Cohort: Net MRR Retention

The Net MRR Retention cohort tracks how much monthly recurring revenue you retain from a group of customers over time after they start their first subscription.

Unlike customer retention, which measures headcount, this cohort measures revenue — accounting for expansion and reactivations that can push retention above 100%, as well as contraction and churn that drag it down. For SaaS businesses, it's one of the clearest indicators of revenue quality and long-term growth potential.

If this is your first time working with cohorts, read our guide on how a Cohort Analysis works in ChartMogul.

What is a good net MRR retention rate?

To grow your SaaS business, a net MRR retention rate as close to (or higher than) 100% is ideal, meaning your customers continue to renew their subscriptions and growth from expansion and reactivations matches or outpaces contraction and churn. Use Benchmarks to compare your NRR to industry peers.

A Net MRR Retention above 100% is possible when you either retain all subscription revenue (i.e., no cancellations) or when MRR growth due to expansion and reactivation is higher than MRR lost due to contraction and churn.

Chart Notes

Customers who begin their first subscription in the same interval are grouped in the same cohort.
There are five intervals available for analysis: day, week, month, quarter and year.
ChartMogul classifies customers whose subscriptions have a past-due payment as Past-due Subscribers. These subscriptions contribute to metrics until they are explicitly canceled or churned based on your Handling Past-due Subscriptions setting. Learn more about customer and subscription statuses.

Calculation

ChartMogul calculates Net MRR Retention Rate as the percentage of MRR for subscriptions that remain active in the given interval to the total MRR for those subscriptions at the start of the cohort. MRR gained due to expansion and reactivation positively impacts the MRR retention rate. Conversely, MRR lost due to contraction and churn negatively impacts the retention rate.

Cohort Table

Cohort Value is the total MRR of new subscriptions started by customers in the cohort, classified by ChartMogul as New Business.

The metric displayed in each table cell is either the percentage change of the cohort’s Net MRR Retention Rate (relative to the previous interval or the starting interval of the analysis) or the total MRR of active subscriptions (depending on whether you’ve selected Rate % or MRR from the Show drop-down).

Select any cell with a value that has changed from the previous interval to view MRR movements for that interval.

Next Steps

Learn more about our other cohort analyses.
See the estimated revenue you’ll receive from a customer with Customer Lifetime Value.
See how your subscription revenue grows (or declines) through contraction and churn, expansion and reactivation with Net MRR Churn Rate.