Metric
Net revenue retention (12 months)
Recurring revenue from a starting customer cohort twelve months later, including expansion, contraction and churn, divided by its starting revenue. Above 100% means existing customers grow revenue on their own.
Plain label: revenue kept and grown from existing customersAlso known as: NRR, net dollar retention, NDR, GRR
Gross revenue retention excludes expansion; read both. The SaaS quick ratio, (new + expansion MRR) / (churned + contraction MRR), has a widely repeated target of 4 with weak attribution (benchmark confidence C); under 1 is a warning. Fast acquisition can mask churn, so read the components. NRR under 100% with power users hitting limits points to expansion levers.
Benchmarks
Every benchmark carries its year and a confidence grade for its source. Use them to calibrate, not as targets.
| Context | Median | Top 25% | Top 10% | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| consumer SaaS; good/great mapped to median/top quartile [Analyst]Consumer subscription | 0.55 | 0.8 | — | Lenny's Newsletter (Rachitsky and Winters), 2020Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset. |
| bottom-up (self-serve) SaaSB2B SaaS | 1 | 1.2 | — | Lenny's Newsletter (Rachitsky and Winters), 2020Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset. |
| very-small-business land-and-expand SaaSB2B SaaS | 0.8 | 1 | — | Lenny's Newsletter (Rachitsky and Winters), 2020Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset. |
| SMB and mid-market land-and-expand SaaSB2B SaaS | 0.9 | 1.1 | — | Lenny's Newsletter (Rachitsky and Winters), 2020Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset. |
| enterprise SaaS; mapped to sales-led B2B [Analyst]B2B sales-led | 1.1 | 1.3 | — | Lenny's Newsletter (Rachitsky and Winters), 2020Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset. |
Sources
What is good retention · Lenny's Newsletter (Lenny Rachitsky and Casey Winters), 2020
Benchmark confidence B. A reputable dataset.What is the quick ratio hiding? · Tom Tunguz
Benchmark confidence C. A secondary source.
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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