Net Dollar Retention: How 33 Public SaaS Companies Define and Report It (2026)

Net dollar retention (NDR), also called net revenue retention or net expansion rate, is the recurring revenue you have today from the customers you had a year ago, divided by what those same customers paid a year ago. Of the 62 companies in the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, 33 report it in their latest SEC filing. The median is 110%, the middle half runs from 106% to 118%, 4 are below 100% and 7 are at 120% or more. But the 33 figures are not measured the same way: 18 use ARR, the rest use recognized revenue, revenue run-rate, billings, invoices or contract value, several filter which customers count, and only two also report gross retention.

The formula and how to improve it are in our net revenue retention guide, and you can compute your own figure with the net revenue retention calculator; the difference between NRR and GRR is in NRR vs GRR. This page is the public-company data, with each company's own definition, so you can compare your number with the right peers.

How we built the table

We took every constituent of the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index on October 22, 2026 that files quarterly reports with the SEC, read the latest 10-Q or 10-K, and recorded the retention metric exactly as the company names it, its value, the period it covers and the sentence that defines it. Filings were read on October 22 and 23, 2026; each company name below links to the filing. Companies that disclose no net retention figure, 29 of the 62, are left out rather than estimated. The same data set feeds our public SaaS companies benchmark.

Net dollar retention by company

Same name, different numbers: what the definitions change

18 of the 33 companies measure net retention on ARR: take the ARR of every customer from twelve months ago and compare it with the same customers' ARR today. The others use recognized revenue (6), a revenue run-rate (4), and one each billed revenue, billings, invoiced amounts, contract value (ACV) and annualized spend. The median is 111.5% for the ARR group, 114.5% for the revenue group and 106.25% for the run-rate group. Those groups are small, so read them as a reminder that the base matters, not as a rule.

Some definitions also filter who counts, or how the number is taken. In the companies' own words:

• Twilio (116): "Our DBNE compares the total revenue in a quarter from all individual customer accounts, as identified by a unique account identifier, for which we have recognized at least $5 of revenue in the last month of the quarter, to revenue from those same accounts in the same quarter in the prior year." (filing)
• Figma (136): "We calculate Net Dollar Retention Rate as of the applicable period of measurement by starting with the ARR of Paid Customers with more than $10,000 in ARR as of twelve months prior to such date of measurement" (filing)
• Okta (107): "Our Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate is based upon our ACV, which is calculated based on the terms of that customer’s contract and represents the total contracted annual subscription amount as of that period end." (filing)
• Q2 Holdings (113): "We calculate our net revenue retention rate as the total revenues in a calendar year, excluding any revenues from acquired customers during such year" (filing)
• Qualys (105): "We calculate the net dollar expansion rate on a foreign exchange neutral basis" (filing)
• Waystar (108.3): "the total amount invoiced to clients in a given 12-month period divided by the total amount invoiced to those same clients from the prior 12-month period" (filing)
• BILL (95): "We calculate our net dollar-based retention rate at the end of each fiscal year." (filing)

Each choice moves the number. Leaving out small customers removes most of the churn, so a figure on "customers above $10,000" will sit above an all-customer figure for the same business. Revenue-based figures move with usage and one-off revenue; ARR- and ACV-based figures move when contracts are signed. A figure taken once a year or averaged over twelve months reacts more slowly than a point-in-time one. Constant-currency figures strip out exchange rates. None of this is wrong, and each company explains its choice, but it means a 110% from one company and a 110% from another can describe different things.

Gross retention: almost nobody reports it

Only two of the 33 disclose gross retention alongside net: Weave reports a dollar-based gross revenue retention rate of 89% (net 92%) as of June 30, 2026, and Workiva a gross retention rate of 97.3% (net 110.5%). Net retention hides how much revenue walks out, because expansion from the customers who stay fills the gap. For private-company gross retention benchmarks, see the bands in our churn rate calculator: SaaS Capital puts the 2025 median at 91%, Benchmarkit at 84% for calendar 2025.

How to compare your own number fairly

1. Use the same base. If you track ARR, compare with the ARR-based companies. If you sell on usage, revenue-based peers such as Snowflake and Twilio are closer.
2. Match the customer filter. If your figure includes every customer, don't compare it with one that excludes small accounts.
3. Use a trailing twelve months, cohort-based calculation. Take customers from twelve months ago, including those who churned, and compare their revenue then and now. New customers never enter the calculation.
4. Report gross retention next to it. Investors increasingly ask for both, and gross retention tells them whether expansion is masking churn.
5. Remember the scale gap. These are public companies: 31 of the 33 have more than $500M of trailing twelve-month revenue, and the median is about $1.2B. Private SaaS medians are lower: SaaS Capital's 2026 bootstrapped cut puts median NRR at 103% for $3M to $20M ARR companies (bootstrapped benchmarks), and Benchmarkit's 2026 report on 342 companies puts calendar 2025 median NRR at 102%.

Frequently asked questions

What is net dollar retention?

The share of last year's recurring revenue from a group of customers that the same customers generate today, including expansion and net of churn and downgrades. 100% means expansion exactly offset losses; above 100% means existing customers grew.

How is net dollar retention calculated?

Net dollar retention = revenue (or ARR) today from customers who were customers twelve months ago ÷ revenue (or ARR) from those same customers twelve months ago. Customers who left count as zero in the numerator; customers acquired since are excluded entirely. Datadog's version: "We then divide the total Current Period ARR by the total Prior Period ARR to arrive at the point-in-time dollar-based net retention rate."

Is net dollar retention the same as net revenue retention?

Mostly, yes: companies use net dollar retention, dollar-based net retention, net revenue retention, net expansion rate and net ARR expansion rate for the same idea. What differs is the base (ARR, revenue, billings) and which customers count, as the table shows.

What is a good net dollar retention rate?

Among the 33 public cloud companies that report it, the median is 110% and the top quarter is above 118%. For private SaaS, a median around 102% to 103% is typical in 2025 and 2026 data. Above 120% is rare even among public companies (7 of 33).

Why don't all public SaaS companies report it?

Nothing requires it. The SEC's 2020 guidance on key metrics in MD&A says that when a company does present a metric, it should generally give "a clear definition of the metric and how it is calculated", say why it is useful and how management uses it, and disclose material changes in how it is calculated (SEC Release 33-10751). That is why the definitions above are so detailed. Of the 62 index companies, 29 report no net retention figure in their latest filing.

Track yours monthly

Net retention is easiest to keep honest when it is built from the same cohort data every month. Adlega models new MRR, expansion, contraction and churn in a driver-based 36-month SaaS model, so you can see what a few points of NRR do to growth and runway, and its AI CFO explains every number. The ARR waterfall calculator is a free way to start.