Gross Retention excludes expansion - it shows pure churn / contraction loss. The gap between NRR and GRR is the expansion lift.
Currently at all-time peak NRR of 120%.
Appian is above the Dev Tools Public median by +0pp (cell median: 120%)
Appian (APPN) is a dev tools company at the public stage. As of its most recent disclosure (FY2026-Q3), Appian reported a Net Revenue Retention rate of 120% - a strong result for B2B SaaS at this segment.
Appian is currently at or near its all-time NRR peak. The most recent quarter gained 5pp QoQ.
Within its peer set (dev tools companies at public stage in the $500k+ acv band), Appian's NRR is roughly in line with the cell median of 120%. Compare against the full peer cell aggregate for distribution and top performers.
Contract shape and forward-booked revenue.
Revenue, ARR, and team-size denominators for the productivity ratios.
Forward-booked revenue by maturity. Renewal pipeline visibility.
Support tiers: standard · premium
CS team segments: High end of the market · Strategic deals
Education programs: Appian World
Top customer exec: Pavel Zamudio-Ramirez - Chief Customer Officer (since 2021)
CCO comp tied to retention: Yes - Annual bonus opportunity was measured based on net revenue retention growth.
Computed from the data above. Shows where value comes from and where leakage hides.
Named CS initiatives across recent disclosures (newest first).
Option for employees to receive payout in immediately-vesting stock with a 10% premium.
"Starting in 2025, we offered the option to all of our employees... to elect to receive their payout in... stock"
Monetizing AI growth by requiring customers to upgrade to an AI license tier with a 25% average price increase.
"Customers must upgrade to Appian's AI license tier, which comes with an average price increase of 25%."
Focused drive of the DocCenter AI solution to demonstrate value and drive upgrades across accounts.
"we are focused on driving this into dozens or scores of accounts as quickly as possible this year"
Eligible employees can receive earned annual bonuses in the form of RSUs.
"In 2025, we changed our annual bonus program to provide eligible employees with the option to receive... RSUs."
New process intelligence capability allowing users to gain deep insights into process performance.
"Process intelligence allows users to gain deep insights into process performance through Appian’s Process HQ."
AI-driven document intake and data extraction tool achieving over 95% accuracy.
"Appian DocCenter is a great example of deploying AI within process. DocCenter automatically extracts data"
Deploying AI agents within the guardrails of Appian process and Data Fabric.
"Customers have strong interest in Appian's agentic AI... our agents are informed by our Data Fabric"
Introduction of AI-inclusive license tiers with a 25% upcharge for AI features.
"most of our seven-figure software deals signed this quarter were with our AI-inclusive license tiers"
Challenges acknowledged by management. Useful peer signals - your team is probably not alone.
Investor concerns that AI will replace software or write all applications, potentially impacting valuation.
"investors are concerned that AI poses an existential threat to software firms, including Appian."
Ongoing trade secret misappropriation retrial and defamation counterclaims.
"On January 6, 2026, the Supreme Court of Virginia issued an opinion... remanding the case for a retrial."
Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the $2.036B judgment and remanded for a new trial.
"On January 6, 2026, the Supreme Court of Virginia issued an opinion... remanding the case for a retrial."
Actions taken to reduce leased office space resulting in impairment charges.
"During the second quarter of 2024, we initiated actions to reduce the footprint of our leased office spaces."
Focus on increasing efficiency of sales force and marketing activities.
"We are focused on increasing the efficiency of our sales force and marketing activities"
Organizations struggle to get strategic value from AI due to its probabilistic/unreliable nature.
"many struggle to get value from it... AI is used more for personal efficiency than it is for strategic applications"
Curated quotes about customer outcomes, retention, renewals.
"Our cloud net ARR expansion was 115% in Q2, compared to 113% a year ago and 115% in the prior quarter."
"We have always put CS forward. They've been a differentiated innovative force... It also allows us to get greater retention."
"I view the process infrastructure that we provide as a prerequisite for productive application of AI agents."
"We continue to target a cloud subscriptions revenue retention rate of 110%-120% on a quarterly basis."
"I have consistently heard from our customers that they are happy with Appian and want to find ways to do more with our platform."
"We remain very confident in our ability to grow with our existing customers."
Side-by-side NRR, customer cohorts, commercial structure, and CS motion.
Appian appears on 4 of our retention leaderboards.
Free to embed on your blog or board deck. Includes a small backlink to cust.co.
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| Period | NRR | GRR | Source type | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026-Q3 | 120% | - | earnings-press-release-8k-exh | source ↗ |
| FY2026-Q2 | 115% | - | 10-Q-mdna | source ↗ |
| FY2026-Q1 | 115% | - | 10-Q-mdna | source ↗ |
| FY-2025 | 114% | - | def-14a | source ↗ |
| FY2025-Q4 | 114% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2025-Q3 | 111% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2025-Q2 | 113% | - | 10-Q-mdna | source ↗ |
| FY2025-Q1 | 112% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY-2024 | 113% | - | 10-K | source ↗ |
| FY2024-Q4 | 113% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2024-Q3 | 117% | 99% | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2024-Q2 | 118% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2024-Q1 | 120% | - | 10-Q-mdna | source ↗ |
| FY2023-Q4 | 119% | - | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
| FY2023-Q3 | 117% | 97% | earnings-call-transcript | source ↗ |
Generate a live retention report against Appian and your full peer cell. Ungated. Downloadable as PDF.