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Net revenue retention (NRR) calculator

Enter your starting recurring revenue and the movements within the period. The calculator returns NRR and GRR together, because reading them side by side is the only way to tell whether growth is coming from holding on or from a few large expansions covering a leak.

Your numbers

$

Recurring revenue from existing customers at period start. Exclude new customers.

$

Upsell, cross-sell, and seat growth from those same customers.

$

Downgrades and seat reductions, without full cancellation.

$

Revenue lost to full cancellations.

Net revenue retention (NRR)

104.0%

Above the 100% durable-growth threshold

Gross revenue retention (GRR)
92.0%
Expansion contribution
12.0 pts
Ending MRR
$520,000
Net MRR change
$20,000
NRR of 104.0% clears the durable-growth threshold: existing customers more than replace all losses. GRR of 92.0% is the honest retention picture underneath.

Formula

How the calculation works

NRR = ((Starting MRR + Expansion − Contraction − Churn) ÷ Starting MRR) × 100

GRR uses the same inputs but excludes expansion entirely: (Starting MRR − Contraction − Churn) ÷ Starting MRR. GRR can never exceed 100%.

Getting it right

What most people get wrong

Never read NRR without GRR

A handful of large expansions can push NRR above 100% while most accounts shrink or leave. If GRR is weak and NRR is strong, your growth rests on a few accounts — that is a concentration risk being reported as a retention win. The gap between the two numbers tells you how much of your growth comes from holding on versus growing.

Exclude new customers or the metric is meaningless

NRR measures only revenue from customers who existed at period start. Letting new customer revenue into the numerator conflates acquisition performance with retention performance and makes the figure useless for judging either.

Fix your cohort definition and keep it

NRR is highly sensitive to how you define the starting cohort and whether you measure monthly-annualized or trailing-twelve-month. Both approaches are defensible; switching between them mid-year is not. Document the definition so the trend stays comparable.

Attack contraction separately from churn

Downgrades and cancellations have different causes. Contraction often signals partial value realization — some teams succeeded and others did not — which is recoverable if you catch it. Cancellation usually means the value case failed entirely.

FAQ

Questions, answered

How do you calculate NRR?+

Take starting MRR from existing customers, add expansion, subtract contraction and churn, divide by starting MRR, and multiply by 100. Exclude revenue from customers acquired during the period — NRR measures only the cohort that existed at the start.

What is a good NRR?+

Above 100% is the threshold for durable growth. 105–115% is healthy for B2B SaaS and 120%+ is best-in-class for enterprise. SMB-focused companies commonly sit at 90–100% because smaller accounts offer less room to expand.

What is the difference between NRR and GRR?+

GRR excludes expansion, so it can never exceed 100% and shows purely how well you hold onto existing revenue. NRR includes expansion and can exceed 100%. GRR shows the size of the leak; NRR shows whether growth from existing accounts outruns it.

Can NRR be above 100% while the business is unhealthy?+

Yes, and it is a common trap. If a few large accounts expand while many small ones churn, NRR looks strong while the customer base erodes. Always read NRR next to GRR and logo retention.

Your next account move is already in the signals

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