GRR Calculator

Gross Revenue Retention, or GRR, measures how much of your existing recurring revenue you hold onto, before any upsells, and this calculator works it out cleanly. Where net retention can be flattered by expansion revenue, gross retention strips that out to show the unvarnished truth about how sticky your revenue is. It takes the recurring revenue from your existing customers at the start of a period and subtracts only the losses, the contraction from downgrades and the churn from customers who leave, ignoring any expansion. Because it never adds anything back, GRR can never exceed 100 percent, and the closer it sits to that ceiling the better. A high GRR means customers stay and keep paying; a low GRR means revenue is leaking out the bottom of the bucket no matter how much you pour in the top. This calculator makes the figure plain. You enter your starting MRR and the contraction and churned MRR over the period, and it returns your GRR, the revenue lost, and the starting figure for reference. The results update as you type. Use it to assess pure retention, to diagnose whether a strong net retention is masking real churn, or to report a conservative retention figure to investors. GRR is the starting MRR minus contraction and churn, divided by the starting MRR. Reading it alongside Net Revenue Retention is especially revealing: if NRR is healthy but GRR is weak, your expansion is papering over significant churn, a fragile position that depends on constantly upselling to offset losses. Strong businesses keep GRR high, commonly above 90 percent for those serving larger customers, so that retention is solid before expansion even enters the picture. A leaky base is hard to grow, which is why GRR is the foundation that net retention is built on.

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Starting MRR ($)

Contraction MRR ($)

Churned MRR ($)

92%

Gross Revenue Retention

Revenue lost$8,000

Starting MRR$100,000

VerdictSolid

GRR = (starting MRR - contraction - churn) / starting MRR. Excludes expansion, so it never exceeds 100%. 90%+ is strong. Read alongside NRR to spot hidden churn.

How it works

GRR starts with the recurring revenue from existing customers at the start of the period and subtracts only the losses: contraction from downgrades and churned revenue from departed customers. It adds no expansion, so the result is capped at 100 percent. Dividing the retained revenue by the starting MRR gives the gross retention rate.

Worked example

Starting with $100,000 of MRR and losing $3,000 to contraction and $5,000 to churn, the retained revenue is $92,000. Dividing by the $100,000 start gives a GRR of 92 percent, meaning the business kept 92 percent of its existing revenue before any expansion, a solid result.

Related calculators

NRR Calculator: net retention.
Customer Churn: churn rate.
Revenue Churn: lost revenue.
MRR Calculator: recurring revenue.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gross Revenue Retention?

GRR measures how much of your existing recurring revenue you keep over a period, after contraction and churn but before any expansion. It is the starting MRR minus those losses, divided by the starting MRR, and it can never exceed 100 percent.

What is a good GRR?

The higher the better, since it is capped at 100 percent. Above 90 percent is considered strong, especially for businesses serving larger customers. A low GRR signals significant revenue leaking from your existing base regardless of new sales.

Why look at GRR as well as NRR?

Net retention can be lifted above 100 percent by expansion even when underlying churn is high. GRR strips out expansion to reveal pure retention, so a weak GRR alongside a healthy NRR warns that upsells are masking real churn, a fragile position.