Whether you are evaluating a stock, tracking a startup's revenue, comparing two mutual funds, or checking how fast your savings balance is growing, the single most useful number is the growth rate. This calculator takes just three inputs — the value at the start, the value at the end, and how many years (or periods) passed between them — and returns both the simple total growth over the whole stretch and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR), which lets you compare investments over different time horizons on an apples-to-apples basis.
Slide the inputs and every figure updates instantly. Because the two formulas are simple, you can sanity-check the result in your head and trust the tool even when the numbers get large.
How to Use
- Enter the Starting (Beginning) Value — the balance, revenue, price, or count at the moment your measurement begins. For a stock, that is the price on the buy date; for a business, it is last year's revenue.
- Enter the Ending (Current) Value — what that same quantity is worth today, at the end of the period. If you are computing year-over-year growth, this is the most recent completed period's number.
- Set the Number of Periods. Leave it at
1for a single period-over-period growth rate (for example, this quarter versus last quarter). Bump it up to5,10, or more when you want the annualized average — the CAGR — that smooths out the ups and downs of individual years. - Read the result card. Absolute Change is the raw dollar swing. Total Growth Over Period is that swing divided by the starting value, expressed as a percentage of the whole. Annualized Growth Rate (CAGR) is the constant yearly rate that would have compounded your starting value into your ending value.
If the ending value is below the starting value, the growth rate is negative — that is a loss, and the calculator will show the decline as a red percentage rather than hiding it.
The Two Growth Formulas
A growth rate answers one question: by what percentage did this number change? The simple formula is:
Growth % = (End − Start) / Start × 100
That gives you the total change over the whole period. But a 150% gain over five years is not the same as 150% over one year. To compare periods of different lengths, you annualize the result with the compound annual growth rate:
CAGR = (End / Start)^(1 / n) − 1
Where n is the number of years. The CAGR is not the return you actually earned in any single year — it is the smoothed, hypothetical constant return that would turn the starting value into the ending value if every year's growth were identical.
Worked example on a $100,000 portfolio that grew to $250,000 over 5 years: the total gain is $150,000, or 150%. The CAGR is (250,000 / 100,000)^(1/5) − 1 = 2.5^0.2 − 1 = 20.11% per year. Notice that 20.11% × 5 = 100.55%, not 150% — compounding means the gains themselves earn gains, which is why the annualized number is lower than dividing the total by the number of years.
Why CAGR Beats "Average Yearly Return"
If a fund goes up 40%, then down 20%, then up 30%, the arithmetic average of those yearly returns is +16.67% — but $100,000 grown in that sequence becomes $130,400, not $150,000. The true compound annual growth rate is only 9.26%. Reporting the arithmetic average overstates the experience, because it ignores that the −20% year applies to a larger balance than the +40% year.
CAGR handles this automatically: it always starts from the actual beginning balance, ends at the actual ending balance, and backs out the single constant rate that produces the observed path. That is why investors, analysts, and the SEC all use CAGR when comparing funds, sectors, or companies over multi-year windows.
Examples
Example 1 — The default portfolio. Starting value $100,000, ending value $250,000, 5 years. Absolute change is +$150,000. Total growth is +150.0%. The annualized CAGR is +20.11% per year. That is a strong long-run result — roughly double the S&P 500's historical average of about 10%.
Example 2 — A single quarter of revenue. A SaaS company books $80,000 in Q1 and $92,000 in Q2, with periods set to 1. Absolute change is +$12,000, and the period-over-period growth rate is +15.0% — the CAGR cell matches because n = 1. Annualizing that single quarter (by setting periods to 0.25) would give an aggressive run-rate of about +75%; use that number cautiously, since one good quarter rarely repeats forever.
Example 3 — A seven-figure portfolio over a decade. $1,000,000 grows to $5,000,000 over 10 years. Absolute change is +$4,000,000, total growth is +400.0%, and the CAGR is +17.46% per year. The tool handles balances above $1,000,000 without rounding or overflow.
Example 4 — A declining investment. $500,000 shrinks to $300,000 over 3 years. Absolute change is −$200,000, total growth is −40.0%, and the annualized CAGR is −15.66% per year. Negative growth rates are just as useful as positive ones — they tell you how fast a losing position is bleeding value.
FAQ
What is the difference between growth rate and CAGR?
The simple growth rate measures the total percentage change from start to end over the whole period: (End − Start) / Start. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) annualizes that result using (End / Start)^(1/n) − 1, so you can compare two investments that were held for different numbers of years. Use growth rate for a single period; use CAGR when n is greater than 1.
How do I calculate year-over-year growth?
Set Number of Periods to 1, enter last year's value as Starting Value and this year's value as Ending Value, and read the Total Growth Over Period line. For example, revenue rising from $2.0M to $2.3M is (2.3 − 2.0) / 2.0 = +15.0% year over year.
Is CAGR the same as average annual return?
No. CAGR is the smoothed constant rate that would have grown your starting balance into your ending balance; it accounts for compounding. The simple arithmetic average of yearly returns can overstate the real experience when some years are negative, because losses apply to a larger base than gains. CAGR always matches the actual beginning and ending balances.
Can a growth rate be negative?
Yes. If the ending value is below the starting value, the calculator reports a negative growth rate, which means the investment or metric shrank over the period. A negative CAGR of −10% per year means a $100,000 balance would have declined to $59,049 over five years.
What if my starting value is zero?
The growth formula divides by the starting value, so a zero starting value produces a division-by-zero error and the calculator will not return a number. When a metric starts at zero (for example, a brand-new product line with no prior revenue), use absolute dollar growth instead of a percentage rate — the percentage is mathematically undefined and can be misleading.
How do I use this calculator for revenue or sales growth?
Plug in last year's revenue as Starting Value, this year's revenue as Ending Value, and set periods to 1. The result is your year-over-year revenue growth rate. To average growth over several years, enter the revenue from N years ago as Starting Value, today's revenue as Ending Value, and set periods to N to get the CAGR — that is the standard number investors use to compare company growth trajectories.
Disclaimer
This growth rate calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or accounting advice. CAGR and period-over-period growth figures are based on the inputs you enter and the standard formulas (End − Start)/Start and (End/Start)^(1/n) − 1; past growth does not guarantee future results. Always verify calculations against your own records and consult a qualified financial professional before making investment or business decisions.