NRR vs GRR — Net Revenue Retention vs Gross Retention Rate

When each matters

NRR shows whether your existing book grew (expansion-led growth). GRR strips out expansion to show how leaky the customer base is. Use NRR for headline growth narrative; use GRR for CS team performance.

Which is bigger? GRR ≤ NRR always. The gap (NRR - GRR) is called the expansion contribution.

Real examples

• Snowflake FY2022 Q4: NRR 178%, GRR not disclosed publicly. The 178% was almost entirely consumption-pricing expansion — Snowflake customers using more compute year over year.
• MongoDB recent quarters: NRR ~120%, GRR ~92%. The 28pp gap = expansion contribution from Atlas + multi-product attach.

Related

• expansion contribution
• logo retention
• churn rate

Other concept comparisons

• NRR vs Churn Rate — NRR and churn rate measure related but distinct things. NRR is forward-looking and includes growth; churn is backward-looking and isolates loss.
• Consumption vs Subscription Pricing — Consumption pricing (pay-as-you-go) and subscription pricing (fixed seats/tier) shape retention metrics differently. Understand the mechanics before you switch.
• Annual vs Multi-Year Contracts — Multi-year contracts lock revenue but hide churn. Annual contracts surface churn faster but give less forward visibility. Each fits a different go-to-market motion.
• Enterprise vs SMB Retention — Enterprise NRR is typically 10-25 percentage points HIGHER than SMB. Understanding the gap tells you where to invest CS resources.
• Account-Named vs Pooled CSM — Account-named CSMs (1:N specific accounts) vs pooled CSMs (queue-based). The choice depends on ACV, complexity, and retention goals.
• Customer Success vs Account Management — Both roles own the post-sales relationship. The functional split tells you a lot about how a company prioritizes retention vs expansion.