At a glance
Stickiness (DAU/MAU) is a retention gauge tracked from PostHog data. It divides daily active users by monthly active users to show how many days, on average, a monthly user shows up. A stickiness of 30% means the typical monthly user visits about 9 days out of 30. It is a single, elegant read on habit: high stickiness means your store is part of customers’ routine, low stickiness means they come, buy once, and drift away.
| What it counts | Daily active users as a percentage of monthly active users. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from PostHog active-user insights, combined into the DAU/MAU ratio on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | Stickiness captures habit in one number. It is the bridge between raw audience size and genuine, repeat engagement, and it forecasts retention and lifetime value. |
| Reading the value | Read the gauge band. Below 20% signals weak habit; the audience is broad but shallow. |
| Currency | percent |
| Time window | 30D vsP |
| Alert trigger | <20% |
| Sentiment key | ph_stickiness |
| Roles | owner, marketing |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your PostHog data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A representative reading of Stickiness (DAU/MAU) for a typical merchant on PostHog. Suppose DAU averages 9,400 and MAU is 142,000, giving stickiness of about 7%, which is normal for a transactional store where people buy occasionally. A subscription or replenishment brand might run far higher. After a loyalty programme on 01 Apr 26, stickiness rising from 7% to 11% means monthly users are returning more often. If it slipped below the 20% baseline you set for a high-frequency store, the alert would warn that habit is weakening. Cross-reference DAU, MAU, and D30 Retention for context. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
ph_dau | Executive sibling: the numerator. |
ph_mau | Executive sibling: the denominator. |
ph_retention_d30 | Retention sibling: 30-day return rate. |
ph_retention_d7 | Retention sibling: 7-day return rate. |
ph_new_vs_returning | Retention sibling: new-to-returning mix. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in PostHog’s own dashboard: PostHog offers a stickiness insight directly, and the DAU/MAU ratio can also be derived from its active-user trends. Open the stickiness insight and align the window and filters with the Vortex IQ profile. The same identity-stitching effects that touch DAU and MAU flow through to this ratio. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Window definition. DAU and MAU windows must match for the ratio to be comparable. | Variable | Confirm both windows. |
| Identity stitching. Merges adjust DAU and MAU, shifting the ratio. | Variable | Allow for retroactive merges. |
| Active definition. What counts as “active” (any event vs a specific one) changes both terms. | Variable | Match the active-event definition. |