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Growth & SaaS metrics

Gross Revenue Retention GRR

The share of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, excluding any expansion, so it caps at 100%.

Part of the Growth & SaaS Metrics course · Lesson 3 of 8
Formula
GRR = (Starting ARR - Contraction - Churn) / Starting ARR x 100%

What it is

Gross Revenue Retention measures how much recurring revenue from an existing customer cohort survives over a period, after downgrades and cancellations but before any expansion. Unlike net revenue retention, it gives no credit for upsells, so it can never exceed 100%. It isolates pure retention, showing how leaky the base is on its own.

Why it matters

GRR strips out the masking effect of upsells, so it reveals the underlying stickiness of a product that NRR can hide. A company can post strong NRR while quietly losing many customers, but a high GRR confirms the base itself is durable. Investors often look at GRR and NRR together to separate retention from expansion.

How it's calculated

Take the starting recurring revenue of a cohort, subtract downgrades and churn, then divide by the starting amount; expansion revenue is never added.

How Quintarthai uses it

When a company discloses both GRR and NRR, you can weigh the gap against the financial trend on its company deep-analysis page to judge how much growth depends on upselling.

Cross-border note. GRR is self-defined and non-GAAP in both Canada and the US; confirm the measurement window and currency before comparing a TSX-listed SaaS issuer to a US-listed one.

FAQ

Why can gross revenue retention never exceed 100%?
GRR excludes expansion revenue and only subtracts losses from the starting base. With nothing added, the most a cohort can retain is everything it started with, which is 100%.
Which is more important, GRR or NRR?
They answer different questions and are best used together. GRR shows how well a company holds its base; NRR shows whether that base grows after expansion. A wide gap means growth leans heavily on upsells.
Related terms
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