single day, typically from midnight to midnight. | Measured over a one-week period, typically from Sunday to Saturday. | | Frequency of Updates | Updated more frequently, usually on a daily or real-time basis. | Updated less frequently, typically on a weekly basis. | | Use Cases | Used for assessing short-term user engagement patterns and immediate user activity. | Used for tracking user engagement patterns over a one-week period and assessing weekly trends. |