SaaS Churn Benchmarks: Compare Logo and Revenue Retention

Start by choosing the metric and period. Losing 5% of customers in a month is different from losing 5% of recurring revenue over a year. Expansion can make revenue grow while customers still leave.

This guide uses a named historical source and a worked diagnostic example. The public URL is retained, but this is not an Artisan survey of 500 companies or a newly measured 2026 monthly median.

A source you can compare carefully

ChartMogul’s SaaS Retention Report was published November 1, 2023, using anonymized billing data from more than 2,100 SaaS businesses. Its aggregates generally cover 2022, with 2021 included where two years were needed. Companies had to be active for the full measurement year.

The report’s top-quartile annual customer retention was:

The final column is calculated as 100% minus retention. Higher-retention quartiles correspond to lower customer loss; these are not median monthly churn figures. This historical billing-platform panel is not every SaaS business. Contract length, customer size, and segment can make comparisons unsuitable. Source checked September 30, 2026.

Keep four measures distinct

Exclude newly acquired customers from retention calculations. Choose an explicit treatment for reactivations and apply it consistently. Separate paid-account cancellations from trial abandonment and failed payments awaiting recovery.

Use the same time period for every component. To model a constant monthly churn rate across twelve months, annual customer loss is 1 − (1 − monthly churn)^12. At 3% monthly churn that model gives about 30.6% annual loss, rather than 36%. Real renewal patterns can make the constant-rate assumption inappropriate.

Worked example: NRR can hide lost customers

The following numbers are hypothetical:

Starting customers: 1,000
Starting monthly recurring revenue: $50,000
Customers lost: 50
MRR lost through cancellation: $2,500
MRR lost through downgrades: $500
Expansion MRR from the starting customers: $4,000

Customer churn is 5%. Gross revenue churn is 6% because cancellations and downgrades lose $3,000 of the $50,000 starting MRR. Gross retention is 94%. Net retention is 102% after expansion.

The revenue cohort grew while 50 customers left. That can be sustainable, or it can conceal a deteriorating low-value segment. Inspect which accounts left, what they needed, and whether losses are concentrated in newly acquired or poorly activated customers.

Try the churn calculator for customer and revenue-loss arithmetic. Its simplified lifetime estimate assumes a stable churn rate; it does not predict an individual customer’s lifetime.

Choose the next investigation

Avoid choosing a retention program from a benchmark gap alone. Find a recurring reason for loss, identify an owner who can change it, and specify the next observable result. You can improve retention by addressing the problem that makes suitable customers leave.

Record the decision

Use the benchmark comparison worksheet to keep the source, period, customer segment, and definitions beside each value. Compare your own mature cohorts before and after a change, and account for pricing or acquisition changes during the same period.

For first-value problems, review the onboarding guide. For a broader diagnosis, explore a CRO assessment with agreed scope and implementation responsibilities.