Gross Revenue Retention(GRR)
Quick definition
The percentage of revenue you retain from existing customers, without counting upsell or cross-sell. GRR purely shows how many customers stay at their current level.
Detailed explanation
GRR is the base metric for customer retention. Where NRR shows how much you grow with existing customers, GRR shows how much revenue you retain without new sales. You calculate it: start with revenue from a group of customers a year ago, see how much those customers still generate (without upsell), and divide that by the start revenue. If your GRR is 95%, it means: you lose 5% revenue per year from customers who stop or downgrade. A GRR of 90%+ is good, 95%+ is excellent. Below 85% you have a churn problem. GRR can never go above 100%, because you only count revenue loss. The best enterprise SaaS companies have a GRR of 95-98%. For SMB-focused companies it's often between 80-90% (smaller companies stop faster). A low GRR means your product isn't sticky enough, your onboarding doesn't work well, or you're attracting the wrong customers. GRR is more important than NRR for your business foundation: you can't keep growing forever with upsell if your base customers are leaving.
Synonyms
Examples
A software company had customers on January 1, 2025 who generated €800,000 ARR. On January 1, 2026, those same customers generate €760,000 (excl. upsells). GRR = (€760,000 / €800,000) × 100% = 95%. Good customer retention.
Match-day measures GRR at a client: start revenue €1M, end revenue €850K (excl. upsell). GRR = 85%. Too low. We analyze why customers stop: poor onboarding. We fix the process. Year later: GRR = 92%.
When to use this?
Measure GRR every quarter, parallel to NRR. If your GRR is low but NRR high, it means: you're losing many customers but compensating with upsell. That's not sustainable. Focus first on improving GRR before going all-in on upsell. A high GRR is the foundation.
Match-day approach
We help you improve GRR by analyzing your churn. Why do customers stop? Often it's due to mismatched expectations, poor onboarding, or lack of contact. We build a customer success process that prevents churn. Goal: GRR of at least 90% within 12 months.
Related terms
Net Revenue Retention(NRR)
The percentage of revenue you retain from existing customers, including upsell and cross-sell. NRR shows whether you earn more from your current customers, even if some customers stop.
Churn Rate
The percentage of customers who stop using your product or service within a specific period.
Learn more
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