Free ForeverNo SignupNRR ComparisonUpdated 2026

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) Calculator

Measure the percentage of existing revenue you retain after churn and downgrades — without the boost from expansion.

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) measures what percentage of last period's revenue you still have this period, after accounting for churn and downgrades — but excluding expansion from upsells. GRR can never exceed 100%. It's the floor of your retention quality. NRR adds expansion on top. A business with poor GRR can't save itself with upsells — it will always be running to stand still.

Starting MRR (existing customers)

MRR from a defined cohort at the start of the period

Churned MRR

MRR lost to cancellations from that cohort

Downgrade MRR

MRR lost to plan downgrades (not cancellations)

Expansion MRROptional — shows NRR alongside GRR

MRR added from upsells/upgrades (for NRR comparison)

The Formula

GRR = (Starting MRR − Churned MRR − Downgrade MRR) ÷ Starting MRR × 100

In plain English

Subtract churned MRR and downgrade MRR from starting MRR. Divide by starting MRR and multiply by 100. GRR cannot exceed 100% — expansion is excluded.

Worked Example

Starting: $100,000. Churned: $4,000. Downgrades: $1,500. GRR = ($100K − $5.5K) ÷ $100K = 94.5%.

GRR vs NRR — The Retention Stack

Think of GRR as the floor and NRR as the ceiling. GRR shows the worst case — what percentage of revenue survives without any upsell. NRR shows the full picture once expansion revenue is added back.

A business with 85% GRR and 110% NRR is growing despite significant churn — expansion is masking a retention problem. Eventually, expansion MRR will fail to offset accelerating churn. Fix GRR first; then NRR improvement becomes durable.

Why GRR Above 90% Matters

Investors model NRR but stress-test GRR. If your expansion MRR disappears (a down market, pricing pressure, competitive shift), what does your revenue base look like? 90%+ GRR means surviving a difficult year. 70% GRR means losing 30% of revenue annually — even in a good year, you're fighting to stay flat.

GRR Benchmarks by SaaS Segment (2026)

GRR	Assessment	NRR Typically Achievable	Investor View
95%+	World-class	120%+ NRR possible	Strong foundation
90–95%	Healthy	110–120% NRR	Solid — acceptable
80–90%	Below target	100–110% NRR stretch	Requires explanation
< 80%	Concerning	Hard to exceed 100%	Red flag in diligence

Source: KeyBanc Capital Markets SaaS Survey 2025 · OpenView SaaS Benchmarks 2025

Common Mistakes

⚠️

Including new customer MRR in GRR

GRR is calculated on a fixed cohort of existing customers — new customers are not included. Adding new MRR inflates GRR and hides true churn from the existing base.

⚠️

Treating downgrades the same as churn in strategy

Downgrades and churn require different fixes. Churn = lost customer (product-market fit, onboarding, support issues). Downgrade = customer stayed but reduced spend (pricing mismatch, feature gaps). Diagnose separately.

⚠️

Celebrating high NRR despite poor GRR

A 110% NRR built on 75% GRR is fragile. If expansion MRR growth slows, you're exposed to the 25% annual revenue loss from your existing base. High NRR only becomes durable when it's built on top of strong GRR (90%+).