Net Revenue Retention

I. Formal Definition

The ratio of recurring revenue retained from an existing customer cohort over a measurement window, after accounting for expansion, contraction, and churn but excluding new customer acquisition. Net revenue retention is the federation-recognised primary measure of customer-base health for subscription businesses. The federation requires NRR to be reported on a trailing twelve month basis with the cohort and methodology disclosed under UFMS-001:3.2. NRR above one hundred percent indicates net expansion within the existing base; values below ninety percent are watchlist conditions.

II. Etymology

A SaaS metrics coinage of the early 2010s; the term entered general use through the venture capital diligence and the cloud public market reporting frameworks.

III. Federation Usage

Federation members publish NRR on a trailing twelve month basis with cohort and methodology. Material movement quarter on quarter is footnoted with operational driver. NRR is a quarterly input to capital efficiency and IFO4 Score under MEV-Annex:4.1.

IV. Related Terms

• gross-revenue-retention
• churn-rate
• expansion-revenue
• cohort-retention

V. Authoritative Citations

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

VI. Citation in BibTeX

@misc{ifo4_glossary_net_revenue_retention,
  title        = {{Net Revenue Retention}},
  author       = {{IFO4 Federation Editorial Board}},
  howpublished = {{IFO4 Federation Glossary, slug \texttt{net-revenue-retention}}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://ifo4.org/glossary/net-revenue-retention},
  note         = {Category: Unit Economics; key: NetRevenueRetention}
}

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.