apps/website/src/app/docs/content/view-burn-rate.mdx
Burn rate shows how quickly you're consuming cash. It's essential for financial planning, fundraising conversations, and understanding your business health.
Burn rate is your net cash outflow over a period:
Net burn is more useful—it accounts for revenue offsetting expenses.
You'll see:
Midday calculates burn rate from your expense transactions across all enabled accounts.
All expense transactions except those in excluded categories.
Two categories are automatically excluded from burn rate to prevent double-counting:
| Category | Why it's excluded |
|---|---|
| Credit Card Payment | Prevents counting expenses twice (once on the card, once when paying the bill) |
| Internal Transfer | Moving money between your own accounts isn't spending |
When you connect both a checking account and credit card, you'll see:
Without exclusions, Midday would count:
By excluding credit card payments, only the actual purchases count. This is handled automatically.
| Account Type | Transactions count toward burn? |
|---|---|
| Depository (checking, savings) | Yes |
| Other Asset (money market) | Yes |
| Credit (credit cards) | Yes |
| Loan | Yes |
All account types contribute transactions to burn rate. The exclusion logic applies to specific transaction categories, not account types.
You're spending more than you're earning. Normal for:
You're earning more than spending. You're profitable—your runway is essentially infinite.
Breaking even. Income matches expenses.
Sometimes a transaction shouldn't count toward burn rate even if it's categorized as an expense:
To exclude a transaction:
Use this sparingly—only for truly exceptional items.
A single month's burn rate can be misleading due to one-time expenses or income. Look at:
Burn rate directly affects your runway:
Runway = Cash Balance ÷ Monthly Burn Rate
Reducing burn rate by $5,000/month on $60,000 cash extends runway from 6 months to 10 months.
If burn rate is too high:
Check for:
Check for:
This usually means: