CAGR Calculator

CAGR, the compound annual growth rate, is the average rate at which something grew each year, assuming the growth compounded smoothly. It's the standard way to compare investments held for different lengths of time, and businesses use it for revenue, profit or user growth.

Enter the starting value, the ending value and the number of years, and the calculator returns the CAGR along with the absolute return and the gain. Because periods don't have to be whole years, you can measure, say, a stock held for 3.5 years. It works in any currency and for figures that aren't money at all.

CAGR = (end value ÷ start value)^(1 ÷ years) − 1. It's the single steady yearly rate that would turn the start value into the end value over the same period.

Absolute return, (end − start) ÷ start, ignores time, so it can't compare a 3-year investment with a 7-year one. CAGR can. It doesn't show the ups and downs along the way, and it isn't the right measure when money was added or withdrawn in between; for SIPs, use XIRR instead.