Gross Revenue Retention GRR (also GDR, Gross Dollar Retention; "gross retention")
The share of last year's recurring revenue from existing customers you kept, counting only losses and giving no credit for any upsell.
The fork, why two teams get different numbers
Everyone agrees GRR ignores expansion and caps at 100%, but two live
definitions disagree on downgrades. Definition A treats gross churn as full
cancellations only and shows contraction (seat cuts, downgrades) on a
separate line, so GRR = starting minus cancelled. Definition B folds
contraction into churn, so GRR = starting minus cancellations minus
downgrades. On the same book, A can read 94% while B reads 89%. Boards and
investors usually mean B (all revenue erosion); some CS dashboards default to
A because it flatters.
The trap
GRR is sold as the floor, what you would keep with zero upselling, so a healthy GRR reads as safety.
- The full trap, worked on a real export
- Every formula variant, spelled out
- The reconciliation anchor, what to tie it to and when to refuse
Reference: SaaS / RevOps convention - no single standards body