Net dollar retention (NDR) is the percentage of recurring revenue an existing-customer cohort keeps over a period, expansion included.
NDR = ((starting MRR + expansion − contraction − churn) ÷ starting MRR) × 100
A cohort starts at £200,000 MRR. Over the period: +£40,000 expansion, −£8,000 contraction, −£12,000 churn.
((£200,000 + £40,000 − £8,000 − £12,000) ÷ £200,000) × 100 = 110% NDR
Net dollar retention (NDR) is the American name for the metric that the rest of this glossary calls Net Revenue Retention (NRR) — they are the same thing, calculated identically. Both measure what happened to the revenue from a fixed cohort of existing customers over a period: starting MRR plus expansion, minus contraction and churn, divided by starting MRR. New customers are excluded entirely.
The "dollar" in the name simply reflects that this measure originated in US SaaS reporting; in pounds, the calculation and interpretation are identical. You will see NDR used interchangeably with NRR in investor decks, board reports, and benchmarking studies, so it is worth recognising both names for the one metric.
Above 100% means your existing customers spend more in aggregate than they did at the start, even after some downgraded or left — the signature of a business that grows from within. It is the inverse of net revenue churn: an NDR of 110% is the same as net revenue churn of −10%. Because it captures expansion and stickiness in a single figure, NDR is one of the metrics investors scrutinise most closely.
NDR above 100% means you could stop acquiring customers entirely and still grow, which makes it one of the strongest predictors of long-term SaaS value. Because it is identical to NRR, the same logic applies: it isolates the durability of your existing base from new-customer acquisition, revealing whether growth is self-sustaining or dependent on constantly topping up the funnel.
Above 100% is healthy, and the median rises sharply with contract value. SaaS Capital's 2025 data shows medians of ~97% (SMB), ~108% (mid-market) and ~118% (enterprise), with the $25k–$50k ACV band at 102% and a blended private-SaaS median near 101%; top performers reach 120–125% or more.
Yes — identical metric, two names. NRR and NDR are calculated the same way and used interchangeably. "Net dollar retention" reflects the metric's US origin; in pounds the maths is unchanged.
No. Like NRR, it measures only a fixed cohort of existing customers — their expansion, contraction, and churn. New-customer revenue is excluded so the metric isolates retention and expansion within the base.
Gross dollar retention (GDR) only subtracts contraction and churn from a cohort's starting MRR, so it caps at 100% and measures pure leakage. Net dollar retention adds expansion back in, so it can exceed 100%. Comparing the two separates how much you keep (GDR) from how much your remaining customers grow (the gap up to NDR).
Yes. Expansion from a few growing accounts can outweigh the revenue lost to logo churn, so NDR reads above 100% even as your customer count falls. That is why NDR is read alongside gross dollar retention and logo churn — a high NDR built on a shrinking base hides a retention problem in the long tail.
Most SaaS teams track NDR monthly on a rolling 12-month window, comparing a cohort's MRR today against the same cohort 12 months ago. Annual contracts often suit a yearly cohort view, while monthly subscriptions benefit from a monthly trend so contraction and churn show up before they compound.
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