When should I use velocity?

Use velocity for a team's own sprint-to-sprint capacity planning, knowing it's relative to that team's estimates.

When should I use throughput?

Use throughput for a stable, estimate-free measure of delivery you can trend and compare.

Commonly confused

Velocity vs Throughput

Velocity counts story points completed per sprint — it's estimate-based and only meaningful within a single team. Throughput counts how many work items finish per period — a plain count that's harder to game and comparable across teams. Velocity answers 'how much estimated effort did we burn'; throughput answers 'how many things did we actually finish.'

Velocity vs Throughput, in short

Velocity counts story points completed per sprint — it's estimate-based and only meaningful within a single team. Throughput counts how many work items finish per period — a plain count that's harder to game and comparable across teams. Velocity answers 'how much estimated effort did we burn'; throughput answers 'how many things did we actually finish.'
When to use velocity: Use velocity for a team's own sprint-to-sprint capacity planning, knowing it's relative to that team's estimates.
When to use throughput: Use throughput for a stable, estimate-free measure of delivery you can trend and compare.

Velocity vs Throughput: definitions and when to use each, side by side
Aspect	Velocity	Throughput
Definition	Velocity is the average amount of work a team completes per cycle, measured in issues or story points. By tracking it over several cycles, teams forecast how much they can realistically take on next. Velocity is a planning aid for a specific team over time — never a target to maximize or a way to compare teams against each other.	Throughput is the number of work items a team completes in a given period — issues finished per week, for example. It is the simplest flow metric: a direct count of output over time. Tracked across periods, throughput reveals a team's real delivery capacity and is the basis for probabilistic, estimate-free forecasting.
When to use it	Use velocity for a team's own sprint-to-sprint capacity planning, knowing it's relative to that team's estimates.	Use throughput for a stable, estimate-free measure of delivery you can trend and compare.
Full definition	Velocity	Throughput

Velocity vs Throughput, in short

Velocity counts story points completed per sprint — it's estimate-based and only meaningful within a single team. Throughput counts how many work items finish per period — a plain count that's harder to game and comparable across teams. Velocity answers 'how much estimated effort did we burn'; throughput answers 'how many things did we actually finish.'
When to use velocity: Use velocity for a team's own sprint-to-sprint capacity planning, knowing it's relative to that team's estimates.
When to use throughput: Use throughput for a stable, estimate-free measure of delivery you can trend and compare.

Velocity vs Throughput: definitions and when to use each, side by side
Aspect	Velocity	Throughput
Definition	Velocity is the average amount of work a team completes per cycle, measured in issues or story points. By tracking it over several cycles, teams forecast how much they can realistically take on next. Velocity is a planning aid for a specific team over time — never a target to maximize or a way to compare teams against each other.	Throughput is the number of work items a team completes in a given period — issues finished per week, for example. It is the simplest flow metric: a direct count of output over time. Tracked across periods, throughput reveals a team's real delivery capacity and is the basis for probabilistic, estimate-free forecasting.
When to use it	Use velocity for a team's own sprint-to-sprint capacity planning, knowing it's relative to that team's estimates.	Use throughput for a stable, estimate-free measure of delivery you can trend and compare.
Full definition	Velocity	Throughput

Velocity vs Throughput