MRR Churn Rate
The MRR Churn Rate report (also commonly referred to as Revenue Churn Rate or Gross Revenue Churn) tracks the percentage of Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) lost from customers who cancelled their paid subscriptions during a specific period. It is a critical metric for assessing the stability and quality of your revenue streams.
MRR Churn Rate is the direct opposite of Gross Revenue Retention (GRR).
MRR Churn Rate is calculated by dividing the MRR lost from churned customers during a period by the total MRR at the start of that period.
For an in-depth explanation of MRR churn as a metric, see the MRR churn guide in the SaaS Metrics Academy.
Overview
The MRR Churn Rate report includes a timeline chart and a breakdown table. This report is crucial for understanding the financial stability of your business, especially since losing a few large customers has a far greater impact here than on Logo Churn. The breakdown table cells are not clickable and there is no detail table.
Timeline chart
The timeline chart displays a single line:
- MRR Churn Rate (Blue line): This is the primary metric, showing the calculated MRR churn rate for the selected period.
The report employs a specific time-window convention to ensure meaningful data, especially at daily or weekly intervals:
Monthly Aggregation: If you select an Interval of daily, weekly, or monthly, the churn calculation is performed on a month-to-month basis. This means the Churn MRR for the preceding month is compared against the Starting MRR (the cohort 1 or 12 months ago, depending on the trailing window selected) at the start of that month, reducing noise and providing a standardized rate that is comparable across your entire history.
Quarterly/Yearly Aggregation: If you select quarterly or yearly, the churn is calculated on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis, respectively.
The currently ongoing period is marked as a dashed line. You can adjust the chart data using the date picker, interval selector, and filters.
Breakdown table
The table underneath the chart displays a cohort-based view for each period, making it explicit that each data point compares today's MRR to the cohort that existed 1 or 12 months ago (depending on the trailing window selected).
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Original | The MRR contributed by the cohort at the start of the lookback window (1 or 12 months earlier). This is the cohort MRR being measured. |
| Retained | The MRR from those original customers that is still being paid at the end of the period. |
| Churned | The MRR lost from original customers who canceled all paid subscriptions during the lookback window. |
| Contraction | The MRR lost from original customers downgrading their subscriptions during the lookback window. |
| MRR Churn Rate | The calculated MRR Churn Rate for the period (Churned / Original, displayed as a percentage). |
Customers acquired inside the lookback window are excluded — they were never part of the cohort being measured.
The MRR Churn Rate is typically shown in red to visually emphasize the financial loss.
Choosing the trailing window
The chart toolbar includes a trailing window selector that lets you switch between two ways of measuring MRR churn:
Trailing 1 month (default)
Each point compares today's MRR to the cohort MRR 1 month earlier. This matches typical monthly retention reporting and is the right view for operational use — week-to-week management and identifying recent revenue leakage.
Trailing 12 months (TTM)
Each point compares today's MRR to the cohort MRR 12 months earlier. The 12-month view smooths out volatile months (e.g. a single large customer churning) and matches how investors and benchmarks typically discuss annual revenue churn. Use it for board reporting and longer-term trend analysis.
In both modes, customers acquired inside the lookback window are excluded from the calculation — they were never part of the cohort being measured against. MRR churn is gross — expansion and reactivation revenue do not offset losses (use Net MRR Churn for that).
A worked example
Suppose you're looking at the trailing 1-month view as of Apr 30, 2026. The cohort is every customer paying on Mar 31, 2026:
| Customer | On Mar 31, 2026 | What happens by Apr 30 | In cohort? | Treated as (MRR churn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Paying $100/mo | Still paying $100 | ✓ Yes | $0 churn |
| Ben | Paying $100/mo | Upgrades to $150 | ✓ Yes | $0 churn — upgrades aren't credited (gross metric) |
| Cleo | Paying $200/mo | Downgrades to $120 | ✓ Yes | $80 contraction counted as churn |
| Dan | Paying $100/mo | Cancels on Apr 12 | ✓ Yes | $100 churn |
| Eli | Not a customer | Signs up Apr 5 at $200 | ✗ No | Excluded — joined inside the window |
| Fiona | Churned back in Jan 2026 | Reactivates Apr 18 at $150 | ✗ No | Excluded — wasn't paying on Mar 31 |
- Original MRR = $500 (Anna + Ben + Cleo + Dan)
- Churned MRR = $180 ($80 contraction + $100 cancel)
- MRR churn rate = $180 ÷ $500 = 36%
Notice that Ben's $50 upgrade and Fiona's $150 reactivation don't reduce churn — that's the difference between this report and Net MRR Churn. Eli's $200 is real revenue but not part of this cohort; he'll enter the next month's cohort.
The trailing 12-month view follows exactly the same logic with a wider window — cohort = everyone paying on May 1, 2025, comparison runs through Apr 30, 2026:
| Customer | On May 1, 2025 | What happens by Apr 30, 2026 | In cohort? | Treated as (MRR churn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Paying $100/mo | Still paying $100 | ✓ Yes | $0 churn |
| Greg | Not a customer | Signs up Sep 2025 at $300, churns Mar 2026 | ✗ No | Excluded — joined inside the 12-month window |
| Hana | Paying $200/mo | Churns Aug 2025, reactivates Mar 2026 at $200 | ✓ Yes | $0 churn — paying her original $200 at the end |
A wider window means more customers will join and leave inside it, so more get excluded — but only the starting cohort contributes to Original and Churned MRR.
Filters
The report supports a wide range of filters to help you analyze revenue churn within specific segments. These include:
Date range
Select a custom range or preset periods (last 30 days, last quarter, etc.)
Interval
Choose how the rate is displayed: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Note the monthly calculation convention explained above.
Additional filters – plan, region/country, billing frequency, customer age (time since signup), etc. (see all filters)
Filters are applied to both the chart and the table simultaneously.
Exporting the data
You can export the table as a CSV file for offline analysis or reporting by clicking the "Export" icon next to the date picker.
Practical tips
- Prioritize High-Value Churn: Unlike Logo Churn, MRR Churn weights customers by their revenue. If your MRR Churn spikes, investigate the specific high-MRR customers lost immediately.
- The Benchmark is Low: The goal for MRR Churn Rate is to keep it as close to 0% as possible. A healthy, profitable SaaS business typically maintains a very low single-digit MRR Churn Rate.
- Understand Gross Loss: Note that this metric only captures MRR lost due to cancellations, not total loss from contractions. For the full picture of gross revenue loss, you would need to combine Contraction and Churned MRR.
