Customer retention rate benchmarks
Customer retention rate is the share of customers, or of recurring revenue, a subscription business keeps in a period. Here is every published figure we can show, side by side, with what each one counts.
49% to 108%
"Retention rate" means different things depending on whether you're counting customers or revenue, and whether expansion revenue is included. Recurly's subscription-billing network puts median annual logo retention — customers who renew, the complement of its published churn figure — at 96.78% for SaaS specifically as of July 2026. Revenue retention is a separate, usually lower, number: the 2026 Aleph/Benchmarkit survey of 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native companies found a median Net Revenue Retention of 102% and a median Gross Revenue Retention of 84% across full-year 2025. This page keeps logo, gross-revenue and net-revenue retention separate rather than averaging them. 11 figures from 4 sources, grouped by what they count (gross revenue retention (grr) is charted too, but not part of the headline range). We never average them.
Published customer retention rate figures by way of counting, from 49% to 103%. Every figure is listed in the source list below.
Tap or hover a point to see its source.
Key findings
Each one cites its source figures.
Recurly's median annual logo retention for SaaS (July 2026 data) is the highest of any vertical on its network — the direct complement of its published 3.22% SaaS churn figure for the same cohort.
RecurlyThe 2026 Aleph/Benchmarkit survey of 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native companies found a median Net Revenue Retention of 102% but a median Gross Revenue Retention of 84% for the same full-year-2025 cohort — an 18-point gap made up entirely of expansion revenue from upsells and cross-sells.
Aleph and BenchmarkitNet revenue retention rises with company size in the Aleph/Benchmarkit data: companies under $5M ARR had a median NRR of 94%, against 103% for companies over $100M ARR. Bigger SaaS companies keep — and grow — revenue from existing customers more reliably.
Aleph and BenchmarkitShow 1 more finding
Pricing model moves net revenue retention more than almost anything else in the same survey: usage-based pricing companies had a median NRR of 108%, against 98% for seat-based pricing companies.
Aleph and BenchmarkitSame data, different answers
How the way of counting changes the number, on one scale.
Net vs gross revenue retention, same companies
The gap between NRR and GRR is entirely expansion revenue (upsells, cross-sells) — it doesn't reflect how many customers or dollars were actually lost.
Net revenue retention rises with company size
Larger SaaS companies expand revenue from existing customers more reliably than smaller ones.
Pricing model changes net revenue retention
Usage-based pricing let companies capture more expansion revenue than seat-based pricing in the same survey.
Source by source
Open any source for its definition, sample and method.
RecurlyChurn Rate Benchmarks: SaaS, Media, Retail & More Industries · Live benchmark, updated with July 2026 data96.78%logo / customer retention · SaaS96.4%logo / customer retention · All industries on the Recurly networkGrade A
- What counts
- Recurly publishes churn, not retention, directly. The figures here are the mathematical complement of Recurly's own published median annual logo-churn rates for the same cohort and period (100% − churn), stated plainly as such rather than as an independently published Recurly statistic.
- Statistic
- Median annual logo retention, shown here as the direct complement (100% − churn) of Recurly's own published churn figure for the same cohort and period
- Sample
- Not stated (Recurly's network of subscription businesses using its billing platform)
- Data window
- Trailing period ending July 2026 (exact window not stated)
- Method
- Live benchmark drawn from Recurly's own subscription-billing customer network; see the SaaS Churn Rate page's Recurly source for the underlying churn methodology.
- Published cuts
- vertical (SaaS, business/professional services, travel/hospitality, digital media, ecommerce, education)
- Limitations
- Not an independently published retention figure — it is Recurly's churn figure restated as its complement
- Number of businesses/subscribers behind the medians not disclosed
- Vendor-reported: Recurly's own billing-platform customers only
- Licence
- Same assessment as the SaaS Churn Rate page's Recurly source: product terms found, silent on citing published research pages.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Aleph and Benchmarkit2026 SaaS & AI Performance Benchmarks report (Net Revenue Retention benchmarks) · 2026 edition102%net revenue retention (nrr)84%gross revenue retention (grr)Grade A
- What counts
- Net Revenue Retention (NRR) = (Starting ARR + Expansion ARR − Contraction ARR − Churned ARR) ÷ Starting ARR × 100, as stated by Benchmarkit. Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) excludes expansion, so it can never exceed 100%.
- Statistic
- Median, with 25th/75th-percentile figures
- Sample
- 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native software companies; 230 of those reported NRR specifically
- Data window
- Full-year 2025
- Method
- Joint self-reported survey of 342 B2B SaaS and AI-native software companies for the 2026 SaaS & AI Performance Benchmarks report, with underlying metrics explorable through Benchmarkit's interactive platform.
