Account Retention vs Customer Churn
What is the difference between Account Retention and Customer Churn? Side-by-side definitions, formulas, and benchmarks for two of the most-watched SaaS metrics.
Definitions
What is Account Retention?
Account Retention measures the share of customer accounts that remain active over a period, separate from how much revenue those accounts expand or contract.
Full Account Retention definition →
What is Customer Churn?
Customer Churn measures the percentage of customer accounts lost over a given period.
Account Retention vs Customer Churn at a Glance
| Account Retention | Customer Churn | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Metrics | Metrics |
| Formula | — | Monthly Customer Churn = Customers Lost During Month / Customers at Start of Month |
| Benchmarks | — | average: 2 % per month; target: 0–3 % per month |
| Calculator | — | Customer Churn calculator |
When Each Matters
Account Retention and Customer Churn answer different questions. Account Retention measures the share of customer accounts that remain active over a period, separate from how much revenue those accounts expand or contract. Customer Churn measures the percentage of customer accounts lost over a given period. In practice, healthy SaaS operators watch both, because each one catches failure modes the other misses.