SaaS Churn Rate Calculator
Enter the customers and MRR you started a period with, and what you lost. You get customer churn, gross and net revenue churn and net revenue retention, each as a monthly and a yearly rate.
Count only customers and MRR you had at the start. Leave new customers out.
| Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Customer churn | 3.0% | 30.6% |
| Gross MRR churn | 4.0% | 38.7% |
| Net MRR churn | -1.0% | -12.7% |
| Net revenue retention | 101.0% | 112.7% |
| Gross revenue retention | 96.0% | 61.3% |
After 12 months
- Customers left of every 100 today: 69.4
- What every $100 of MRR from those customers becomes: $112.68
- 15 ÷ 500 × 100= 3.0% a month
- 1 − 0.970^12= 30.6% a year
- ($1,500 + $500) ÷ $50,000= 4.0% gross MRR churn
- ($2,000 − $2,500) ÷ $50,000= -1.0% net MRR churn
- $50,500 ÷ $50,000= 101.0% NRR a month
- 1.010^12= 112.7% NRR a year
Customer churn rate is customers lost divided by customers at the start.
customer churn = customers lost in the period ÷ customers at the start × 100
The calculator starts with 500 customers and 15 lost in a month. 15 divided by 500 is 3.0% monthly customer churn.
Only customers who were there at the start count. Customers who joined during the period are left out of both numbers, or a month with strong signups would hide the losses.
Revenue churn counts dollars, and expansion can push it below zero.
gross MRR churn = (cancelled MRR + downgrade MRR) ÷ starting MRR × 100
net MRR churn = (cancelled MRR + downgrade MRR − expansion MRR) ÷ starting MRR × 100
net revenue retention = 100% − net MRR churn
The example starts with $50,000 of MRR, loses $1,500 to cancellations and $500 to downgrades, and gains $2,500 from upgrades. Gross MRR churn is $2,000 divided by $50,000, which is 4.0%.
Net MRR churn takes the expansion off first: $2,000 lost less $2,500 gained is -$500, or -1.0% of starting MRR. Net revenue retention is the same fact the other way round: $50,000 became $50,500, which is 101.0%.
A yearly rate compounds the monthly one, so 3.0% a month is 30.6% a year, not 36%.
Each month's churn comes out of a smaller group than the month before. To turn a monthly rate into a yearly one, work out the share that stays each month, multiply it by itself 12 times, and subtract the result from 1.
annual churn = 1 − (1 − monthly churn) ^ 12
annual net revenue retention = monthly net revenue retention ^ 12
At 3.0% a month, 97.0% of customers stay each month. 0.97 multiplied by itself 12 times is 0.694, so 69.4% are left after a year and annual churn is 30.6%. Monthly net revenue retention of 101.0% compounds to 112.7% a year.
| Monthly churn | Left after 12 months | Annual churn | Monthly × 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1% | 88.6% | 11.4% | 12% |
| 2% | 78.5% | 21.5% | 24% |
| 3% | 69.4% | 30.6% | 36% |
| 5% | 54.0% | 46.0% | 60% |
| 10% | 28.2% | 71.8% | 120% |
It works the other way too. If your numbers cover a quarter or a year, pick that period in the calculator and it gives the matching monthly rate.
Read customer churn and revenue churn together, because they can point in opposite directions.
- High customer churn, low revenue churn. Small accounts are leaving and large ones are staying.
- Low customer churn, high revenue churn. A few large accounts left, or many customers downgraded.
- Net revenue retention above 100%. The customers you already had are worth more than before, with no new sales counted.
- Gross revenue retention. It ignores expansion, so it shows the losses that upgrades would otherwise cover.
Not all churn is a decision to leave. A card expires or a charge is declined, and the subscription lapses. The failed payment recovery calculator puts a number on that part, and 1Capture can retry a failed charge on a customer's backup payment method.
People also ask these questions about churn rate.
How do you calculate churn rate?
Divide the customers you lost in a period by the customers you had at the start of it, then multiply by 100. If you started a month with 500 customers and lost 15, monthly customer churn is 15 divided by 500, times 100, which is 3.0%.
How do you calculate annual churn rate from monthly churn?
Compound it, do not multiply it by 12. Take the share of customers who stay each month, multiply that share by itself 12 times, and subtract the result from 1. At 3.0% a month, 97.0% stay each month, 69.4% are left after 12 months, and annual churn is 30.6%.
What is the difference between customer churn and revenue churn?
Customer churn counts accounts: how many of the customers you had are gone. Revenue churn counts dollars: how much of the MRR you had is gone. They differ whenever customers pay different amounts. Losing ten small accounts moves customer churn a lot and revenue churn a little, and losing one large account does the opposite.
What is net revenue retention and how is it calculated?
Net revenue retention (NRR) is what the MRR you had at the start of a period has become by the end, counting only the customers you already had. Take starting MRR, add expansion, subtract downgrades and cancellations, and divide by starting MRR. $50,000 that becomes $50,500 is an NRR of 101.0%.
What is the difference between gross and net revenue retention?
Gross revenue retention counts only what was lost to cancellations and downgrades, so it can never be above 100%. Net revenue retention also adds expansion from upgrades, so it can be above 100%. Gross shows how well you keep revenue, and net shows whether growth inside existing accounts covers the losses.
What is negative churn?
Net MRR churn is negative when expansion from existing customers is larger than the MRR lost to cancellations and downgrades. In the example, $2,000 was lost and $2,500 was added, so net MRR churn is -1.0%. The customers you already had are worth more at the end of the month than at the start.
Do new customers count when calculating churn rate?
No. Churn compares the customers you had at the start of the period with how many of those same customers are left. Customers who joined during the period stay out of both numbers. Counting them makes churn look lower in any month with strong signups.
These free calculators cover the rest of your subscription numbers.
- Trial conversion rate calculatorYour trial-to-paid rate, and what each extra point is worth in MRR.
- Customer lifetime value calculatorLTV from ARPA, margin and churn, with the LTV to CAC ratio.
- MRR and ARR calculatorNet new MRR, ending MRR and ARR, drawn as a waterfall.
- Failed payment recovery calculatorWhat failed payments cost a month and a year, and what recovery saves.
- Stripe fee calculatorThe Stripe fee on any charge, and what you keep.