Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)

The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers excluding any expansion revenue. GRR isolates your ability to keep customers from downgrading or churning.

What Is Gross Revenue Retention?

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) measures the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, excluding any expansion revenue. It isolates your ability to prevent downgrades and churn from your existing base. Unlike net revenue retention, GRR cannot exceed 100%.

How to Calculate GRR

GRR = (Starting MRR - Contraction MRR - Churned MRR) / Starting MRR x 100

Start with your MRR at the beginning of the period. Subtract revenue lost to downgrades (contraction) and cancellations (churn). Divide by starting MRR. Expansion revenue is deliberately excluded — that is what makes GRR different from NRR.

GRR Benchmarks for SaaS

Best-in-class SaaS companies maintain GRR above 90%. Enterprise SaaS typically achieves 95%+ GRR due to longer contracts and higher switching costs. SMB-focused SaaS may see 80-90% GRR. A GRR below 80% is a red flag that signals significant revenue leakage from your existing customer base.

Related Terms

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Churn Rate

Logo Churn

Recurring Revenue

Frequently Asked Questions

GRR excludes expansion revenue and measures only your ability to retain existing revenue. NRR includes expansion (upsells, cross-sells) on top of retention. GRR reveals the "floor" of your retention — how much you keep even without upselling. Both are important, but GRR is the stricter measure.
Focus on reducing both churn and downgrades. Common tactics include better onboarding, proactive customer success, usage-based alerting (detect at-risk accounts early), reducing involuntary churn (failed payments), and ensuring your pricing tiers align with customer value realization. Improving churn rate is the most direct path to higher GRR.
Most Series A investors look for GRR above 85%, with 90%+ considered strong. A GRR below 80% is a red flag that often stalls fundraising conversations, because it signals that your product may not be delivering sustained value. Pair strong GRR with healthy net revenue retention to present the most compelling retention story.

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