Analysis
Stickiness
Also called DAU/MAU.
Stickiness is how much of your monthly audience shows up on a typical day, usually measured as daily active users divided by monthly active users. It describes habit.
How it is measured
Take average DAU over a month and divide it by MAU for the same month. A result of 20 percent means the typical monthly user appears about six days. You need a stable definition of active.
Compare stickiness only on the same definition of active. A tool where active means any visit and one where active means a completed task are not the same measure.
Worked example
A habit-tracking app has 38,000 monthly active users and an average of 9,500 daily actives. That is 25 percent. A weather-radar app with the same MAU and 3,400 daily actives scores 8.9 percent.
Neither is better by itself. The weather app is opened during storms and not daily; the habit app depends on daily use. The habit team sets a target of 30 percent and ignores comparisons with the radar.
How it differs
Stickiness compares daily and monthly users. Daily active users is the raw count behind the numerator. A big DAU with low stickiness means a large audience that rarely returns.
Common errors
Using different definitions of active for DAU and MAU. Comparing across product types. Ignoring weekend effects. Quoting it for a site with a few weekly visitors. Treating a rise as growth when MAU fell.
In practice
Define active once, compute stickiness weekly, and compare only against your own history. Use it for products that are meant to be used often.