SaaS revenue metrics
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Definition
The percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers excluding any expansion revenue. GRR isolates your ability to keep customers from downgrading or churning.
In depth
6 sections
What Is Gross Revenue Retention?
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) — also called gross dollar retention (GDR) — 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 the recurring revenue of the customers you had at the beginning of the period. Subtract revenue lost to downgrades (contraction) and cancellations (churn). Divide by the starting figure. Expansion revenue is deliberately excluded — that is what makes GRR different from NRR. You can run the calculation on MRR or ARR; the percentage is the same as long as you use one consistently.
Worked example: your customers at the start of the year paid $1,000,000 in ARR. Over the year, customers who cancelled took $60,000 with them and customers who downgraded cut another $40,000. Meanwhile, upsells added $150,000. GRR = ($1,000,000 - $60,000 - $40,000) / $1,000,000 = 90%. The $150,000 of expansion does not count toward GRR — it shows up in NRR, which for the same cohort is 105%.
Start with the recurring revenue of the customers you had at the beginning of the period. Subtract revenue lost to downgrades (contraction) and cancellations (churn). Divide by the starting figure. Expansion revenue is deliberately excluded — that is what makes GRR different from NRR. You can run the calculation on MRR or ARR; the percentage is the same as long as you use one consistently.
Worked example: your customers at the start of the year paid $1,000,000 in ARR. Over the year, customers who cancelled took $60,000 with them and customers who downgraded cut another $40,000. Meanwhile, upsells added $150,000. GRR = ($1,000,000 - $60,000 - $40,000) / $1,000,000 = 90%. The $150,000 of expansion does not count toward GRR — it shows up in NRR, which for the same cohort is 105%.
GRR vs. NRR: What Is the Difference?
GRR and NRR start from the same cohort of existing customers and differ in one line: expansion. GRR answers "how much of our existing revenue did we keep?" NRR answers "how much did our existing customers end up paying us?" A company can post strong NRR while quietly losing customers, as long as the survivors expand fast enough — GRR is what exposes that.
| Factor | Gross revenue retention (GRR) | Net revenue retention (NRR) |
|---|---|---|
| Formula | (Start - churn - contraction) / Start | (Start - churn - contraction + expansion) / Start |
| Counts expansion? | No | Yes — upsells, cross-sells, seats, usage |
| Maximum | 100% | No ceiling (120%+ is possible) |
| What it tells you | How durable your revenue base is | How much your base grows on its own |
| Example above | 90% | 105% |
| Strong benchmark | 90%+ | 110%+ |
Common GRR Calculation Mistakes
Including new customers. GRR only measures customers who were already paying at the start of the period. Revenue from customers signed during the period belongs in new MRR.
Letting expansion offset churn. If one customer downgrades while another upgrades, the downgrade still counts against GRR. Netting them out turns GRR into NRR.
Mixing periods. Monthly GRR and annual GRR are not interchangeable — 98% monthly GRR compounds to roughly 78% annually. State which one you are reporting.
Ignoring paused or delinquent accounts. Decide up front whether a customer on a failed payment is churned, and apply the rule the same way every period.
Letting expansion offset churn. If one customer downgrades while another upgrades, the downgrade still counts against GRR. Netting them out turns GRR into NRR.
Mixing periods. Monthly GRR and annual GRR are not interchangeable — 98% monthly GRR compounds to roughly 78% annually. State which one you are reporting.
Ignoring paused or delinquent accounts. Decide up front whether a customer on a failed payment is churned, and apply the rule the same way every period.
GRR Benchmarks for SaaS
Best-in-class SaaS companies maintain GRR above 90%. Benchmarks vary with customer size, because smaller customers churn more often:
A GRR below 80% is a red flag in any segment — it signals significant revenue leakage from your existing customer base.
| Segment | Typical annual GRR | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| SMB / self-serve | 80-90% | 90%+ |
| Mid-market | 85-92% | 92%+ |
| Enterprise | 90-95% | 95%+ |
Why GRR Matters for Financing
GRR is the floor under your revenue. If you stopped selling tomorrow, it tells a lender how much of this year's recurring revenue would still be there next year. That is why providers of non-dilutive funding and revenue-based financing weigh retention heavily when sizing an offer: a business with 92% GRR can safely support more capital than one with the same ARR at 78% GRR. Pair GRR with logo churn to show both the dollar impact and the breadth of any losses.