Onboarding completion rate
Activation metric. Do new users reach first value?
What is onboarding completion rate?
Onboarding completion rate is the share of users who start an app's onboarding flow and finish its last step.
Step conversion: the share of users at one onboarding step who reach the next.
Skip rate: the share of users who use a skip option to leave onboarding early.
How to calculate Onboarding completion
Onboarding completion = Users finishing the last step ÷ Users starting onboarding × 100- Users finishing the last step
- users who reached the final onboarding screen or event
- Users starting onboarding
- users who saw the first onboarding screen
Where definitions differ
| Variant | Formula | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| From start | Finished ÷ Started × 100 | Measures the flow itself. |
| From install | Finished ÷ Installs × 100 | Includes users who never opened the app after installing. |
| Step conversion | Users at step n+1 ÷ Users at step n × 100 | Shows which screen loses the most users. |
Onboarding completion calculator
Example inputs: change them to your own numbers. The examples only make the calculator show a worked answer; they are not benchmarks or targets. Runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
- Onboarding completion
- 55%
- Step 1 to 2
- 75%
- Step 2 to 3
- 80%
- Step 3 to finish
- 91.7%
Which data points show onboarding is working?
Four do most of the work: the completion rate, the drop-off at each step, the time taken to finish, and whether finishers retain better than skippers by day 7. If finishers do not retain better, the flow is not teaching anything that matters.
How Onboarding completion differs by vertical
| EdTech | Goal and level questions are common; each extra question costs completions. |
|---|---|
| Fintech | Onboarding often runs into KYC, so measure the two separately. |
| OTT and streaming | Taste pickers (genres, languages) help recommendations but add a step. |
| Gaming | The tutorial is the onboarding; level progression covers it. |
Common mistakes
- Measuring only the final completion rate, which hides the step that loses most users.
- Counting users who skipped as completers.
Related metrics
Questions
How do you calculate onboarding completion rate?
Divide the users who finished the last onboarding step by those who started the first and multiply by 100. 4.4k finishers from 8k starters is a 55% completion rate.
Should onboarding completion be measured from install?
Measure both. From start shows how good the flow is; from install adds users who never opened the app, which is a store or first-launch problem rather than an onboarding one.
How many onboarding steps should an app have?
There is no right number; what matters is the drop-off each step causes against what it adds. Remove or delay steps that lose users without improving later retention.
Why do tools report different values for the same metric?
Because definitions differ: what counts as active, which attribution window applies, whether organic users are included and how days are cut by timezone. Align the definition before comparing numbers.
Which currency do the calculators use?
The calculators show US dollars, but every formula works in any currency: enter your own figures in the currency you report in and read the results in that currency.
What is the difference between a metric and a KPI?
A metric is any measured quantity; a KPI is a metric a team has chosen as a target for judging performance. Most metrics here become KPIs only for the teams whose work moves them.