Gross-to-Net Spread
The gap between NRR and GRR — exactly how much expansion is doing to lift your retention.
What is it?
Gross-to-Net Spread is the gap between Net Revenue Retention and Gross Revenue Retention — NRR minus GRR, in percentage points. It isolates a single thing: how much expansion is contributing to your retention, on top of whatever revenue you managed to keep.
A wide spread means expansion is doing heavy lifting; a narrow one means your retention is mostly about not losing revenue. It is most revealing read against GRR itself — a wide spread on a healthy GRR is a compounding machine, while the same spread on a weak GRR is growth papering over a leaky base.
How to calculate?
Subtract GRR from NRR for the same cohort and period. An NRR of 105% and a GRR of 90% give a spread of 15 points. Both must be computed on the same starting cohort, or the difference is meaningless.
Use it as a diagnostic pairing rather than a standalone target: the spread tells you how reliant your retention is on expansion, which shapes how fragile that retention would be if up-tiering slowed.