Customer Retention Rate Calculator
Calculate customer retention rate from customers at the start and end of a period and new customers acquired.
Result
Customer Retention Rate
92.0%
How to Use the Customer Retention Rate Calculator
Enter the number of customers you started a period with, the number you ended the period with, and how many new customers you acquired during that same period. Customer retention rate (CRR) removes new customers from the ending count so it measures only how many of your original customers you kept — it answers "of the customers I had, how many stayed?" rather than blending in growth from new acquisition.
Example
A business starts the month with 500 customers, ends with 540, and acquired 80 new customers during the month. CRR = ((540 − 80) / 500) × 100 = 92%, meaning 92% of the original 500 customers were retained (40 of the original 500 were lost, offset by the 80 new customers gained).
Common Use Cases
- Tracking subscription or membership renewal health month over month.
- Measuring the impact of a customer success or loyalty initiative over time.
- Comparing retention across different customer segments or acquisition channels.
FAQs
- What does a negative or over-100% result mean? Both signal a data-entry issue — in a valid scenario, ending customers minus new customers should never exceed your starting customer count. Double-check that your start, end, and new customer figures are all measured over the exact same period.
- What counts as a "good" retention rate? It varies heavily by industry — subscription software businesses often aim for 90%+ monthly retention, while other industries with naturally higher churn may consider 70-80% healthy. Compare against your own historical trend rather than a universal benchmark.
- How is this different from churn rate? Churn rate and retention rate are complementary — churn rate measures the percentage of customers lost, while retention rate measures the percentage kept. Retention rate = 100% − churn rate when both are measured the same way.