Retention

Retention is the share of your existing customers, or of the revenue they pay you, that you still have at the end of a period. It is the reverse of churn. Teams usually track it three ways: by customer count, by revenue before upgrades, and by revenue after upgrades. Each version shows a different problem.

How it is measured

ChartMogul measures retention in SaaS three ways. Customer retention, also known as logo retention, counts customers. The other two count revenue.

• Customer retention = customers from the starting group still paying at the end ÷ customers in that group at the start
• Gross revenue retention (GRR) = monthly recurring revenue (MRR) at the end from the starting group, excluding expansion ÷ that group's MRR at the start
• Net revenue retention (NRR) = the same calculation with upgrades and expansion included

Worked example

ChartMogul's sample company had four customers a year ago and lost one, so customer retention is 3/4 = 75%. The same group's MRR moved from 770 to 800, so net revenue retention is 800/770, or 103.9%. Remove expansion and that group's MRR is 630, so gross revenue retention is 630/770 = 81.8%. One company, three numbers. Upgrades hid the lost revenue.

Usual mistakes

Counting only customers. In ChartMogul's example, losing 20 of 100 customers gives 80% customer retention, but if those 20 made up 50% of revenue, gross revenue retention is 50%.

Reporting only NRR. ChartMogul calls net retention a lagging indicator, so report GRR next to it.

Treating sign-up growth as a sign of loyalty. Amplitude found no correlation between acquisition and retention performance.

Benchmarking against the wrong peers. In SaaS Capital's 2025 survey, median gross revenue retention was 90% to 91% at contract sizes up to $250k a year. Compare yourself with companies at a similar contract size. Our monthly churn benchmarks cover the churn side.

When it matters to you

This week, look at the first seven days after sign-up. Amplitude found that 69% of top performers in seven-day activation were also top performers in three-month retention. See what a good activation rate looks like.

Billing terms change the numbers too. ChartMogul reports that median NRR is 10 to 20 percentage points higher for annual plans than for monthly plans.