Revenue Metrics

GRR: Gross Revenue Retention

Revenue retained from existing customers, excluding expansion. The pure stickiness measure.

Definition

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) is the percentage of revenue retained from an existing customer cohort over a period, excluding expansion. Unlike NRR, GRR cannot exceed 100%. It is the cleanest measure of how sticky a product is.

Formula

GRR = (Starting Revenue − Contraction − Churn) ÷ Starting Revenue × 100

GRR = (Start Revenue − Contraction − Churn) / Start Revenue × 100%

Worked example

Start the year at £1m ARR. £30k contraction and £20k churn give GRR of 95%. The same cohort with £200k expansion delivers 115% NRR.

Why it matters

GRR strips expansion out so you can see the underlying retention of the product. Two businesses can both report 110% NRR; the one with 95% GRR is materially healthier than the one with 80% GRR masked by aggressive upsell. Healthy GRR for B2B SaaS sits above 90%.

Common mistakes

  • Reporting only NRR and hiding GRR (a board red flag)
  • Including new business in the cohort
  • Measuring GRR over a window shorter than 12 months

Related terms

NRRChurnMRR

Read more in The Guide

Chapter: Metrics That Matter →

Sources & further reading

  • — Drawn from Evara's working definitions used on retained search and revenue advisory engagements (2024–2026).
  • — Reconciled against industry conventions in SaaStr, OpenView SaaS Benchmarks and Bessemer State of the Cloud.
  • — Reviewed by Rich Evans, Strategic Advisor at Evara and former operator/founder.

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