Scenario 01
Healthy SMB SaaS
Starting MRR $50K, expansion $4K, contraction $500, churn $1,500.
NRR = (50K + 4K − 500 − 1500) ÷ 50K = 104%. Healthy.
NRR Calculator.
Net Revenue Retention answers one question: ignoring new customers, are existing accounts growing or shrinking? Best-in-class SaaS leaders run 120-140% NRR. Snowflake, Datadog, and others publicly hit 130%+.
Enter starting MRR, expansion, contraction, and churn from the same prior cohort. Above 100% means your existing book is growing; below 90% means a leaking bucket.
Inputs
USD
Upgrades, seat additions, add-ons
USD
Downgrades, removed seats
USD
Lost MRR from cancellations
USD
NRR result
Net Revenue Retention
104.00%
healthy • smb stage
100%+ NRR is the SMB SaaS healthy bar. Best-in-class hits 110-120%.
All metrics from your inputs
MRR$9,800.00
ARR$117,600.00
ARPU$49.00
LTV$980.00
CAC$160.00
LTV:CAC6.13x
CAC Payback4.1 months
Monthly churn (counts)4.00%
NRR104.00%
Year-end MRR$12,082.35
Benchmark verdicts use smb thresholds from ChartMogul Open Benchmarks 2025.
The formula
How NRR
is calculated.
4 steps. Same formula every reputable SaaS dashboard uses: ChartMogul, Baremetrics, ProfitWell.
- 01
Start with prior-period MRR
Take MRR from existing customers as of the start of the period.
MRR_start - 02
Add expansion
Upgrades, seat additions, add-ons, usage overage from the same cohort.
+ expansion - 03
Subtract contraction + churn
Downgrades and removed seats = contraction. Cancellations + lost MRR = churn.
− contraction − churn - 04
Divide by starting MRR
Above 100% means existing customers are growing faster than they’re leaving. Best-in-class SaaS often hits 120%+. New customer revenue is excluded.
÷ MRR_start × 100%
Industry data
Benchmarks by stage.
What healthy looks like at your size. Bootstrapped indie SaaS, SMB, mid-market, and enterprise SaaS all play different games. These thresholds reflect the reality.
| Stage | Healthy | Warning | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bootstrapped | >95% | 85-95% | <85% |
| SMBYou | >100% | 90-100% | <90% |
| Mid-market | >110% | 100-110% | <100% |
| Enterprise | >120% | 110-120% | <110% |
Your current value: 104.00%.
Examples
Worked examples.
Three real scenarios. Inputs in plain English, the formula applied, the answer.
Scenario 02
Best-in-class enterprise
Starting MRR $200K, expansion $50K, contraction $1K, churn $5K.
NRR = (200K + 50K − 1K − 5K) ÷ 200K = 122%. Best-in-class.
Scenario 03
Leaking bucket
Starting MRR $80K, expansion $1K, contraction $3K, churn $10K.
NRR ≈ 85%. Critical - existing book shrinking faster than expansion can offset.
Questions
Frequently asked.
Everything else worth knowing about Net Revenue Retention.
NRR (Net Revenue Retention) includes expansion. GRR (Gross Revenue Retention) excludes it. GRR is capped at 100%; it measures pure retention. NRR can exceed 100% when expansion outpaces churn. Investors look at both: GRR for product stickiness, NRR for monetisation efficiency.
Downgrades count as contraction MRR. Track separately from churn (cancellations). Both are subtracted from starting MRR in the formula.
The formulas are textbook standard, used by ChartMogul, Baremetrics, OpenView, and most SaaS investors. Your numbers will be accurate to the inputs you provide. Garbage in, garbage out: pull the numbers from your billing system, not your gut.
MRR, ARR, ARPU: monthly. Churn, NRR: monthly with quarterly trend review. CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC, CAC payback: quarterly. They’re lagging and noisy on a monthly basis. Growth projection: refresh quarterly when you change your roadmap.
