What is a good net revenue retention (NRR) for SaaS?
It depends on what you charge — far more than most benchmarks admit. Only about 2% of SaaS companies with ARPA under $25/mo ever exceed 100% NRR; nearly half of those charging over $500/mo do. So under 100% is normal at low price points, not failure: the median there is roughly 48%. Judge NRR against your own price band.
What is net revenue retention (nrr)?
NRR (also called NDR) = revenue this year from last year’s customers ÷ their revenue last year, including expansion and contraction but excluding new logos. Over 100% means expansion outweighs churn. Crucially, it tracks ARPA: cheap self-serve customers have little room to upgrade, so expansion is structurally hard — that is a property of the model, not a failure of execution.
Healthy annual NRR by ARPA band
| Segment / stage | Healthy | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| ARPA < $50 / mo | 75-105% | < 40% |
| ARPA $50-500 / mo | 90-110% | < 60% |
| ARPA > $500 / mo | 100-115% | < 85% |
Median NRR by band (derived from ChartMogul net revenue churn): ~48% under $50/mo, ~74% mid, ~95% above $500/mo. Healthy = clearly better than your band’s median. A low NRR is still a real constraint — it means you depend on constant acquisition — but at a low price point it is the norm.
The direction follows public SaaS metrics literature; the exact threshold is our own, adjusted for early stage. How we set it: methodology.
How to improve NRR
- Build expansion paths: seats, usage tiers, add-ons that grow with the customer.
- Reduce churn first — you cannot expand customers who leave.
- Target a segment that naturally expands (teams that grow) rather than one-seat tools.
- Track NRR by cohort to see whether retention is improving over time.
FAQ
What does NRR over 100% mean?
It means expansion revenue from existing customers more than offsets churn — your revenue grows even with zero new customers. That is a strong signal of product-market fit.
Is NRR the same as gross retention?
No. Gross retention caps at 100% (it ignores expansion). NRR includes expansion, so it can exceed 100%.
Related tools
- Churn Calculator — How much of my revenue am I losing each month?
- NRR Calculator — Net revenue retention: do you keep and grow revenue from existing customers?
- SaaS Viability Score — Does my whole business hold up? One 0–100 score across five pillars.
- See all: Unit economics
Related guides
See where your numbers land.
Startkeel checks your net revenue retention (nrr) against these ranges and tells you if your SaaS holds up.
Last updated: June 25, 2026. Ranges based on Startkeel’s benchmark set for early-stage SaaS. For information only — not financial advice.