Cohort Retention
The percentage of customers from a specific acquisition group who remain active or paying over time, measured by signup or contract month.
What is Cohort Retention?
Cohort retention tracks how groups of customers acquired in the same period behave over time. A January 2026 cohort might show 100% at month zero, 92% at month one, 85% at month three.
Unlike aggregate churn, cohort analysis reveals whether newer customers retain better than older ones, whether product changes improved retention, and how revenue durability supports runway planning.
For subscription businesses, cohort retention directly affects revenue forecasts. A declining cohort curve means future MRR growth must overcome increasing churn.
Why it matters
Aggregate retention hides problems. Overall churn of 3% looks healthy until cohort analysis shows recent cohorts churning at 6%.
Retention curves inform hiring, marketing spend, and fundraising narratives about revenue quality.
How RunwayCal helps
RunwayCal tracks revenue and churn inputs that feed retention analysis, connecting cohort trends to MRR forecasts and runway projections.
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Connect retention to runway
Model how cohort retention affects MRR growth and runway in RunwayCal's planner.
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