Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
What is Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)?
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) measures the percentage of recurring revenue retained from an existing customer base over a period, excluding any upsells. It focuses solely on revenue lost through downgrades or churn. High GRR signals low churn/downgrade and predictable baseline revenue.
Calculating Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) measures how well your business keeps revenue from its existing customer base over a set period. Here’s how to work it out:
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Note the total revenue from your current customers at the beginning of the period (e.g., month or year).
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Identify any revenue lost when customers cancel or downgrade their subscriptions during that same period, and subtract that amount from your starting revenue.
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Apply the Formula
GRR (%) = [(Starting Revenue – Lost Revenue) ÷ Starting Revenue] × 100
- Interpret the Result
A GRR of 90% means you’ve retained 90% of the revenue you began with. Since this metric ignores any upsells or cross-sells, it will never exceed 100%.
Example:
Starting MRR: $10,000
Revenue lost to cancellations/downgrades: $1,000
GRR = [($10,000 – $1,000) ÷ $10,000] × 100 = 90%
This shows that you kept 90% of your original revenue from existing customers over the period.