CAGR Calculator
Enter what you started with, what it's worth now, and over how long — find the annual rate that actually explains it.
Your investment
What steady 17.61% annual growth looks like — your real investment likely moved up and down along the way rather than climbing this smoothly.
When to reach for CAGR
Whenever you want to compare investments fairly — a stock held for three years against a fund held for seven, or your own portfolio against a benchmark index — CAGR converts both into the same "annual rate" unit so the comparison means something.
What it can't tell you
CAGR hides volatility entirely — two investments can share an identical CAGR while one moved smoothly upward and the other swung wildly along the way. If the ride matters to you as much as the destination, CAGR alone won't capture that; it only describes the start and end points.
Frequently asked questions
What does CAGR actually measure?+
CAGR is the single, constant annual growth rate that would take your initial value to your final value over the period you specify, compounding once a year. It smooths out whatever bumpy path the investment actually took into one comparable number — useful for comparing two different investments over two different time periods on equal terms.
Why is CAGR lower than the average of my yearly returns?+
Because a simple average ignores compounding and the order of returns. A fund that gains 50% one year and loses 50% the next has an average return of 0%, but a CAGR that's meaningfully negative — the loss applies to a larger base than the gain did. CAGR reflects what actually happened to your money; a simple average often doesn't.
Is CAGR the same as the "expected return" I enter on the other calculators?+
Conceptually similar, but not identical in this tool: CAGR here is calculated with annual compounding (the standard definition), while the SIP, lumpsum and step-up calculators on this site compound monthly. Feeding a CAGR result straight into those calculators will produce a very slightly higher figure than the original final value, since compounding monthly at the same stated rate always yields marginally more than compounding annually.
Can CAGR be negative?+
Yes — if your final value is lower than your initial value, CAGR will be negative, correctly reflecting an investment that lost value overall across the period.