Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Definition
Gross revenue retention (GRR) measures the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a given period, excluding any expansion revenue. GRR can never exceed 100 % and isolates how well a company prevents downgrades and cancellations from its installed base.
Formula
Overview
Gross revenue retention (GRR) strips out the positive effects of upsells and cross-sells to give you a pure view of revenue loss. While NRR can mask churn with expansion, GRR forces you to confront exactly how much revenue is walking out the door.
A GRR of 90 %+ is considered healthy for SaaS businesses selling to SMBs, while enterprise-focused companies often maintain 95 %+. If GRR dips below 80 %, it signals a fundamental retention problem that expansion revenue alone cannot solve sustainably.
GRR is especially useful for early-stage founders who have not yet built significant upsell motions. It provides an honest baseline of customer satisfaction and product stickiness before layering on pricing expansion strategies.
Example
Starting MRR of $200K, with $6K in downgrades and $10K in cancellations: GRR = (($200K − $6K − $10K) ÷ $200K) × 100 = 92 %.
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