Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)
Recurring revenue retained from existing customers excluding any expansion revenue
What is Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)?
Gross revenue retention is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers over a period, ignoring any expansion. It shows how much of the revenue base survives losses and downgrades.
Because it cannot exceed 100%, it is a stricter view of retention than net revenue retention.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Customer Success & Service
- Sub-function
- Revenue Retention
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Revenue
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly / Quarterly
- Formula
- ((Starting MRR − Churned MRR − Contraction MRR) / Starting MRR) × 100
How to calculate it
Subtract churned and contraction monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from starting MRR, divide by starting MRR, and multiply by 100.
For example, with starting MRR of 1,000,000, churned MRR of 60,000 and contraction MRR of 40,000, GRR is (1,000,000 - 60,000 - 40,000) / 1,000,000 x 100 = 90%.
Expansion is excluded, so the figure shows pure retention.
Where it is used
Measuring true retention
See losses without expansion masking them.
Assessing product stickiness
Judge the strength of the base.
Forecasting revenue
Project the base.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- GRR cannot go above 100%.
- Use the same time window for every customer cohort.
- Read with net revenue retention.
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