Concepts and glossary
The entities StackTracker tracks and the metrics it uses to score a project.
This page has two parts: the entities you track, and the metrics StackTracker computes from them.
Part 1: the data model
These are the things StackTracker stores for you.
Project
The top-level container. Fields: name, slug, currency, hourly_rate, tagline.
Cost category
A bucket for spend, either custom or one of the defaults, with an emoji.
Expense
One-off or variable spend. Fields: vendor, amount, date, recurrence (one_time, monthly, or yearly).
Subscription
A recurring tool cost. Fields: vendor, plan, amount, cycle (monthly or yearly), anchor_date (the renewal anchor), active.
Time entry
Hours worked in an area. Areas: backend, frontend, design, marketing, content, sales, support, ops, research, other.
Revenue entry
Money earned. Sources: stripe, revenuecat, manual, ads, sponsorship, affiliate, lifetime_deal.
Social post
A published post by platform. Platforms: x, linkedin, tiktok, instagram, youtube, reddit, producthunt, other.
Part 2: the metrics glossary
This is how StackTracker scores a project.
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| cash | total money spent (expenses + subscription charges) |
| hours | total hours logged |
| timeValue | hours × hourly_rate (what your time is worth) |
| trueCost | cash + timeValue |
| revenue | total money earned |
| netCash | revenue − cash |
| netTrue | revenue − trueCost (the honest number) |
| roiCash | (revenue − cash) / cash |
| roiTrue | (revenue − trueCost) / trueCost |
| MRR | revenue in the trailing 30 days |
| ARR | MRR × 12 |
| ROAS | revenue ÷ ad spend (marketing and ads categories) |
| revPerHour | revenue ÷ hours |
| trueHourlyWage | (revenue − cash) / hours (what each hour actually paid you) |
| burn | monthly recurring outflow (subscriptions due per month) |
| breakEvenGap | how far revenue is from covering true cost |
roiTrue and trueHourlyWage are the metrics StackTracker cares most about, because they count your time.