Customer Churn vs Revenue Churn
What is the difference between Customer Churn and Revenue Churn? Side-by-side definitions, formulas, and benchmarks for two of the most-watched SaaS metrics.
Definitions
What is Customer Churn?
Customer Churn measures the percentage of customer accounts lost over a given period.
Full Customer Churn definition →
What is Revenue Churn?
Revenue Churn measures recurring revenue lost from existing customers through cancellations, downgrades, or contraction.
Customer Churn vs Revenue Churn at a Glance
| Customer Churn | Revenue 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 | target: 0 % per month or lower (net negative churn) |
| Calculator | Customer Churn calculator | — |
When Each Matters
Customer Churn and Revenue Churn answer different questions. Customer Churn measures the percentage of customer accounts lost over a given period. Revenue Churn measures recurring revenue lost from existing customers through cancellations, downgrades, or contraction. In practice, healthy SaaS operators watch both, because each one catches failure modes the other misses.