NRR Calculator: Net Revenue Retention and GRR
Use this NRR calculator: enter starting MRR and its expansion, contraction and churn to get net and gross revenue retention.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
101.00%
Enter your numbers and press Calculate.
(Starting MRR + Expansion MRR - Contraction MRR - churn) ÷ Starting MRR
Net revenue retention formula with example
NRR = ((Starting MRR + Expansion − Contraction − Churned MRR) ÷ Starting MRR) × 100
- Take the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) your existing customers paid at the start of the period. Customers who join during the period stay out of every input.
- For that same group, add expansion revenue from upgrades and add-ons, then subtract contraction from downgrades and the MRR of customers who canceled.
- Divide by the starting MRR and multiply by 100. For gross revenue retention (GRR), repeat the calculation without the expansion term.
($100,000 + $8,000 − $2,000 − $5,000) ÷ $100,000 × 100 = 101% NRR, and 93% GRR without expansion
What is net revenue retention (NRR)
Net revenue retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue you keep from a fixed group of existing customers over a period. It counts what they added through upgrades and what they took away through downgrades and cancellations. Revenue from customers who joined during the period is excluded, so the number shows how the base you already had behaved on its own. Some companies report the same calculation as net dollar retention (NDR).
NRR goes above 100% when expansion from existing customers is larger than contraction and churn combined. In that case the base grew its revenue without a single new customer. Gross revenue retention (GRR) uses the same inputs but leaves expansion out. It can never exceed 100%, and it shows how much of the starting revenue survived on its own. The calculator shows both, because a few large accounts that expand quickly can hold up a high NRR while many smaller customers leave.
NRR works with MRR or ARR, monthly or annual, as long as all four inputs describe the same customers over the same window. It answers a revenue question, so it can move in a different direction from the customer retention rate, which counts heads. A business that loses many small customers while a few big ones upgrade can see falling customer retention and rising NRR in the same quarter.
NRR vs GRR: the same inputs, two answers
NRR and GRR are built from the same four numbers. What separates them is whether expansion is allowed to offset losses. The table below runs the calculator's example inputs through both formulas and adds the revenue churn rate and expansion rate that reports often show next to them.
| Metric | Formula | Example result | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net revenue retention (NRR) | (Start + Expansion − Contraction − Churn) ÷ Start | ($100,000 + $8,000 − $2,000 − $5,000) ÷ $100,000 = 101% | Whether the base grows its revenue without new customers |
| Gross revenue retention (GRR) | (Start − Contraction − Churn) ÷ Start | ($100,000 − $2,000 − $5,000) ÷ $100,000 = 93% | How much starting revenue survives with no upsell |
| Revenue churn rate | (Contraction + Churn) ÷ Start, or 100% − GRR | $7,000 ÷ $100,000 = 7% | The share of starting revenue lost |
| Expansion rate | Expansion ÷ Start | $8,000 ÷ $100,000 = 8% | How much upsell and cross-sell added |
Read together, the four rows tell one story. In the example the base lost 7% of its starting revenue and won back 8% through expansion. NRR lands just above 100%, while GRR shows the underlying leak. Track NRR vs GRR over time. If NRR holds steady while GRR slips, expansion is covering a churn problem that will surface once upsell slows down.
How SaaS companies report net revenue retention
There is no single official definition of net revenue retention. Public software companies define it in their own filings. The details vary from one company to the next: which revenue is counted, how the period is chosen and which products or customers are left out. PowerSchool's annual report for 2023, for example, calculates NRR from ARR and excludes one of its products. It also states that the metric "does not have any standardized meaning" and is unlikely to be comparable with similarly titled measures from other companies (PowerSchool Form 10-K, 2023). Before you compare your SaaS net revenue retention with someone else's figure, check these points:
Which period: a monthly NRR and an annual NRR from the same business are different numbers, and simple multiplication does not turn one into the other.
Which revenue: MRR, ARR or recognized revenue. One-off fees such as setup or services stay out, because they do not recur.
Which customers: the starting cohort is fixed on the first day of the period. Revenue from customers acquired later belongs to new business.
How contraction is counted: leaving downgrades out and counting only full cancellations overstates both NRR and GRR.
Once the definition is fixed, NRR is most useful as a trend in your own data. To see what retained revenue is worth per customer, combine it with the LTV calculator. For the headcount side of the same base, use the retention rate calculator.
When to use NRR
Use it when you sell subscriptions or contracts that renew and expansion revenue is a real part of the model. It suits a monthly or quarterly review of your existing base, an investor update, or the moment a headcount-based retention rate looks fine while revenue tells a different story. Read NRR and GRR together, and keep the period and revenue definition fixed between reports.
Where NRR misleads
An NRR quoted without its period or revenue definition cannot be compared with anything. A high NRR can also hide heavy churn when a handful of large customers expand quickly, which is why GRR sits next to it. Counting revenue from newly acquired customers as expansion inflates the number without the existing base doing anything.
Guides on this topic
Frequently Asked Questions
What is net revenue retention (NRR)?
Net revenue retention (NRR) is the share of recurring revenue a fixed group of existing customers still brings in at the end of a period. Upgrades, downgrades and cancellations are all counted. It is shown as a percentage of the revenue the same customers brought in at the start. Revenue from customers acquired during the period is excluded, so NRR isolates how the existing base behaves. A result above 100% means the base grew its revenue on its own, and a result below 100% means losses outweighed expansion. SaaS and other subscription businesses use it.
How do you calculate NRR?
Here is how to calculate net revenue retention: take the starting MRR of your existing customers, add expansion MRR, subtract contraction MRR and churned MRR, divide the result by the starting MRR and multiply by 100. With $100,000 starting MRR, $8,000 expansion, $2,000 contraction and $5,000 churned MRR, NRR = ($100,000 + $8,000 − $2,000 − $5,000) ÷ $100,000 × 100 = 101%. All four inputs must come from the same customers and the same period. The same formula works with ARR when you want an annual view.
What does NRR above 100% mean?
It means your existing customers paid more at the end of the period than at the start, even after cancellations and downgrades. Expansion from upgrades, extra seats or add-ons was larger than everything lost to contraction and churn. In the example, $8,000 of expansion outweighs $7,000 of losses, which gives 101%. NRR has no upper limit, while gross revenue retention stops at 100% because it ignores expansion. An NRR above 100% does not rule out a churn problem, so check GRR as well: a few fast-growing accounts can carry the average while many smaller customers leave.
What is the difference between NRR and GRR?
Both start from the same revenue base and subtract contraction and churn. NRR also adds expansion revenue, and GRR leaves it out. That makes GRR the conservative figure: it shows how much starting revenue survives with no upsell at all, and it cannot pass 100%. NRR gives the fuller picture, including how well you grow existing accounts. With the example inputs, NRR is 101% and GRR is 93%, and the gap between them is the expansion rate, 8 percentage points here.
Is net dollar retention the same as NRR?
Yes. Net dollar retention (NDR) and net revenue retention describe the same calculation, and companies pick one name or the other. Some reports also say net retention rate or dollar-based net retention. The name tells you little about the details. Each company decides whether it measures MRR, ARR or another revenue figure, over which period and with which customers excluded. Public filings note that these metrics have no standardized meaning. When you compare two figures, read how each one is defined before you read the number.
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