Stripe Dashboard vs ChartMogul: Do You Need External Analytics?

Stripe Dashboard is enough if: • You're pre-revenue or very early stage • You only need basic revenue metrics • You don't track cohorts or segments • You have simple subscription plans • Budget is extremely tight You need ChartMogul (or similar) if: • You want cohort analysis • You need customer segmentation • You use multiple billing sources • You report metrics to investors/board • You want MRR movement breakdown You need QuantLedger if: • You want to predict churn before it happens • You need revenue attribution without tracking pixels • Flat $79/month pricing appeals to you

The native Stripe Dashboard has improved significantly: Available Metrics: • Total revenue and transaction volume • Basic subscription metrics (MRR visible in Billing) • Customer count and growth • Payment success rates • Dispute and refund tracking Recent Improvements: • Revenue recognition reports • Sigma for SQL queries (paid add-on) • Basic retention insights • Customer lifetime value estimates What Works Well: • 100% accurate (it's the source data) • No integration needed • Free (except Sigma) • Real-time updates • Good for quick checks

Despite improvements, the Stripe Dashboard has significant gaps: Missing Features: • Cohort analysis (retention curves) • Customer segmentation • MRR movement breakdown (New, Expansion, Churn) • Multi-source data consolidation • Advanced forecasting • Churn prediction • Benchmarking Limitations: • No custom dashboards • Limited export options • Basic visualizations • No team collaboration features • Single data source (Stripe only) For serious SaaS analytics, these gaps matter.

Consider ChartMogul when you need: 1. Cohort Analysis Stripe doesn't show retention curves. ChartMogul tracks customer cohorts over time, revealing which acquisition periods produced best customers. 2. MRR Movement Breakdown Knowing total MRR isn't enough. ChartMogul shows New, Expansion, Contraction, Churn, and Reactivation MRR separately. 3. Customer Segmentation Filter customers by plan, geography, company size, or custom attributes. Stripe offers limited segmentation. 4. Multiple Data Sources If you use multiple billing systems (Stripe + Chargebee, etc.), ChartMogul consolidates them. Stripe Dashboard is Stripe-only. 5. Investor/Board Reporting Professional reporting requires cohorts, trends, and projections. ChartMogul provides investor-ready metrics. ChartMogul Pricing Reminder: • Free up to $10K MRR • $100/month: $10K-$75K MRR • Worth it when you actually need the features

Stripe Sigma is worth considering as a middle ground: What Sigma Provides: • SQL access to your Stripe data • Custom queries and reports • Data export capabilities • Integration with BI tools Sigma Pricing: • $0.02 per row of data output • Costs vary by usage • Can get expensive at scale Sigma vs ChartMogul: • Sigma: Raw data access, requires SQL skills • ChartMogul: Pre-built SaaS metrics, no coding Use Sigma if: • You have SQL skills on your team • You want to build custom dashboards • You're integrating with a data warehouse Use ChartMogul if: • You want ready-made SaaS metrics • You don't have SQL resources • You need standard metrics fast

Here's how to think about the investment: Stripe Dashboard: • Cost: Free • Value: Basic metrics • Time to insights: Immediate • Limitations: Significant ChartMogul: • Cost: Free-$599/month • Value: Complete SaaS metrics • Time to insights: 15-30 minutes setup • Limitations: No predictions QuantLedger: • Cost: $79/month flat • Value: Complete metrics + ML predictions • Time to insights: 5 minutes setup • Limitations: Stripe-focused ROI Calculation: If ChartMogul helps you identify one retention opportunity worth $5K ARR, it pays for itself at most pricing tiers. If QuantLedger predicts and helps prevent one $500/month churner, the $79/month cost is recovered immediately. The question isn't "can I afford analytics tools?" but "can I afford to make decisions without proper data?"