Your NRR is 102%. Existing customers grow your revenue even before any new sales, which is the gold standard. Top SaaS companies aim for 110% or higher.
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Net revenue retention is the percentage of recurring revenue you keep and grow from your existing customers over a period, including upgrades but excluding any brand-new customers. The formula is (starting MRR plus expansion, minus contraction, minus churn) divided by starting MRR, times 100. If you start a month at $50,000, add $8,000 in upgrades, and lose $2,000 to downgrades and $3,000 to churn, your NRR is 102%. The calculator above runs this math instantly from your own numbers.
Start with the monthly recurring revenue of the cohort you had at the beginning of the period. Add the expansion revenue those same customers generated through upgrades, seat additions or higher-tier plans. Then subtract contraction (downgrades and reduced usage) and churn (customers who left entirely). Divide the result by your starting MRR and multiply by 100.
Worked example: you begin the month at $50,000 MRR. Existing accounts upgrade for $8,000 more, others downgrade by $2,000, and $3,000 churns out. The math is (50,000 + 8,000 - 2,000 - 3,000) / 50,000 x 100, which equals 102%. The key rule: new customers never enter this calculation. NRR measures only how the base you already had behaves.
Gross revenue retention answers a narrower question: of the revenue you started with, how much did you keep? It subtracts contraction and churn but ignores expansion, so it can never exceed 100%. In the example above, GRR is (50,000 - 2,000 - 3,000) / 50,000 x 100, which is 90%. NRR takes that same base and adds expansion back in, so it can climb past 100% when upgrades outweigh losses. Read them together: GRR shows your leakage, and NRR shows whether expansion is plugging it and then some.
Anything above 100% is the line that matters, because it means your existing customers grow your revenue without a single new sale. That is the gold standard for recurring-revenue businesses: even if acquisition paused, the base would keep expanding. Strong SaaS companies generally target 110% or higher, and the best product-led businesses push toward 120% and beyond. Below 100% is a warning sign that churn and downgrades are winning, and it usually points to onboarding, pricing or product-fit problems worth fixing before you pour more into acquisition.
One caution: retention math is only as honest as its inputs. Make sure expansion, contraction and churn are pulled from the same cohort and the same window, or the percentage will flatter you. For a growth plan that ties your acquisition channels to the retention you already have, request a free SEO audit and we will model where the efficient growth is.
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