Churn Rate Calculator
Enter the number of customers you had at the start of a period and how many you lost during it to calculate churn rate and retention rate — core metrics for subscription and recurring-revenue businesses.
How the Churn Rate formula works
Churn and retention as complementary percentages:
Churn rate = (Customers lost / Customers at start) × 100 Retention rate = 100 − Churn rate
Step-by-step calculation
- Divide the number of customers lost during the period by the number of customers at the start of the period.
- Multiply by 100 to get churn rate as a percentage.
- Subtract from 100 to get retention rate.
Worked example
Starting with 500 customers and losing 20 during the month: Churn rate = (20/500) × 100 = 4%. Retention rate = 100 − 4 = 96%.
Frequently asked questions
What's a healthy churn rate?
It varies significantly by business model and industry — many consumer subscription businesses target under 5% monthly churn, while B2B SaaS often aims lower (closer to 1-2% monthly), but the right benchmark depends heavily on your specific market and price point.
Does this account for new customers gained during the period?
No — this calculates churn based purely on customers lost relative to the starting count, independent of how many new customers were acquired. Net growth is a separate calculation that combines churn with new customer acquisition.