Failed Payment Recovery Calculator
Enter your MRR, the share of it that fails on the first charge each month, and the share of those failures you win back. You get the revenue lost to failed payments each month and each year, and what a better recovery rate would save.
Share of a month's renewal charges that are declined on the first try.
Share of failed payments you later collect, by a retry or a new card.
A better rate, to see what the difference is worth.
- Recovered
- Lost
- $50,000 × 5%= $2,500 fails a month
- $2,500 × 40%= $1,000 recovered
- $2,500 − $1,000= $1,500 lost a month
- $1,500 × 12= $18,000 lost a year
- $2,500 × (55% − 40%) × 12= +$4,500 saved a year
Revenue lost to failed payments is what fails, less what you recover.
failed each month = MRR × failed payment rate
recovered = failed each month × recovery rate
lost each month = failed each month − recovered
lost each year = lost each month × 12
The calculator starts with $50,000 of MRR and a 5% failed payment rate, so $2,500 of charges fail each month. At a 40% recovery rate, $1,000 comes back and $1,500 is lost. Over a year that is $18,000.
A better recovery rate saves the gap between the two rates, times what fails.
saved each month = failed each month × (new recovery rate − recovery rate today)
Moving from 40% to 55% recovers 15 points more of the $2,500. That is $375 a month and $4,500 a year.
| Recovery rate | Recovered a month | Lost a month | Lost a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | $500 | $2,000 | $24,000 |
| 40% | $1,000 | $1,500 | $18,000 |
| 55% | $1,375 | $1,125 | $13,500 |
| 70% | $1,750 | $750 | $9,000 |
| 85% | $2,125 | $375 | $4,500 |
The comparison rate starts at 55% because that is the average Stripe reports: Stripe's Billing page says "businesses using Stripe recover 55% of failed payments on average".
Source: stripe.com/billing, read 13 October 2026.
Your failure rate and recovery rate come from your billing reports.
- Failed payment rate. The value of renewal charges declined on the first try, divided by the value of all renewal charges that month.
- Recovery rate. Of those failed charges, the share later paid, whether by a retry, an updated card or a second card on file.
If you bill through Stripe, its revenue recovery tools include recovery analytics that show subscription payment failure rates and recovery rates.
An unrecovered payment usually ends the subscription, so the real loss is larger.
The calculator counts one missed month for each payment that is never recovered. When a payment stays unpaid, the subscription usually ends or is paused, and that customer's later months go with it. This is involuntary churn: the customer did not choose to leave.
Retries are the first tool against it. Stripe's documentation recommends its Smart Retries feature and says "the recommended default setting is 8 tries within 2 weeks".
Source: Stripe Docs, "Automate payment retries", read 13 October 2026.
A second card gives a declined charge somewhere else to go. 1Capture lets customers add a backup payment method, so a failed charge is retried on the second card. To see what the customers you keep are worth, use the customer lifetime value calculator.
People also ask these questions about failed payments.
What is failed payment recovery?
It is collecting a subscription payment after the first attempt to charge it was declined. The usual ways are retrying the card later, asking the customer to update their card, and charging a second card they have on file. The recovery rate is the share of failed payments that end up paid.
What is involuntary churn?
Involuntary churn is a customer lost because a payment failed, not because they chose to cancel. A card expires or a charge is declined, nobody fixes it, and the subscription ends. Failed payment recovery is the work of stopping that.
How do you calculate failed payment recovery rate?
Divide the value of failed payments you later collected by the value of all payments that failed, and multiply by 100. If $2,500 of charges failed in a month and $1,000 was later collected, the recovery rate is 40%.
How much revenue do businesses recover from failed payments?
Stripe's Billing page says that businesses using Stripe recover 55% of failed payments on average (stripe.com/billing, read 13 October 2026). Your own rate depends on how you retry and how you reach customers, so check it in your billing reports.
How many times should a failed subscription payment be retried?
Stripe's documentation for its Smart Retries feature says the recommended default setting is 8 tries within 2 weeks (Stripe Docs, "Automate payment retries", read 13 October 2026). The same page lists retry windows from 1 week to 2 months, and says you can set a custom schedule instead.
Why do subscription payments fail?
Common causes are a card that has expired or been replaced, an account short of funds on the day of the charge, and a bank that declines the charge. Stripe's documentation says payments can fail for a number of reasons, but many of them are recoverable (Stripe Docs, "Automate payment retries", read 13 October 2026).
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.
- Churn rate calculatorCustomer churn, MRR churn and net revenue retention, by month and year.
- 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.
- Stripe fee calculatorThe Stripe fee on any charge, and what you keep.