Churn Rate Calculator

Calculate customer churn rate, retention rate, and average customer lifetime.

By Konstantin Iakovlev · Updated April 2026 · Source: SBA — Business Guide

Period

Churn Rate

5.00%

Retention Rate

95.00%

Avg Customer Lifetime

20.0 mo

Churn Analysis

Monthly Churn5.00%
Monthly Churn5.00%
Annual Churn46.0%
Retention Rate95.00%
Avg Customer Lifetime20.0 months

Industry Benchmarks (Monthly Churn)

SaaS (B2B)2% - 5%
SaaS (B2C / SMB)5% - 7%
Consumer Subscriptions6% - 10%
Enterprise Software0.5% - 1.5%
Your Monthly Churn5.00%

Use the Churn Rate Calculator above to calculate your results. Enter your values and see instant results — all calculations run in your browser.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, financial, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the information you provide and current rates. Always consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor for advice specific to your situation.

How It Works

Customer attrition, its mirror image retention, and the average lifetime a customer represents all flow from a single rate. Tracking them lets a business spot trends early, sketch out 2026 revenue, and act before losses compound, an issue projected to touch 15-20% of SaaS companies each year by 2026. In a crowded market these numbers underpin whether growth is actually sustainable.

Churn rate is the number of churned customers divided by total customers at the start of the period, multiplied by 100. Retention is whatever remains after subtracting that from 100%. Average customer lifetime follows from dividing 1 by the churn rate expressed as a decimal, giving a rough sense of how long the typical customer sticks around.

Consistency in the time window matters, so pick monthly, quarterly, or annual and hold to it, and settle on a firm definition of what counts as a churned customer. Folding customers acquired mid-period into the starting total is a frequent error that quietly props up retention. Seasonality deserves a second look too, since heavy churn in December can be perfectly ordinary for certain businesses.

Example: Q3 2026 SaaS Churn Analysis

  1. 1 A SaaS company started Q3 2026 with 1,500 active subscribers. During Q3, 75 subscribers canceled their subscriptions.
  2. 2 Churn Rate = (75 / 1,500) * 100 = 5%. Retention Rate = 100% - 5% = 95%. Average Customer Lifetime = 1 / 0.05 = 20 quarters (or 5 years).
  3. 3 The company's Q3 2026 churn rate is 5%, with a retention rate of 95% and an average customer lifetime of 5 years.
  4. 4 This indicates a relatively healthy retention rate for a SaaS business, falling below the industry average of 6-8% for similar subscription models in 2026. The 5-year average customer lifetime provides a valuable metric for future revenue forecasting and customer acquisition cost analysis.

Source: SBA — Business Guide · Last updated: April 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good churn rate?
For SaaS businesses, 5-7% annual churn (0.4-0.6% monthly) is excellent. Average B2B SaaS churn is 5-10% annually. B2C subscription services average 6-8% monthly. For any subscription business, churn above 10% monthly signals a serious retention problem.
How do I calculate churn rate?
Monthly churn rate = (Customers lost during month / Customers at start of month) x 100. If you started with 500 customers and lost 15, your monthly churn is 3%. Annual churn is not simply monthly x 12 due to compounding; use 1 - (1 - monthly rate)^12 for the accurate annual rate.
How do I reduce customer churn?
Improve onboarding (customers who engage in the first 7 days churn less), monitor usage data to identify at-risk customers, offer proactive support, build switching costs through integrations and data, collect and act on feedback, and consider rescue offers (discounts, pauses) before cancellation.