---
title: What is Net revenue retention?
url: https://markin.ai/glossary/net-revenue-retention
category: Revenue and ARPU metrics
aliases: NRR
---

# Net revenue retention

> Net revenue retention measures revenue from an existing cohort at the end of a period against its revenue at the start, including upgrades, downgrades and churn, but excluding new customers. Above one hundred percent, the existing base grows on its own.

## How it is calculated

```
NRR = (Starting revenue + Expansion - Contraction - Churn) / Starting revenue
```

Always cohort-anchored. NRR computed across the whole book mixes in acquisition and stops being a retention metric.

## Why it matters for ARPU

NRR is the clearest single read on whether a decision layer is working: it rises only when expansion and retention decisions beat the downgrades happening anyway.

## Related terms

- [Gross revenue retention](https://markin.ai/glossary/gross-revenue-retention), Gross revenue retention measures how much starting cohort revenue survives a period counting only losses: churn and downgrades, never expansion.
- [Expansion revenue](https://markin.ai/glossary/expansion-revenue), Expansion revenue is additional revenue from customers a business already has: upgrades, add-ons, cross-sell, higher usage or a move to a richer plan.
- [Churn rate](https://markin.ai/glossary/churn-rate), Churn rate is the share of customers, or of revenue, lost in a period.
- [Cohort analysis](https://markin.ai/glossary/cohort-analysis), Cohort analysis groups customers by a shared starting characteristic, usually acquisition month, and follows each group over time.

## Go deeper

- [Retention decisioning](https://markin.ai/solutions/retention-decisioning), Moving NRR with per-customer decisions.
- [Cross-sell without cannibalization](https://markin.ai/blog/cross-sell-without-cannibalization), Expansion that does not steal from itself.

Source: https://markin.ai/glossary/net-revenue-retention