Table:
|  |  | Year Ended December 31, |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Net cash provided by operating activities | $10,317 | $3,295 | $4,863 |
| Capital expenditures | (5,269) | (1,721) | (1,667) |
| Capitalized software development costs | (7,819) | (8,499) | (6,160) |
| Free cash flow | $(2,771) | $(6,925) | $(2,964) |
Paragraphs:
Free Cash Flow. Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities minus capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs. Free cash flow is a measure used by management to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends and to generate future operating plans.
The exclusion of capital expenditures and amounts capitalized for internally-developed software facilitates comparisons of our operating performance on a period-to-period basis and excludes items that we do not consider to be indicative of our core operating performance. Free cash flow is not a measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. We believe that free cash flow provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors.
Nevertheless, our use of free cash flow has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under GAAP. You should consider free cash flow alongside our other GAAP-based financial performance measures, net cash provided by operating activities, and our other GAAP financial results. The following table presents a reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash for operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, for each of the periods indicated (in thousands):
Question:
What is Free Cash Flow used as?
Answer: by management to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends and to generate future operating plans.