Net revenue retention is the metric investors check first when they want to know if a SaaS business compounds. But 'good NRR' means very different things for a ₹50,000 a year SMB tool and a six-figure enterprise platform. Here are the most useful public benchmarks I found, split by contract size and by company stage.
NRR by ACV: the strongest pattern in the data
SaaS Capital, which surveys private B2B SaaS companies, argues that ACV is the best way to benchmark retention, because companies with similar prices behave alike. Its 2025 research shows NRR and GRR both rising with ACV. For companies with $25,000 to $50,000 ACV, it reports a median NRR of 102%, a top quartile of 111% and a bottom quartile of 97%. Optifai's pipeline study of 939 B2B SaaS companies, covering Q2 2025 to Q1 2026, shows the same shape with bigger steps: a median NRR of 97% for SMB under $25,000 ACV, 108% for mid-market at $25,000 to $100,000, and 118% for enterprise above $100,000. Its top quartiles are above 105%, 120% and 130% respectively. The sources do not match exactly. SaaS Capital's $25K to $50K median of 102% sits below Optifai's mid-market 108%, partly because Optifai's band runs up to $100K and because the samples differ. Both agree on the direction: bigger contracts retain and expand more.
NRR by ARR stage (High Alpha)
High Alpha, which took over the OpenView SaaS benchmarks survey, publishes 'good' and 'great' NRR thresholds by ARR band. In the version on its site (from its 2024 report): under $1M ARR, good is 100% and great is 110%; $1M to $5M, 100% and 110%; $5M to $20M, 105% and 120%; $20M to $50M, 103% and 112%; above $50M, 102% and 107%. Note that these are thresholds, not medians, and they peak in the $5M to $20M band rather than rising steadily. That is consistent with a common pattern: mid-stage companies often have a young, expanding base, while very large companies carry more mature accounts with less room to grow. ARR stage is a weaker predictor than ACV, which is why I start with ACV.
Why the sources differ
Three methodological differences explain most of the gaps. First, sample: SaaS Capital surveys private, mostly bootstrapped or lightly funded companies; High Alpha surveys venture partners' portfolios; Optifai uses its own pipeline dataset. Second, definitions: some count NRR on a trailing twelve month cohort basis, others annualise monthly figures, and treatment of downgrades varies. Third, statistic: medians, quartiles and 'good' thresholds are not interchangeable. So I would not average them. Pick the source closest to your situation. A bootstrapped Indian SaaS selling to SMBs should compare itself with SaaS Capital and Optifai's SMB tier, not with a venture-backed enterprise benchmark. India-specific NRR data is very thin. I could not find a public India SaaS NRR benchmark with a disclosed sample, so the figures here are global, and mostly US-weighted.
How I use NRR benchmarks
I use them to ask a better question, not to grade a company. If your NRR is below the median for your ACV band, the next step is to split it: is the gap from churn, from contraction, or from weak expansion? Each needs a different fix. Churn points to onboarding and fit, contraction to pricing or seat utilisation, and weak expansion to packaging and account management. For SMB products, an NRR near 100% is normal by these benchmarks, so growth has to come mostly from new logos. That changes how much you can afford to spend on acquisition. For enterprise products, a median well above 100% means your installed base should be a growth engine, and a figure below that is an early warning. To model your own number, use the net revenue retention forecaster. It projects NRR from your churn, contraction and expansion inputs, which tells you which lever moves it most.
Sources
SaaS Capital, What is a Good Retention Rate for a Private SaaS Company in 2025: https://www.saas-capital.com/blog-posts/what-is-a-good-retention-rate-for-a-private-saas-company/ Optifai, B2B SaaS NRR Benchmarks (N=939, Q2 2025 to Q1 2026): https://optif.ai/learn/questions/b2b-saas-net-revenue-retention-benchmark/ High Alpha, Net Revenue Retention: Why It's Crucial for SaaS Growth in 2025 (thresholds from its 2024 SaaS Benchmarks Report): https://www.highalpha.com/blog/net-revenue-retention-2025-why-its-crucial-for-saas-growth
FAQ
It depends on ACV. Optifai's 2025 to 2026 data shows medians of 97% for SMB, 108% for mid-market and 118% for enterprise. High Alpha treats 100% to 105% as good at most ARR stages.
Not automatically for SMB products, where the Optifai median is 97%. It does mean growth depends on new customers, so acquisition efficiency matters more.
SaaS Capital recommends ACV, because companies with similar contract sizes behave alike. ARR stage is a useful second view.