Formula
NRR = (starting MRR + expansion − contraction − churn) / starting MRR
Net revenue retention
Also known as NRR, net dollar retention
Net revenue retention is the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, after expansion, contraction and churn.
Worked example
Starting at €100,000 with €12,000 expansion, €3,000 contraction and €5,000 churn gives NRR of 104 percent.
Benchmark
Above 100 percent means the existing base grows without new customers. Best-in-class B2B SaaS reaches 120 percent or more.
NRR above 100 percent is the strongest signal in subscription economics: it means the company would grow even if it never won another customer.
It is also the metric investors use to separate genuine product-market fit from acquisition spending. Heavy new-customer growth masks poor retention for a while, and NRR is where the mask slips.
Related terms
Keep this number live
Plainhub computes net revenue retention from money you record in plain words, so it is current when you need it rather than the night before a board meeting.
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