SaaS Gross Margin Benchmarks by Industry & Business Model
GAAP gross margin by industry and business model. All combinations covered — pure SaaS, usage-based, hybrid, and marketplace.
What is a good SaaS gross margin in 2026?
FPARef's SEC-derived public-company cohort has a combined median gross margin of 75%. In the same dataset, industry medians range from 65% (Vertical SaaS) to 81.3% (General B2B SaaS). A useful “good” benchmark therefore starts with the closest business model and revenue mix, then industry, rather than one universal SaaS threshold.
How to read this in a board meeting
Benchmark the company against the closest peer group and its own trend. If it sits below peers, separate business-model, services, and infrastructure mix before treating the gap as an execution issue. Then use Rule of 40 and Burn Multiple to test whether the margin gap is offset by growth or capital efficiency.
Related: Rule of 40 · Net Revenue Retention · Burn Multiple
| Industry segment | Median | Cohort | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dev Tools / Infrastructure | 75.2% | n=10 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| General B2B SaaS | 81.3% | n=8 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| Security / Compliance | 76.7% | n=9 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| MarTech / Sales Tech | 73.9% | n=9 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| Vertical SaaS | 65% | n=10 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| Fintech / Payments | 70% | n=5 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| HR / Workforce | 74.5% | n=5 | TTM Q4 2025 |
| Healthcare / MedTech | 71.2% | n=4 | TTM Q4 2025 |
RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax or ...IncludingAssessedTax (post-2018), or the older Revenues tag (pre-ASC 606, or issuers who never switched). This pipeline checks all three tags and uses whichever has data for the period — flagged here whenever a segment's cohort includes at least one company using a fallback tag.SaaS gross margin by business model (Bessemer / KeyBanc, attributed)
| Industry | Business Model | Median GM% | Top Quartile GM% | Bottom Quartile GM% | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure SaaS / Subscription — highest gross margins in software | |||||
| Dev Tools / Infrastructure | Subscription | 78% | 87% | 68% | High |
| General B2B SaaS | Subscription | 76% | 84% | 65% | High |
| Security / Compliance | Subscription | 74% | 83% | 63% | High |
| MarTech / Sales Tech | Subscription | 72% | 81% | 60% | High |
| Vertical SaaS | Subscription | 68% | 78% | 56% | Mid-High |
| Fintech / Payments | Subscription | 68% | 79% | 55% | Mid-High |
| HR / Workforce | Subscription | 66% | 76% | 54% | Mid-High |
| Healthcare / MedTech | Subscription | 65% | 76% | 52% | Mid-High |
| Usage-Based / Consumption — margins compressed by infrastructure costs scaling with usage | |||||
| Dev Tools / Infrastructure | Usage-based | 62% | 74% | 48% | Variable |
| General B2B SaaS | Usage-based | 60% | 72% | 45% | Variable |
| MarTech / Sales Tech | Usage-based | 58% | 70% | 42% | Variable |
| Fintech / Payments | Usage-based | 55% | 67% | 40% | Variable |
| Security / Compliance | Usage-based | 60% | 71% | 44% | Variable |
| Healthcare / MedTech | Usage-based | 52% | 63% | 38% | Variable |
| Hybrid (SaaS + Professional Services) — services revenue drags blended margin | |||||
| General B2B SaaS | Hybrid | 58% | 68% | 44% | Mid |
| MarTech / Sales Tech | Hybrid | 55% | 65% | 40% | Mid |
| Vertical SaaS | Hybrid | 52% | 63% | 38% | Mid |
| HR / Workforce | Hybrid | 50% | 61% | 36% | Mid |
| Healthcare / MedTech | Hybrid | 48% | 58% | 34% | Mid |
| Security / Compliance | Hybrid | 56% | 66% | 42% | Mid |
| Fintech / Payments | Hybrid | 50% | 61% | 36% | Mid |
| Marketplace / Transaction — take-rate model; gross margin reflects net revenue, not GMV | |||||
| Fintech / Payments | Marketplace / Transaction | 42% | 55% | 28% | Low |
| MarTech / Sales Tech | Marketplace / Transaction | 45% | 58% | 30% | Low |
| Vertical SaaS | Marketplace / Transaction | 38% | 50% | 24% | Low |
| Healthcare / MedTech | Marketplace / Transaction | 35% | 48% | 20% | Low |
Business model matters more than industry
A healthcare subscription SaaS runs 65% gross margins. A healthcare marketplace runs 35%. Same industry, 30-point gap. When benchmarking your gross margin, match by business model first, industry second. Usage-based models compress margins because infrastructure scales with consumption — the best mitigation is pricing efficiency (cost per unit of consumption declining as you scale). Services revenue above 15% of total revenue will structurally hold blended margins below 65%.Looking for FP&A software to track this metric?
Abacum is FP&A planning software built for finance teams who need to track metrics like this one without exporting to spreadsheets.
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