SaaS P&L Template: a Monthly Income Statement for Software Companies

How a SaaS P&L differs from a generic one

A generic profit and loss statement runs revenue, COGS, gross profit, operating expenses and net profit. A SaaS P&L keeps that order but splits each block the way the business is managed and benchmarked.

• Revenue by type. Subscription is the recurring base and drives ARR. Usage (metered or overage fees) is recurring in practice but not contracted, so this template leaves it out of ARR. Services (onboarding, implementation, training) are one-off and carry the cost of the people who deliver them.
• Subscription margin on its own. Services carry people cost inside COGS, so a blended gross margin understates the product economics. Benchmarkit's 2026 report shows the gap at the median: 76% total gross margin against 80% software gross margin. This template shows both.
• COGS by line. Hosting, support, payment processing, third-party software and services delivery each move with a different driver, so they are separate rows rather than one percentage.
• Opex by department. S&M, R&D and G&A are each split into people cost and everything else, because headcount is most of the spend and the department ratios (% of revenue) are what boards compare.
• Capitalized software. Part of engineering payroll can be capitalized as internal-use software under ASC 350-40 and amortized later, which raises EBITDA without changing cash. ASU 2025-06 changes when capitalization starts and the FASB expects it may reduce how much SaaS companies capitalize; see the ASU 2025-06 guide. In this template, put capitalized-software amortization in the D&A line and keep R&D at the expensed amount.

Worked example: the default P&L

The illustrative company starts the year at $80,000 subscription MRR ($960,000 ARR), adds $6,000 of new MRR a month and loses a net 0.5% a month to churn after expansion. It also earns $5,000 of usage revenue growing 3% a month and $8,000 a month of services. It has 11 people and hires 4 during the year.

January: MRR is $80,000 × (1 − 0.015 + 0.01) + $6,000 = $85,600, so revenue is $85,600 + $5,000 usage + $8,000 services = $98,600. COGS is hosting $7,248 (8% of the $90,600 subscription and usage revenue) + support $6,000 + payment processing $2,958 + third-party software $2,500 + services delivery $5,600 = $24,306. Gross margin is 75.3% blended but 79.6% on subscription and usage alone; the services line runs at about 27%.

Operating expenses are $56,000 in S&M, $69,000 in R&D and $29,000 in G&A, so January EBITDA is −$79,706. Over the year revenue reaches $1,555,851 and ARR grows 82% to $1,744,589, but the loss is $1,014,812 and net burn about $978,812. S&M runs at 55.9% of revenue, R&D 63.2% and G&A 22.4%, against Benchmarkit medians of 35%, 27% and 17%. That gap is normal at around $1M of ARR, where the team is built ahead of revenue; what a board looks for is the ratios falling each year as revenue grows faster than headcount. No tax is charged because every month of the year is a loss.

Reading the KPI rows

Under net income the template adds the ratios a SaaS P&L is judged on: ARR (subscription MRR × 12), headcount, each department as a % of revenue, EBITDA margin and net burn. Net burn here is a P&L proxy, net loss plus D&A. Real cash burn also moves with annual prepayments (cash arrives before revenue, see deferred revenue), payables and capex, which is why a 3-statement model carries a balance sheet and cash flow statement. For a dollar-level view of one period, the net income calculator and the interactive P&L walk through the same lines.

Download the Excel version

The Excel P&L template has the same defaults and the same math as live formulas: an Inputs sheet with the revenue, COGS, department and below-EBITDA drivers, and a P&L sheet with 12 monthly columns, a year column and the KPI rows. No email needed. To plan three years ahead with a cash flow statement and an equity raise, use the financial projections template; for a full model with a balance sheet, see the SaaS financial model guide.