- Published cuts
- ARR band · pricing model (usage-based vs seat-based) · growth rate · deal size (ACV)
- Limitations
- Only 230 of 342 surveyed companies reported NRR
- Self-reported survey data, not audited financials
- Sub-$5M ARR segment has limited customer-success infrastructure, per the report's own framing
- Pricing-model classification drives a 10-point NRR gap on its own, per the report
- Licence
- Aleph's published terms found in this pass govern use of its FP&A SaaS product; silent on citing this public benchmark content. Headline figures and several cuts quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
SaaS Capital2026 Benchmarking Metrics for Bootstrapped SaaS Companies · 2026 edition103%net revenue retention (nrr)91%gross revenue retention (grr)Grade B
- What counts
- Net Revenue Retention and Gross Revenue Retention for bootstrapped-focused B2B SaaS companies with $3M–$20M ARR; exact calculation methodology not detailed on the page.
- Statistic
- Median, with a 90th-percentile figure for NRR
- Sample
- "More than 1,000 private B2B SaaS companies" surveyed overall; the bootstrapped-specific count is not disclosed
- Data window
- Not stated
- Method
- Described as an annual survey; data-collection timeframe, sampling approach and survey administration are not detailed on the page.
- Published cuts
- ARR band ($3M–$20M focus)
- Limitations
- Does not disclose how many of the 1,000+ surveyed companies were bootstrapped vs. venture-backed
- No confidence intervals or margin of error given
- Data-collection timeframe not stated
- Licence
- PENDING: only SaaS Capital's privacy policy was located in this pass; its terms of use were not read. Treated as quote-eligible given no restriction found and the clearly public, citable nature of the report; owner should re-check before wider reuse.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
ChartMogulThe State of SaaS Retention: The AI Churn Wave · December 2025 report49%net revenue retention (nrr)Grade B
- What counts
- Net Revenue Retention (NRR): "The median NRR was 82% (the upper quartile was 97%)" for B2B SaaS; B2C SaaS median NRR reported separately at 49%.
- Statistic
- Median, with upper-quartile figures for B2B SaaS
- Sample
- Roughly 2,700 B2B SaaS, 600 B2C SaaS and 200 AI-native software companies, all at least $250k ARR
- Data window
- Annualized retention throughout 2025
- Method
- ChartMogul's own analytics-platform customer data, businesses with at least $250k ARR, split into B2B SaaS, B2C SaaS and AI-native cohorts.
- Published cuts
- business model (B2B SaaS, B2C SaaS, AI-native)
- Limitations
- Specifically framed around a 2025 "AI churn wave"; may not represent a typical/stable year
- Excludes businesses under $250k ARR
- Vendor-reported: ChartMogul's own analytics customers
- Runs well below the Aleph/Benchmarkit survey's NRR figures for a similar period, illustrating how much sample composition moves this metric
- Licence
- Same assessment as the SaaS Churn Rate page's ChartMogul source: terms appear aimed at the analytics SaaS product, not this public report. Two headline NRR figures quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
By industry
Selected figures, each with its source. Full tables live in each publisher's report.
Why sources disagree
Each factor moves the number on its own.
ChartMogul's December 2025 report found a median Net Revenue Retention of 82% for B2B SaaS and 49% for B2C SaaS — both well below the Aleph/Benchmarkit survey's 102% B2B SaaS median for the same general period, illustrating how much NRR varies by the surveyed company mix even within "SaaS."
ChartMogul, The State of SaaS Retention: The AI Churn WaveLogo retention vs revenue retention
Logo retention counts customers who stay; revenue retention counts dollars kept, with the "net" version also crediting upsell revenue. Recurly's 96.78% SaaS logo retention and the Aleph/Benchmarkit survey's 102% median NRR are not the same kind of number, even though both are sometimes casually called "retention rate."
Net vs gross revenue retention
NRR includes expansion revenue from upsells and cross-sells and can exceed 100%; GRR excludes it and never can. The same Aleph/Benchmarkit survey shows a median of 102% NRR against 84% GRR for the same companies — an 18-point gap made entirely of expansion.
Company size (ARR band)
Net revenue retention rises with ARR in the Aleph/Benchmarkit data: 94% median under $5M ARR versus 103% over $100M ARR. Larger companies have more installed base and customer-success capacity to drive expansion.
Pricing model
Usage-based pricing (108% median NRR) captured meaningfully more expansion than seat-based pricing (98%) in the same survey — a 10-point gap the report attributes to how naturally usage-based contracts grow with a customer's own usage.
