Gross Revenue Retention

I. Formal Definition

The percentage of recurring revenue retained from an existing customer cohort over a measurement window, capped at one hundred percent and excluding the effects of expansion. Gross revenue retention is the floor measure of customer base health and is the federation-preferred indicator of pure churn dynamics. The federation requires GRR to be published alongside NRR for all subscription businesses with material expansion revenue, with the cohort and methodology disclosed under UFMS-001:3.2. GRR below eighty percent is a watchlist condition warranting investigation.

II. Etymology

A complementary construct to NRR developed in SaaS metrics literature; the labels were settled by venture capital and public market reporting frameworks.

III. Federation Usage

Federation members publish GRR alongside NRR with the same cohort and methodology. The two figures together support the IFO4 Score retention component. Sustained GRR below eighty percent triggers a federation steward review under MEV-Annex:4.1.

IV. Related Terms

• net-revenue-retention
• churn-rate
• cohort-retention
• downsell

V. Authoritative Citations

• UFMS-001:3.2UFMS Article III - GRR
• MEV-Annex:4.1MEV Annex IV - GRR Reporting

VI. Citation in BibTeX

@misc{ifo4_glossary_gross_revenue_retention,
  title        = {{Gross Revenue Retention}},
  author       = {{IFO4 Federation Editorial Board}},
  howpublished = {{IFO4 Federation Glossary, slug \texttt{gross-revenue-retention}}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://ifo4.org/glossary/gross-revenue-retention},
  note         = {Category: Unit Economics; key: GrossRevenueRetention}
}

VII. Challenge This Definition

Federation members and accredited practitioners may challenge any entry under TGS-002:1.7. Filed challenges are routed to the editorial board, triaged into the revision register, and resolved in writing on the public docket. The slug remains stable through any revision.