SaaS Valuation Multiples 2026
The current reading for public and private SaaS revenue multiples, drawn from the three tracked indices and the SaaS Capital per-company growth data. The public median sits at 3.2x ARR, a decade-plus low.
The 2026 Snapshot: Three Public SaaS Indices
There is no single “SaaS multiple” because the three widely cited references measure different populations with different statistics. Two equal-weighted median series (SaaS Capital and Aventis) agree closely after the Q1 2026 re-rating; the market-cap-weighted BVP average sits roughly twice as high because it is dominated by the largest cloud names.
| Index | Statistic | 2026 Reading | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS Capital Index | Median ARR multiple | 3.2x (30 June 2026) | Equal-weighted, ~100 pure-play public SaaS |
| Aventis Advisors | Median EV/Revenue | 3.4x (March 2026) | ~70 NASDAQ/NYSE pure-play SaaS, $1B+ cap |
| BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index | Average revenue multiple | 7.1x (6 July 2026) | Market-cap-weighted, 60-80 cloud names |
2026 Public SaaS Multiple by Trailing Growth Band
The 3.2x median masks a wide spread. Joining the SaaS Capital Index per-company multiple and growth-rate data for 30 June 2026 shows the multiple scaling sharply with trailing revenue growth:
| Trailing Growth Band | Median Multiple | 25th-75th Pctile | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20-30% | 5.5x | 3.8x – 6.9x | 11 |
| 10-20% | 3.1x | 2.8x – 4.8x | 23 |
| Under 10% | 1.9x | 1.1x – 3x | 18 |
Public vs Private SaaS Multiples in 2026
Private marks lag public markets by six to twelve months and typically trade at a 20-35% discount to public comparables, primarily for illiquidity. SaaS Capital's 2025 research put bootstrapped private SaaS at 4.8x and equity-backed at 5.3x ARR, derived when the public index stood at 7.0x.
With the public median now at 3.2x, expect private valuations to compress as 2026 deals print; the historical pattern is a discount to public peers, not a premium. A private SaaS founder benchmarking an exit should anchor to the equal-weighted median rather than the BVP average, because your company is far more likely to resemble the median constituent than a market-cap-dominating cloud leader. See the private multiples breakdown for deal-size context.