What is a good NRR for SaaS?

100% or above means expansion revenue is at least offsetting churn and contraction, which is solid. 110% or above is commonly cited as strong for B2B SaaS, and the best-performing companies report higher. Below 100%, your existing base is shrinking and new sales are filling a leaking bucket.

Can NRR be over 100%?

Yes, and that's the goal. NRR above 100% means upgrades and expansion from existing customers more than covered the revenue lost to churn and downgrades, so the business would grow even with zero new customers.

What's the difference between NRR and GRR?

GRR (gross revenue retention) counts only what you kept, churn and contraction subtracted, expansion excluded, so it can never exceed 100%. NRR adds expansion back in. GRR shows how leaky the bucket is; NRR shows whether growth from the base outruns the leak.

How often should I measure NRR?

Monthly or quarterly, and annually for board reporting. The period matters: a monthly NRR of 99.5% sounds fine but compounds to roughly 94% over a year. Use the same window consistently so trends are comparable.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net revenue retention (NRR) measures how much recurring revenue you keep and grow from your existing customers over a period, counting expansion and upgrades but excluding new-customer sales.

01The formula

How to calculate NRR

NRR = (starting MRR + expansion − churn − contraction) ÷ starting MRR × 100

Take the recurring revenue from a cohort of customers at the start of the period. Add what those same customers spent on upgrades and expansion. Subtract what you lost to cancellations (churn) and downgrades (contraction). Divide by the starting number. New customers signed during the period are excluded on both sides, NRR is about the base you already had.

Example: you start the quarter with $100,000 MRR from existing customers. They add $12,000 in expansion, you lose $5,000 to churn and $2,000 to downgrades. NRR = (100,000 + 12,000 − 5,000 − 2,000) ÷ 100,000 = 105%.

02Why it matters

The growth you already paid for

NRR is the compounding engine of a subscription business. At 110%, your existing base grows 10% a year before sales signs a single new logo; at 90%, every new deal is partly refilling a leaking bucket. That’s why investors treat NRR as one of the clearest signals of product-market fit and durable growth, and why two companies with identical new-sales numbers can have wildly different valuations.

It’s also the number customer success owns most directly. Renewals, saves, downgrade prevention and expansion all land in NRR, which makes it the cleanest way to show CS as a revenue function rather than a cost center.

03Benchmarks

What healthy looks like

For B2B SaaS, 100%+ is solid, expansion is covering the leak. 110%+ is commonly cited as strong, and top performers, usually enterprise or usage-priced products, report higher still. Benchmarks shift with your model: high-ACV enterprise books tend to retain better than self-serve SMB books, so compare against companies with a similar motion, not the whole industry.

Watch the trend as much as the level. An NRR sliding from 108% to 101% over three quarters is an early churn warning even though every individual reading looks fine.

04NRR vs GRR

Two questions, two metrics

NRR answers “is the base growing?” Gross revenue retention (GRR) answers “how much are we keeping?” Because GRR excludes expansion, it can’t exceed 100%, and it can’t be rescued by a few big upsells. A company with 115% NRR and 80% GRR is churning heavily and papering over it with expansion, which works until the expansion slows. Report both.

05Where Keply fits

NRR is an outcome. Keply works the inputs.

You don’t improve NRR by staring at it, you improve the renewals, saves and expansions underneath it. Keply reads your email, ticket, usage and billing signals, scores every account, flags the revenue at risk and ready to grow, and drafts and sends the save with your approval by default. Flat $299/month. See how it works.

NRR, FAQ

What is a good NRR for SaaS?: 100% or above means expansion revenue is at least offsetting churn and contraction, which is solid. 110% or above is commonly cited as strong for B2B SaaS, and the best-performing companies report higher. Below 100%, your existing base is shrinking and new sales are filling a leaking bucket.
Can NRR be over 100%?: Yes, and that's the goal. NRR above 100% means upgrades and expansion from existing customers more than covered the revenue lost to churn and downgrades, so the business would grow even with zero new customers.
What's the difference between NRR and GRR?: GRR (gross revenue retention) counts only what you kept, churn and contraction subtracted, expansion excluded, so it can never exceed 100%. NRR adds expansion back in. GRR shows how leaky the bucket is; NRR shows whether growth from the base outruns the leak.
How often should I measure NRR?: Monthly or quarterly, and annually for board reporting. The period matters: a monthly NRR of 99.5% sounds fine but compounds to roughly 94% over a year. Use the same window consistently so trends are comparable.

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