Gross Revenue Retention
Definition
The percentage of recurring revenue retained from an existing customer cohort over a defined period, excluding expansion revenue and including only the revenue from customers who remained active. Gross revenue retention and net revenue retention are distinct measures and must not be reported interchangeably. Gross revenue retention can never exceed one hundred percent; net revenue retention can exceed one hundred percent where expansion revenue from existing customers outweighs revenue lost to churn.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is reporting net revenue retention as gross revenue retention when the figure is above one hundred percent. A net revenue retention figure above one hundred percent includes expansion revenue. Labelling it as gross retention misrepresents the underlying churn dynamics.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 2, Section 2.2: The Unit Economics Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Gross Revenue Retention. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/gross-revenue-retention/. 2026.