Cohort Retention Calculator

What is Cohort Retention? Cohort retention is the percentage of users/customers from the same start group (a “cohort”) who are still active after a specific number of time units...

Cohort Retention Calculator

Calculate cohort retention (and churn) over a selected timeframe using only the original cohort (exclude new users/customers). Includes tooltips, scenarios, and a short “What It Means?” interpretation.

Pick the time unit that matches how you track cohorts.

How many time units elapsed between the cohort start and your measurement point (e.g., 3 months).

The number of users/customers in the original cohort at time 0. Do not include people who joined later.

How many from the original cohort are still active/retained after the selected timeframe. Exclude new users/customers.

Scenarios
Try common cohort profiles. Replace counts with your own cohort data (exclude new users/customers).
Early-stage churnHealthy PLGEnterprise (4 quarters)Best-in-class

Results

  • Cohort retention— %
  • Cohort churn— %
  • Retained from cohort—
  • Lost from cohort—

Enter your inputs above to calculate the results.

What is Cohort Retention?

Cohort retention is the percentage of users/customers from the same start group (a “cohort”) who are still active after a specific number of time units.

It matters because retention is the backbone of value creation in recurring models: it drives LTV, improves CAC Payback Period, stabilizes cash flows, and sets the ceiling for metrics like NRR/GRR and efficient growth (Rule of 40, Burn Multiple).

Formula

Cohort Retention (%) = Still Active from Cohort / Cohort Size at Start × 100
Cohort Churn (%) = 100-Cohort Retention (%)
Retained from Cohort = Still Active from Cohort
Lost from Cohort = Cohort Size at Start-Still Active from Cohort

Example

A cohort starts with 1,000 customers. After 3 weeks, 650 are still active.

Cohort Retention (%) = 650 / 1000 × 100 = 65%
Cohort Churn (%) = 100-65 = 35%
Retained from Cohort = 650
Lost from Cohort = 1000-650 = 350

How to Use the Cohort Retention Calculator

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I include new signups in “Still active from this cohort”?

No. Only count users/customers from the original cohort who are still active after the selected time period. Including new signups inflates retention and breaks cohort logic.

What exactly counts as “active” for cohort retention?

Use one meaningful action tied to value (e.g., logged in + completed a key action, created a project, sent an invoice). Don’t use vanity activity like “visited site” unless that’s genuinely your value moment.

Should I measure cohort retention in weeks, months, quarters, or years?

Match your product’s usage cycle. Weekly for daily/weekly habit products, monthly for subscription SaaS, quarterly for enterprise/long sales-cycle workflows, yearly for long-term memberships or renewals.

My retention looks “good” but revenue is flat—what am I missing?

Retention can be stable while expansion is weak. Pair cohort retention with Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Expansion MRR, and ARPA/ARPU to see whether retained users are growing spend or just sticking around at the same level.

Sources & Methodology