A 4% monthly churn rate is excellent for bootstrapped indie SaaS but alarming for enterprise SaaS. CAC payback of 18 months is dangerous for SMB but normal for enterprise. Stage-aware benchmarks tell you what good looks like at your size, not at someone else’s.
Yes, with adaptation. For usage-based pricing, normalise to monthly recurring billed amount before computing MRR. For hybrid (base + usage), include the recurring base in MRR and treat overage as expansion in NRR. The formulas don’t change. Only how you measure ARPU does.
Gross = before any offsetting moves. Net = after expansion or other positive flows offset losses. Gross churn ≤ net churn (net can be negative, meaning expansion outpaces loss). NRR includes expansion (net); GRR excludes it (gross). Both are reported in best SaaS dashboards.
No, never. Every metric here is paying-customers-only. Including trials inflates customer counts, deflates ARPU, and breaks comparability against industry benchmarks. Trials become "customers" the moment they convert to paid.
Investors care about: ARR (scale), MRR growth rate (momentum), monthly churn (retention), LTV:CAC (unit economics), and NRR if you have one. Seed: $0-100K ARR with strong growth. Series A: $1M+ ARR, sub-5% monthly churn, LTV:CAC 3x+. Series B: $5-15M ARR, NRR 110%+.
They’re a system. ARPU × customers = MRR. MRR × 12 = ARR. Customers × monthly churn = lost MRR. CAC + LTV + churn = unit economics. NRR + growth rate + churn = trajectory. Track them together. Improving one in isolation can mask trade-offs elsewhere.
Yes. Every tool on this page is free, no signup, no email gate, no upsell to a paid version. They’re built by FoundStep to help indie SaaS founders ship better businesses.
Benchmarks reference 2025-2026 data from ChartMogul Open Benchmarks, Baremetrics Open Benchmarks, OpenView SaaS Benchmarks 2024, and SaaS Capital’s annual report. Citations are linked under each benchmark table. We refresh annually.
All tools
Every SaaS metric calculator.
All-in-one
SaaS Metrics Calculator (unified dashboard)
Every KPI on one screen: MRR, ARR, churn, LTV, CAC, LTV:CAC, payback, NRR, Rule of 40, with stage-aware health colour coding.
Valuation
SaaS Valuation Calculator (7 methods, 2026 multiples)
ARR multiple, EBITDA, Rule of 40, DCF, VC, Scorecard, Berkus. Q1 2026 multiples calibrated public + private comps. Industry-adjusted.
MRR
MRR Calculator
Calculate Monthly Recurring Revenue in seconds. Project MRR over 12 months with growth and churn. Compare against industry benchmarks. Free.
ARR
ARR Calculator
Calculate Annual Recurring Revenue from MRR or annual contracts. Project ARR growth. Compare against funding-stage benchmarks. Free SaaS tool.
Churn Rate
Churn Rate Calculator
Calculate monthly customer churn rate from start/end customer counts. Compare against ChartMogul SaaS benchmarks. Free, no signup.
LTV
LTV Calculator
Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) using contribution-margin method. Pair with CAC to evaluate unit economics. Free SaaS tool.
CAC
CAC Calculator
Calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) from total sales + marketing spend and new paying customers. Free SaaS tool, no signup.
LTV:CAC
LTV:CAC Ratio Calculator
Calculate LTV to CAC ratio - the textbook SaaS unit economics gauge. Compare against industry benchmarks. Free, no signup.
CAC Payback
CAC Payback Period Calculator
Calculate CAC payback period in months. Best-in-class SaaS recovers in <12 months. Free industry benchmarks included.
NRR
NRR Calculator
Calculate Net Revenue Retention from starting MRR + expansion - contraction - churn. Compare against best-in-class SaaS benchmarks.
ARPU
ARPU Calculator
Calculate Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from MRR and customer count. Track upmarket motion and pricing trends. Free SaaS tool.
Growth Projection
SaaS Growth Calculator
Project SaaS MRR over 12 months with monthly growth and churn rates. Visualise compound impact. Free tool, no signup.
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