Net Revenue Retention Calculator
Calculate net revenue retention (NRR) and gross revenue retention (GRR) from your starting recurring revenue, expansion, contraction, and churn. Benchmark against your segment and see whether your existing base grows in value on its own.
Inputs
Measure a single cohort over one period and exclude revenue from brand new customers. Everything updates instantly.
Selling to large companies with expansion seats and tiers. NRR of 110 percent is healthy and 120 percent or higher is best in class.
Recurring revenue from existing customers when the period began
Extra recurring revenue from upgrades, seats, and add-ons
Recurring revenue lost to downgrades, not full cancellations
Recurring revenue lost to full cancellations
NRR benchmarks by segment
NRR above 100 percent is the threshold where your existing customers fund your growth. It is the single metric most likely to lift your revenue multiple.
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Frequently asked questions
What is net revenue retention (NRR)?+
Net revenue retention measures how much recurring revenue you keep and grow from your existing customer base over a period, ignoring any revenue from brand new customers. You start with the recurring revenue of a cohort at the beginning of the period, add expansion revenue from upgrades and seat growth, subtract revenue lost to downgrades (contraction) and cancellations (churn), then divide by the starting revenue. An NRR of 100 percent means your existing base is flat in value. Above 100 percent means it grows on its own even if you never sign another customer.
How do you calculate net revenue retention?+
NRR equals starting MRR plus expansion MRR minus contraction MRR minus churned MRR, all divided by starting MRR, expressed as a percentage. For example, if a cohort started at 100,000 dollars of MRR, added 18,000 in expansion, lost 4,000 to downgrades and 6,000 to cancellations, the math is (100,000 + 18,000 - 4,000 - 6,000) / 100,000, which is 108,000 / 100,000, or 108 percent. The key discipline is to measure the same cohort over time and to exclude new logo revenue, because new sales mask retention problems.
What is a good NRR for SaaS?+
It depends on who you sell to. For B2B SaaS selling to enterprises, best in class NRR is 120 percent or higher, healthy is 110 percent and up, and anything below 100 percent signals a leak. For SMB focused SaaS, churn runs higher, so 100 to 110 percent is solid and 90 to 100 percent is common. For product led and consumer subscriptions, 90 to 100 percent is often acceptable because expansion paths are weaker. The universal goal is NRR above 100 percent, because that is the point where your existing customers fund your growth.
What is the difference between NRR and GRR?+
Gross revenue retention (GRR) only counts what you lose: it subtracts contraction and churn from starting revenue and never counts expansion, so GRR can never exceed 100 percent. Net revenue retention (NRR) adds expansion back in, so it can exceed 100 percent. Used together they tell a clear story. A high NRR with a low GRR means a few accounts are expanding fast while many are leaking, which is fragile. A high GRR means your core base is sticky, which is the healthier foundation. Investors look at both, but NRR is the headline number.
Why does NRR matter so much to investors?+
NRR above 100 percent means a company compounds revenue without spending a dollar on acquisition, which is the cleanest signal of product market fit and pricing power in SaaS. It directly drives valuation: public SaaS companies with NRR above 120 percent consistently trade at higher revenue multiples than peers with NRR near 100 percent. It also de-risks the growth story, because a business that retains and expands its base can survive a slow quarter of new sales. For these reasons NRR has become one of the first metrics a SaaS investor checks.
How do I improve net revenue retention?+
Start by separating the three drivers: churn, contraction, and expansion. Reduce churn with stronger onboarding so customers reach value fast, and fix involuntary churn from failed payments with dunning and card retries. Reduce contraction by understanding why accounts downgrade and aligning pricing tiers with the value customers actually use. Grow expansion with usage based pricing, seat growth, upsell to higher tiers, and add-on modules. The fastest structural win for most teams is building a real expansion motion, because even modest expansion can push NRR past 100 percent.
Should I measure NRR monthly or annually?+
Both have a place, but annual NRR is the standard investors quote because it smooths out the lumpiness of monthly expansion and contraction. Measure a cohort, for example all customers active twelve months ago, and compare that same cohort revenue today against where it started. Monthly NRR is useful for an operating dashboard and faster feedback, but always state the period, because a 100 percent monthly NRR and a 100 percent annual NRR describe very different retention curves.