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Churn Rate Calculator
Calculate customer churn rate for a period and compare retention across segments or cohorts.
Customer churn rate measures the share of customers you lost over a period. It is a core retention metric for subscription businesses.
Churn can be misleading if you mix segments. Track churn by cohort, plan, and acquisition channel before you make budget decisions.
Prefer an explanation- Read the guide.
Need definitions- Browse the glossary.
Churn: How to measure churn rate correctlyCustomer lifetime: definition, formula, and how to estimate itRetention rate: how to measure retention correctlyRetention & churn hub: cohorts, GRR/NRR, and retention curves
12 for monthly, 4 for quarterly. Used to compute annualized churn.
Used to estimate retained customers after N periods.
Tip: you can type commas (e.g., 10,000).
Example
Using the default inputs, the result is:
3%
- Customers at start
- 1,000
- Customers lost
- 30
- Periods per year (optional)
- 12
- Forecast periods (optional)
- 12
How to calculate
- Pick a time window (month/quarter) and a segment (plan/channel/geo).
- Enter customers at the start of the period and customers lost during the period.
- Compute churn = lost / start and retention = 1 - churn.
- Optionally annualize churn by specifying periods per year (12 for monthly, 4 for quarterly).
- Optionally add forecast periods to estimate how many customers remain.
Formula
Churn Rate = Customers Lost / Customers at Start
- Inputs represent the same period (e.g., month, quarter).
Benchmarks
- Small changes in churn compound over time; pair churn with LTV and payback.
- If churn is mostly involuntary (failed payments), fix dunning before you change acquisition budgets.
- Revenue retention (NRR/GRR) can look better than customer churn if expansion is strong.
FAQ
What about expansion revenue-
Customer churn ignores upsells/downsells. Use NRR/GRR when you want a revenue-based view.
Common mistakes
- Comparing churn across periods with different definitions of 'active customer'.
- Using blended churn across segments with different retention (the blend can drift).
- Annualizing a period that is not consistent (for example mixing monthly and quarterly inputs).
How to interpret
Improve churn tracking
- Track churn by cohort and plan to see where retention breaks.
- Separate voluntary churn from involuntary (failed payments).
- Watch leading indicators (activation, support tickets, usage).
Related calculators
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CAC Calculator
Calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) from total acquisition spend and new customers.
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Fully-loaded CAC Calculator
Calculate fully-loaded CAC by including paid spend plus sales & marketing costs (salaries, tools, and other acquisition costs).
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LTV Calculator
Estimate customer Lifetime Value (LTV) using ARPA, gross margin, and churn rate.
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LTV Sensitivity Calculator
See how gross profit LTV changes as churn and gross margin vary (simple 3x3 sensitivity).
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LTV:CAC Calculator
Compute LTV:CAC ratio and CAC payback using ARPA, gross margin, churn, and CAC.
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CAC Payback Period Calculator
Estimate how many months it takes to recover CAC (months to recover CAC) using gross profit.
Quick checks
- Keep time units consistent (monthly vs annual) across inputs and outputs.
- Segment by cohort/channel/plan before trusting a blended average.
- Use the related guide to avoid common definition and denominator mismatches.