Churn Rate Calculator
Easily calculate your customer churn rate over a specific period. Churn rate is the percentage of customers who stopped using your product or service during that period.
Enter the number of customers at the start of the period and the number of customers who churned (left/cancelled) during the same period.
Enter Customer Data
Understanding Churn Rate
What is Churn Rate?
Churn rate (sometimes called attrition rate) is a metric that measures the percentage of customers or subscribers who leave a service over a specific time period. It's a critical indicator for subscription-based businesses (SaaS, streaming services, memberships, etc.) and other businesses reliant on retaining a customer base.
Why is Churn Rate Important?
A high churn rate can signal problems with customer satisfaction, product quality, pricing, or competition. Reducing churn is often more cost-effective than acquiring new customers. Monitoring churn rate helps businesses understand customer retention health and make data-driven decisions to improve it.
Churn Rate Formula
The most common and basic churn rate formula is:
Churn Rate (%) = (Number of Churned Customers / Number of Customers at Start of Period) * 100
This calculator uses this simple, standard formula.
Example Calculation (Walkthrough)
EX: At the start of the month, a service has 500 customers. By the end of the month, 25 of those customers have cancelled their subscriptions. Calculate the monthly churn rate:
Number of Churned Customers = 25
Number of Customers at Start = 500
Churn Rate = (25 / 500) * 100
Churn Rate = 0.05 * 100
Result: Churn Rate = 5%.
Conclusion: The monthly customer churn rate is 5%.
Churn Rate Examples
Click on an example to see the step-by-step calculation:
Example 1: Simple Monthly Churn
Scenario: A newsletter had 2000 subscribers at the start of July. 100 people unsubscribed during July.
1. Known Values: Start Customers = 2000, Churned Customers = 100.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (100 / 2000) * 100 = 0.05 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 5%.
Conclusion: The monthly churn rate was 5%.
Example 2: Low Churn Rate
Scenario: A SaaS company starts the quarter with 500 paying customers and loses only 5 by the end of the quarter.
1. Known Values: Start Customers = 500, Churned Customers = 5.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (5 / 500) * 100 = 0.01 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 1%.
Conclusion: The quarterly churn rate was a low 1%.
Example 3: High Churn Rate
Scenario: A new mobile app starts the week with 100 users who completed onboarding. By the end of the week, 40 of those users haven't opened the app.
1. Known Values: Start Users = 100, Churned Users (Inactive) = 40.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (40 / 100) * 100 = 0.4 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 40%.
Conclusion: The weekly churn rate is a high 40%.
Example 4: No Churn
Scenario: A small online community starts the month with 50 members and no one leaves during the month.
1. Known Values: Start Members = 50, Churned Members = 0.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (0 / 50) * 100 = 0 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 0%.
Conclusion: The monthly churn rate was 0%.
Example 5: Fractional Result
Scenario: A service has 350 customers at the start of the year and loses 12 customers over the year.
1. Known Values: Start Customers = 350, Churned Customers = 12.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (12 / 350) * 100 ≈ 0.0342857 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate ≈ 3.43%.
Conclusion: The annual churn rate was approximately 3.43%.
Example 6: Large Numbers
Scenario: A large telecom company starts the year with 1,500,000 subscribers and loses 75,000 during the year.
1. Known Values: Start Subscribers = 1,500,000, Churned Subscribers = 75,000.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (75000 / 1500000) * 100 = 0.05 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 5%.
Conclusion: The annual churn rate was 5%.
Example 7: Small Numbers
Scenario: A niche online course has 8 students enrolled at the start of the semester. 1 student drops out.
1. Known Values: Start Students = 8, Churned Students = 1.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (1 / 8) * 100 = 0.125 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 12.5%.
Conclusion: The churn rate for the semester was 12.5%.
Example 8: High Churn (More Churn than Retention)
Scenario: A free trial service starts the week with 200 trial users. 180 of them do not convert to paid customers.
1. Known Values: Start Trial Users = 200, Churned Trial Users = 180.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (180 / 200) * 100 = 0.9 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 90%.
Conclusion: The conversion churn rate for trial users was 90%.
Example 9: Focusing on a Specific Cohort
Scenario: Out of 500 customers acquired in January, 75 cancelled their subscription by the end of June.
1. Known Values: Start Customers (January Cohort) = 500, Churned Customers (from that cohort by June) = 75.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (75 / 500) * 100 = 0.15 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 15%.
Conclusion: The 6-month churn rate for the January cohort was 15%.
Example 10: Using Annual Data
Scenario: A membership organization had 10,000 active members on Jan 1st, 2023. By Jan 1st, 2024, 800 members had not renewed their membership.
1. Known Values: Start Members = 10000, Churned Members = 800.
2. Formula: Churn Rate = (Churned / Start) * 100
3. Calculation: Churn Rate = (800 / 10000) * 100 = 0.08 * 100
4. Result: Churn Rate = 8%.
Conclusion: The annual membership churn rate was 8%.
Definition of Terms
Churned Customers: Customers who left, cancelled, or did not renew during the specified period.
Customers at Start of Period: The total number of customers you had at the very beginning of the period you are analyzing.
Period: The timeframe you are measuring churn over (e.g., a month, a quarter, a year).
Frequently Asked Questions about Churn Rate
1. What is a good churn rate?
A "good" churn rate varies significantly by industry, business model, and target customer. SaaS companies often aim for 5-7% annual churn, but for small businesses, it might be lower, and for free services, much higher.
2. How often should I calculate churn rate?
Most businesses calculate churn rate monthly or quarterly. The appropriate frequency depends on your business cycle and how quickly you can implement changes to impact churn.
3. Does this calculator handle negative numbers?
No, the calculator requires non-negative inputs for both the starting customer count and the number of churned customers, as these represent counts that cannot be negative.
4. What if my starting customer count is zero?
If your starting customer count is zero, the calculator will show an error because division by zero is undefined. Churn rate is typically calculated for periods where you had an existing customer base.
5. What if the number of churned customers is greater than the starting customers?
This indicates an issue with your data or definition of the period. The number of customers who leave during a period cannot exceed the number you started with in that same period. The calculator will display an error in this case.
6. Can this formula be used for revenue churn?
This specific calculator uses the basic *customer* churn formula. Revenue churn (measuring lost revenue from cancellations/downgrades) requires tracking the monetary value associated with churned accounts, not just the count.
7. Should I include new customers acquired during the period in the "Start Customers" number?
No, the "Customers at Start of Period" should only include the customers you had on the first day of the period you are measuring. Customers acquired *during* the period are not typically included in the denominator for a basic churn calculation.
8. How is churn rate different from retention rate?
Churn rate and retention rate are inversely related. Retention rate is the percentage of customers retained over a period. Retention Rate = 100% - Churn Rate % (assuming no new customer growth is factored into retention calculation).
9. Are there other ways to calculate churn rate?
Yes, there are more complex methods, like "weighted churn" (by customer value) or "net churn" (factoring in revenue expansion), but the formula used here is the most fundamental customer count-based churn rate.
10. What can cause high churn?
High churn can be caused by various factors including poor customer onboarding, inadequate customer support, product issues or bugs, better competitor offers, pricing concerns, or customers no longer needing the service.
