---
title: "What Is Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)?"
term: "Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)"
description: "Gross revenue retention measures how much recurring revenue from existing customers remains over a period—excluding expansion—before accounting for new logos."
date: 2026-07-25T00:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-25T00:00:00.000Z
topics: ["venture-capital"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/glossary/gross-revenue-retention-grr
---

# What Is Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)?

> Gross revenue retention measures how much recurring revenue from existing customers remains over a period—excluding expansion—before accounting for new logos.

**Gross revenue retention (GRR)** tracks recurring revenue kept from an existing customer cohort—after churn and downgrades but before expansion revenue from those accounts.

## How it works

Start with recurring revenue from a defined cohort at period start (often annual). Subtract churned revenue and contraction from downgrades; divide by starting revenue. Upsells and cross-sells are excluded—those flow into **net revenue retention (NRR)**, which can exceed 100% when expansion outweighs losses. GRR caps at 100% by definition. Example: a cohort starts at $1M ARR; churn and downgrades total $80k; GRR is 92%. Companies calculate GRR on logo or revenue basis; revenue-weighted GRR better reflects enterprise concentration. Consistent definitions matter when comparing quarters.

## Why it matters

- **Founders:** Fix churn and downgrade drivers before leaning on new sales—GRR exposes core product retention truth.
- **Investors:** Strong GRR underwrites efficient growth; weak GRR forces expensive new logo acquisition to hit net growth targets.

## Common mistake

Quoting NRR above 100% while hiding sub-85% GRR—expansion eventually slows, and low GRR catches up.

## Related ideas

Net revenue retention, logo retention, churn rate, cohort analysis, and expansion revenue.

## FAQ

### What is gross revenue retention in simple terms?

GRR looks at revenue from last year's customers only—if some churned or downgraded, GRR drops. It ignores upsells from those customers and ignores brand-new customers.

### Why does gross revenue retention matter?

High GRR means the core book is sticky. Investors want GRR near or above 90% for healthy B2B SaaS—lower GRR signals product or fit issues masked by sales growth.


---
Source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/glossary/gross-revenue-retention-grr