Net and gross revenue retention calculator
Calculate existing-cohort revenue retention with and without expansion.
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How it works
Calculate how much recurring revenue the same existing customer cohort retained over a reporting period. GRR isolates losses from cancellations and downgrades. NRR adds expansion back, allowing a result above 100% when existing accounts grow more than the cohort shrinks. The bridge makes the difference between retained revenue and total business growth visible.
A few things to know
Requires a fixed opening cohort, a positive opening revenue base, consistent MRR or ARR normalization, and losses measured without double-counting. New customers are excluded. This aggregate calculator does not classify customer-level changes, currency effects, free accounts, reactivations, or acquisitions. Expansion and contraction should reflect net per-customer changes over the period rather than every billing event. These ratios do not measure margins, cash collection, or future retention.
Results use your inputs. Keep all money amounts in the same currency.
When to use this tool
Net revenue retention and gross revenue retention answer complementary questions about the customers you already have. GRR shows how much opening recurring revenue survives cancellations and downgrades. NRR adds growth from those existing accounts. This calculator builds both figures from a fixed opening cohort, so a strong month of new sales cannot quietly inflate your retention result.
- Prepare an existing-customer revenue review alongside an acquisition-focused MRR bridge.
- Check whether upsells are compensating for deterioration in the underlying retained base.
- Compare cohorts, plans or customer segments with one consistent period and recurring-revenue definition.
How to use net and gross revenue retention calculator
Identify the opening customers
Choose the customer set present at the period’s start and enter its opening recurring revenue. Use either MRR or ARR throughout; do not mix monthly and annual amounts in the same calculation.
Separate losses from expansion
Enter cancellations, downgrade losses and expansion for those same customers only. Enter loss amounts as positive numbers. Exclude new-customer revenue and avoid counting an upgrade followed by a reversal as separate net cohort changes.
Read NRR and GRR together
Compare the retained base before expansion with the ending existing-cohort revenue. Download the bridge, then inspect the accounts responsible for losses and upsells instead of drawing a conclusion from only one percentage.
Expansion offsets a shrinking retained base
Inputs
Starting cohort recurring revenue 100,000; cancellation losses 5,000; downgrade losses 3,000; expansion from starting customers 15,000.
Result
Retained revenue before expansion is 92,000, so GRR is 92%. Ending existing-cohort revenue is 107,000, so NRR is 107%. Net revenue churn is −7%.
What it means
The cohort lost 8% of its opening base but grew 7% overall after expansion. These are retention figures for existing customers; any new-customer sales would add to total business revenue outside this bridge.
Common mistakes to avoid
Adding new-customer revenue to NRR
Retention follows the opening customer set. Including customers acquired later turns a retention calculation into a growth calculation and can conceal deterioration in the original base.
Allowing expansion to lift GRR
GRR deliberately removes the benefit of upsells. With nonnegative losses it remains between 0% and 100%. Use NRR to describe expansion rather than forcing it into gross retention.
Counting every billing event as a cohort loss
An upgrade and later downgrade can create large event totals without the same net opening-to-ending change. Reconcile each customer against their opening recurring amount before aggregating the losses used here.
Frequently asked questions
Definitions, edge cases, and practical next steps for this tool. Search all tool FAQs ↗
What are the NRR and GRR formulas used here?
GRR is opening cohort revenue minus churn and contraction, divided by opening revenue. NRR uses the same numerator with existing-cohort expansion added. Both ratios are multiplied by 100. The calculator also shows the recurring-revenue bridge, which helps verify exactly what each percentage includes.
Why can net revenue retention exceed 100%?
Existing customers may upgrade, add seats or buy recurring services. If those gains exceed cancellation and downgrade losses, the same cohort ends with more recurring revenue than it started with. In the example, ending revenue of 107,000 divided by 100,000 gives 107% NRR.
Can gross revenue retention exceed 100%?
No, under this definition. GRR excludes expansion and subtracts only nonnegative losses from the opening base. If a report presents GRR above 100%, review its naming, cohort selection and calculation. It may be measuring net retention, total revenue growth or a different renewal metric.
Does strong NRR mean churn is not a problem?
It does not settle that question. Expansion from a few large accounts can offset losses elsewhere. Compare GRR, customer churn and account concentration alongside NRR. The example’s 107% NRR still contains 8,000 of cancellation and downgrade losses that deserve their own investigation.
Should I use monthly recurring revenue or annual recurring revenue?
Either basis works if every input uses it consistently. Converting all amounts by the same factor leaves the retention percentages unchanged. The reporting window still matters: MRR observed at the start and end of a year can support annual cohort retention, without requiring annual invoice totals.
How do I treat reactivated customers?
Set a policy before comparing reports. This calculator follows customers present at the start and uses net cohort changes; it has no separate reactivation field. Customers absent at the opening are excluded. If an opening customer cancels and returns, reconcile their final recurring amount rather than double-counting the departure and return.
What if the starting cohort has no recurring revenue?
NRR and GRR are undefined because opening revenue is the denominator. Use a positive paying cohort or report new business separately. The MRR movement tool accepts a zero opening balance when you want to describe a launch or the first paying customers, rather than retention.
How does NRR relate to net revenue churn?
With the same cohort and this tool’s definitions, net revenue churn equals 100% minus NRR. NRR of 107% corresponds to −7% net revenue churn. Do not combine figures from different periods or dashboards unless their treatment of expansion, contraction and reactivation matches.
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Sources and method
Use the references below to check definitions and platform guidance. The model’s scope and limits are explained above. Read our editorial standards.