# Mean Time to Recover (MTTR) Calculator

> Paste when each outage or incident began and when service was restored to get mean time to recover, with the median, 90th percentile and longest outage.

Category: IT, networking & security · Applies to: Worldwide · Last updated: 2026-10-29
Interactive calculator: https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/incident-mean-time-to-recover-calculator

Mean time to recover is the average time from the start of an incident to full restoration of service. It is the incident-duration measure behind availability, and a common DevOps delivery metric.

Also called: Mean time to restore calculator, MTTR calculator.

## Inputs
- Incidents: started, restored (one per line) (default 2026-03-01 08:00, 2026-03-01 10:30
2026-03-02 22:00, 2026-03-03 01:00
60)

## Results
- Mean time
- Mean
- Mean
- Median
- 90th percentile (nearest rank)
- Longest
- Incidents counted

## Formula

```
Time to recoverᵢ = Restoredᵢ − Startedᵢ;  MTTR = Σ Time to recoverᵢ ÷ n
```

Where:
- Startedᵢ: when incident i began affecting service
- Restoredᵢ: when service was fully restored
- n: number of incidents

## Worked example
1. Incident 1: 08:00 → 10:30 = 150 min. Incident 2: 22:00 → 01:00 next day = 180 min. Incident 3: 60 min as entered.
2. Mean = (150 + 180 + 60) ÷ 3 = 130 min = 2 h 10 min.
3. Sorted 60, 150, 180, so the median is 150 min.

**Result:** Across three incidents, mean time to recover is 2 h 10 min and the median is 2 h 30 min.

## What the result means

Lower MTTR means shorter outages. Combined with mean time between failures it determines availability: Availability = MTBF ÷ (MTBF + MTTR).

## Assumptions and limits
- Both timestamps on a line are in the same time zone; daylight-saving changes inside an interval are not adjusted.
- Partial degradations need a clear rule for when an incident “starts” and “ends”, or MTTR will not be comparable over time.

## Questions

### Is MTTR measured from the start or from detection?

For recovery it is normally from the start of customer impact, so detection delay is included. Some teams measure from detection; state which.

### How does MTTR relate to availability?

Availability = MTBF ÷ (MTBF + MTTR). Halving MTTR has roughly the same effect on availability as doubling the time between failures.

## Related calculators
- [Availability Percentage Calculator](https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/availability-percentage-calculator)
- [Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) Calculator](https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/incident-mean-time-to-detect-calculator)
- [Mean Time to Respond Calculator](https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/incident-mean-time-to-respond-calculator)
- [Time Duration Calculator](https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/time-duration-calculator)

Source: GM¹X CalcVerse — https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/incident-mean-time-to-recover-calculator