Gross revenue retention (GRR)
GRR measures how much starting recurring contracted value remains after churn and contraction, before expansion; under that definition it is capped at 100%.
Because expansion cannot offset loss inside the formula, GRR exposes baseline churn and contraction. It does not prove whether delivered value held or why a customer changed scope; those questions require linked customer, service, product, commercial, and market evidence.
Govern GRR and NRR with the same cohort, recurring-value basis, period, and treatment rules. If systems produce different populations or effective dates, publish a reconciliation or mark the measures non-comparable rather than forcing agreement.
Where it breaks
GRR and NRR are computed on different cohort definitions, so the gap between them cannot be decomposed.
Related terms
- Net revenue retention (NRR)
- NRR is ending recurring contracted value for a starting cohort divided by that cohort’s starting recurring contracted value, after churn, contraction, and expansion and excluding new customers.
- Churn
- Churn is the loss of a customer or of their revenue, and it must be measured with a stated basis, logo or revenue, and a stated recognition point.
- Cohort analysis
- Cohort analysis groups records by a shared start event and follows that fixed group over time, which is the only way to separate mix change from behavior change.
- Metric definition
- A metric definition is the governed specification of a measure, its formula, source fields, filters, grain, owner and known limitations.
Field notes on this
- Read NRR with GRR
NRR can combine base retention with concentrated expansion. Pair it with GRR and a cohort bridge, then investigate the causes separately.