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Net Revenue Retention (NRR) calculator

Calculate the net revenue retained from a cohort of existing customers after expansion, contraction, and churn — and see how you benchmark against SaaS norms.

Enter your starting MRR for the cohort and the three things that happened to it: expansion (upgrades/upsells), contraction (downgrades), and churn (cancellations). NRR above 100% means your existing base is growing on its own.

NRR calculator inputs and results

Your cohort numbers

Total MRR from this cohort at the start of the period.

New MRR from upgrades, upsells, or seat additions within the cohort.

MRR lost to downgrades or plan reductions (not cancellations).

MRR fully lost to cancellations.

Net Revenue Retention

NRR for this cohort

107%

Healthy — existing customers generating net growth

Starting MRR $100,000
+ Expansion MRR +$20,000
− Contraction MRR −$5,000
− Churned MRR −$8,000
Ending MRR $107,000

NRR benchmark bands

Below 90% Weak — churn and contraction dominating
90–100% Shrinking — base eroding faster than it expands
100–110% Healthy — typical for strong SMB SaaS
110–120% Strong — mid-market/enterprise benchmark
120%+ Elite — top-tier public SaaS territory

How NRR is calculated

NRR is calculated by taking your starting MRR for a cohort, adding any expansion revenue generated by those same customers during the period, then subtracting contraction (downgrades) and churn (cancellations). That ending MRR is divided by the starting MRR to get the retention percentage.

The key insight is that NRR can exceed 100% — unlike gross revenue retention, which caps at 100% because it only counts losses. An NRR above 100% means your existing customer base is growing without any new customers, which is the hallmark of a product with strong upsell motion or usage-based components that scale with customer success.

NRR is typically measured on a monthly or annual cohort basis. Monthly NRR lets you track trends faster; annual NRR is the number most investors and acquirers ask for.

About this tool

This tool calculates Net Revenue Retention (NRR) for a SaaS cohort. Inputs: starting MRR, expansion MRR (upgrades, upsells), contraction MRR (downgrades), and churned MRR (cancellations). Output: NRR % with a benchmark band. Formula: NRR = (Starting MRR + Expansion − Contraction − Churned) ÷ Starting MRR × 100.

Frequently asked questions

What is Net Revenue Retention?

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) measures how much revenue a cohort of existing customers generates at the end of a period compared to the start, after accounting for expansion, contraction, and churn. An NRR above 100% means your existing customers are generating more revenue than they were at the start of the period, even after losses from cancellations and downgrades — because upgrades and upsells more than offset them. It's one of the most important metrics in SaaS because it means you can grow revenue even without adding new customers.

What's a good NRR benchmark?

For SMB-focused SaaS, 100–110% NRR is considered healthy. For mid-market and enterprise SaaS, 110–120% is strong. Above 120% is elite and characteristic of the best-performing public SaaS companies — Snowflake, Datadog, and Twilio have all reported NRR above 130% at their peaks. Below 100% means existing customers are contracting faster than they're expanding, which makes durable growth difficult without relentless new customer acquisition to offset the base erosion.

What's the difference between NRR and Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)?

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) only counts losses — contraction and churn — and caps at 100%. It tells you how much of your starting revenue survived. NRR adds expansion on top, so it can exceed 100% and measures the net effect of everything that happened to your cohort. A high GRR (low churn) is a prerequisite for high NRR, but expansion is what pushes NRR above 100%.

Should I use MRR or ARR for this calculation?

Either works — NRR is a ratio, so the unit cancels out. Use whichever matches how you already track your revenue. If you report monthly, use MRR. If you report annually or are tracking a quarterly cohort, use ARR. Just be consistent: all four inputs should be denominated the same way and measured over the same time period.

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