Gross Revenue Retention(GRR)

Also called: GRR

TL;DR

The percentage of recurring revenue retained from a cohort after one year, excluding expansion, the pure retention metric.

GRR measures retention without the offsetting effect of expansion. It captures only contraction and churn, so GRR ≤ 100% by definition. GRR is the cleanest read on whether the product is structurally sticky; NRR is the read on whether the business is structurally compounding.

World-class SaaS GRR is 90%+ at enterprise and 80%+ at SMB. GRR below 75% in B2B SaaS suggests fundamental product or fit problems that high expansion can mask in NRR but cannot fix.

Formula

GRR = (Starting ARR − Churn − Contraction) ÷ Starting ARR × 100%

Starting ARR , ARR of the cohort at the start of the period
Churn , ARR lost from canceled customers in the period
Contraction , ARR lost from existing customers downgrading or reducing seats

GRR is capped at 100%, it excludes expansion. GRR < 90% (mid-market SaaS) signals product or onboarding problems.

Worked example

Cohort ARR $1.0M at start. Churned $80k, contracted $40k. GRR = ($1.0M − $0.08M − $0.04M) ÷ $1.0M = 88%, slightly below the 90% mid-market benchmark; investigate churn reasons.

Common pitfalls

•Reporting only NRR and hiding weak GRR.
•Treating temporary churn spikes as long-term GRR.
•Failing to segment GRR by ICP and segment.

When this shows up in a pitch deck

Investor-grade SaaS decks show NRR and GRR side by side.

Related terms

Net Revenue Retention

The percentage of recurring revenue retained from a cohort after one year, including expansion, contraction, and churn.

Logo Churn

The percentage of customers (logos) who cancel in a given period, regardless of how much revenue they represented.

Revenue Churn

The percentage of recurring revenue lost from existing customers in a period through cancellation or downgrade.

Cohort Analysis

Grouping users by sign-up period and tracking each group's behavior over time to spot trends invisible in aggregate metrics.

Customer Success Manager

The post-sale owner of the customer relationship, responsible for adoption, retention, and expansion of an account.

Pitch deck pillar pages

Long-form deep dives on the slides Gross Revenue Retention most often shows up on.

Pitch Deck Traction Slide

Build a traction slide that proves the business is working: stage-appropriate metrics, the chart shape investors expect, and three failure patterns to avoid.

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