What is a good NRR for SaaS?
NRR benchmarks by stage, ACV and motion — where 110% is exceptional, where it's table stakes, and when a great NRR is hiding a problem.
NRR benchmarks by ACV segment
What is a good NRR?
The short answer: above 100% means your existing customers grow your revenue on their own, 100–110% is solid, 110–120% is strong, and above 120% is elite. Below 100%, the base is shrinking and every new sale is partly refilling a hole. Public SaaS medians have drifted between 105% and 115% depending on the year — but the headline number is nearly meaningless without knowing who you sell to.
NRR is the single benchmark investors quote most, which is exactly why it needs context. A 105% NRR is a standout result for an SMB product and a warning sign for an enterprise platform — the same number, opposite meanings.
How do benchmarks shift by segment?
Deal size is the strongest predictor. SMB products (under ~$5k ACV) fight high logo churn — 90–100% NRR is normal and anything above 100% is genuinely good. Mid-market (roughly $5k–$50k ACV) should expect 100–115%. Enterprise (above $50k ACV) is where 120%+ lives: multi-year contracts suppress churn while seats and usage expand, and investors will treat under 110% as a question to answer.
Pricing model moves the bar too. Usage-based businesses post the highest NRRs — customers expand by succeeding, no sales motion required — and the most volatile ones, as 2022–23 showed when usage contracted with customers' own costs. Flat per-site pricing caps NRR near 100% by construction: nothing to expand into. Judge your NRR against companies with your ACV and your pricing axis, not against a conference-slide number.
When is a high NRR a bad sign?
When it is carried by a handful of whales. An NRR of 115% built on two big expansions is a different business from one built on broad-based growth — check what NRR looks like with your top five expansions removed. If the answer drops below 100%, you have concentration risk wearing a retention costume.
The whale test
Why read NRR next to GRR?
Because the same NRR can be built two very different ways. A 110% NRR on a 95% GRR is a durable base with steady expansion; the same 110% on an 80% GRR means a fifth of the base leaks out every year and expansion is painting over it — sustainable only as long as the upsell engine never stalls. The strongest profile is a boring one: GRR above 90%, expansion spread across many accounts, NRR compounding quietly.