Standard cohort retention
Retention = customers retained ÷ customers at start. Same base as churn; this page leads with who stayed.
Tools / Retention Rate Calculator
Retention Rate Calculator
Enter customers at the start of a period and how many stayed. Get retention, implied churn, and compounded annual retention.
Retention = customers retained ÷ customers at start
Enter customer counts to see the result
- 1
Pick the period
Monthly, quarterly, or annual so the compounded annual figure matches your reporting.
- 2
Enter the starting cohort
How many customers you had at the beginning of the period.
- 3
Enter how many stayed
Count customers from that starting group who were still active at the end (exclude brand-new signups).
Why use this retention rate calculator
Frame the same cohort math as who stayed, not only who left.
Compound annual retention
From a monthly rate, annual retention = monthly retention^12, which matches 1 − compound annual churn.
Churn and lifetime included
See implied churn and average lifetime beside the headline retention percentage.
When to calculate retention
Product and CS reviews
Report “we retained X% of last month’s customers” without flipping to a churn spreadsheet.
Investor and board updates
Pair retention with churn when one audience prefers the positive framing.
Plan and cohort compares
Run the same formula across segments so rates stay comparable.
Retention formulas used here
Retention = retained ÷ start · Churn = 1 − retention · Annual retention = retention^n
n is 12 for monthly input and 4 for quarterly. Lifetime ≈ 1 ÷ churn when churn is above zero.
Retention vs churn calculator
Retention rate
- Input: start + retained
- Headline: who stayed
- Annual = retention^n
Churn rate
- Input: start + lost
- Optional revenue (MRR) churn
- Annual = 1 − (1 − churn)^n
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate retention rate?
Customer retention = customers retained from the starting cohort ÷ customers at the start of the period.
Example: start with 500, 485 still active → 485 ÷ 500 = 97% retention (3% churn).
Should I include new customers in “retained”?
No. Retained means people who were already in the starting count and remained. New signups during the period belong in acquisition metrics, not this cohort retention rate.
How is this different from the churn calculator?
Same math, different inputs. Churn asks how many left; retention asks how many stayed. Retention + churn = 100% for that cohort.
Use the churn rate calculator when you track losses or revenue churn (MRR).
How do you annualize monthly retention?
Compound it: annual retention = (monthly retention)^12. A 97% monthly retention rate is about 69% annual retention, which matches compound annual churn of about 31%.
What retention rate is good?
It mirrors churn bands. About 99%+ monthly retention is very strong for many B2B products; mid-90s is common for SMB; lower is typical for some consumer apps.
Always compare within your category and pricing tier.
Are my numbers stored?
No. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Collecting fresh survey responses? Try Formms for a form with a short link and QR.
Collect the responses on your phone next.
Formms builds the survey from a prompt, then you can paste counts back into these calculators anytime.
View a demo form →