What is Bug Escape Rate?
Share of defects reaching production undetected.
How to calculate it
Calculate Bug Escape Rate as: Bugs found in production / Total bugs × 100. Pull the inputs from your connected data and track the trend over time in your dashboard.
Examples
Example 1
12 of 200 bugs are found in production rather than testing -> 6% escape rate.
Example 2
12 of 200 bugs are found in production rather than testing -> 6% escape rate; investing in automated tests cuts it to 3% the next quarter.
Why it matters
Bug escape rate is the share of defects that reach production undetected and measures the effectiveness of QA before release. A high rate erodes customer trust and increases costly emergency fixes. Underreporting production bugs makes QA look better than it is and hides the real risk.
Benchmark context
Lower is better; track the trend downward over releases, with elite teams catching the vast majority of defects before production.
Common pitfalls
Underreporting production bugs.
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