Who's in the sample
Recurly's figures come from businesses on its own billing platform; the Aleph/Benchmarkit survey covers 342 self-selected B2B SaaS and AI-native companies (230 of which reported NRR); SaaS Capital's covers private B2B SaaS companies with $3–20M ARR, described as bootstrapped-focused but without a disclosed bootstrapped/VC-backed split; ChartMogul's covers its own analytics customers over $250k ARR. None of these samples overlap, and none is a random sample of all SaaS companies.
What is a good customer retention rate?
It depends on how your platform counts and who you send to.
If you track logo/customer retention
Recurly's July 2026 median for SaaS is 96.78% (the complement of its published 3.22% churn figure) — the highest of any vertical on its network.
If you track net revenue retention (the SaaS-investor standard)
The 2026 Aleph/Benchmarkit survey's median is 102% (top quartile 110%, bottom quartile 92%), rising to 103% over $100M ARR and reaching 108% for usage-based pricing models.
If you're an early-stage or bootstrapped SaaS company
SaaS Capital's 2026 survey of bootstrapped-focused B2B SaaS companies at $3–20M ARR found a median NRR of 103% (90th percentile 117.9%) and a median GRR of 91% — a useful comparison set if you're not yet at the scale most benchmark reports assume.
If you're comparing gross revenue retention specifically
Use GRR against GRR: 84% (Aleph/Benchmarkit, all ARR bands) or 91% (SaaS Capital, bootstrapped $3–20M ARR) — not against an NRR figure, which will look artificially higher because it includes expansion.
Before you compare
- Never blend logo retention with revenue retention (GRR/NRR) into one number — they use different denominators and measure different things.
- Never compare an NRR figure against a GRR figure as if they were the same metric; the gap between them is expansion revenue, not retention performance.
- A widely circulated "average customer retention rate by industry" table (often citing figures like ~84% for professional services and ~63% for retail, attributed loosely to Bain & Company / Frederick Reichheld's research) could not be traced to a specific, checkable, dated primary page in this research pass — the one Bain PDF located was not machine-readable — so it is deliberately left off this page rather than repeated from secondary blog posts.
Show 4 more cautions
- SaaS Capital's survey does not disclose how many of its 1,000+ surveyed companies were actually bootstrapped versus venture-backed, despite the bootstrapped framing of its report.
- ChartMogul's NRR figures (82% B2B SaaS, 49% B2C SaaS) are from a report specifically framed around 2025's "AI churn wave" and run well below the Aleph/Benchmarkit survey's 102% for a similar period — a reminder that NRR varies enormously by which companies happen to be in a given sample.
- The Aleph/Benchmarkit NRR figures come from a self-reported survey (342 companies, only 230 of which reported NRR), not audited financials.
- Recurly does not disclose how many businesses sit behind its published medians.
How to calculate customer retention rate
- State whether you mean logo (customer) retention or revenue retention (GRR/NRR) — they are different metrics and rarely match.
- Net Revenue Retention = (Starting ARR + Expansion ARR − Contraction ARR − Churned ARR) ÷ Starting ARR × 100 (as published by Benchmarkit); Gross Revenue Retention uses the same formula without the Expansion ARR term, so it can never exceed 100%.
- Compare within the same ARR band and pricing model where you can — net revenue retention rose from 94% (under $5M ARR) to 103% (over $100M ARR) and from 98% (seat-based pricing) to 108% (usage-based pricing) in the same 2026 survey.
Questions about customer retention rates
Tools to measure and improve it
Chosen for what they do, not ranked.
Sources and licence notes4 sources · 4 quoted · 0 linked only · checked Sep 30, 2026
- Recurly, Churn Rate Benchmarks: SaaS, Media, Retail & More Industries · Live benchmark, updated with July 2026 data · last checked Sep 30, 2026Same assessment as the SaaS Churn Rate page's Recurly source: product terms found, silent on citing published research pages.
- Aleph and Benchmarkit, 2026 SaaS & AI Performance Benchmarks report (Net Revenue Retention benchmarks) · 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026Aleph's published terms found in this pass govern use of its FP&A SaaS product; silent on citing this public benchmark content. Headline figures and several cuts quoted with attribution.
- SaaS Capital, 2026 Benchmarking Metrics for Bootstrapped SaaS Companies · 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026PENDING: only SaaS Capital's privacy policy was located in this pass; its terms of use were not read. Treated as quote-eligible given no restriction found and the clearly public, citable nature of the report; owner should re-check before wider reuse.
- ChartMogul, The State of SaaS Retention: The AI Churn Wave · December 2025 report · last checked Sep 30, 2026Same assessment as the SaaS Churn Rate page's ChartMogul source: terms appear aimed at the analytics SaaS product, not this public report. Two headline NRR figures quoted with attribution.
These are figures reported by the platforms themselves about their own customers; we do not measure them ourselves. Found an error or a newer edition? Tell us