Free tool
Churn Rate Calculator
How many subscribers are you losing? Enter where you started, how many left, and the timeframe to get your churn rate, retention rate, and what it means over a full year.
How churn rate is calculated
Churn rate measures the share of subscribers who were active at the start of a period and left by the end of it:
churn rate = subscribers lost ÷ subscribers at start × 100 retention rate = 100% − churn rate annualized = 1 − (1 − monthly churn)^12 avg. lifetime = 1 ÷ monthly churn
Converting between periods compounds rather than multiplies, since each month's churn applies to fewer remaining subscribers. That is why this churn rate calculator shows 5% monthly churn as 46% annualized, not 60%. The same customer churn formula works for digital subscriptions, print subscriptions, and association memberships.
How to use the churn rate calculator
- 1
Pick the timeframe
Month, quarter, or year: the period your subscriber counts cover. The calculator converts the result to monthly and annual equivalents either way.
- 2
Enter subscribers at the start
Active subscribers or members on the first day of the period. This is the denominator of the churn rate formula.
- 3
Enter subscribers lost
How many of those starting subscribers cancelled or lapsed during the period. Leave out new sign-ups, so the rate reflects retention rather than acquisition.
- 4
Read your churn rate
Churn rate, retention rate, monthly and annualized churn, and average subscriber lifetime, with the arithmetic shown so you can check it.
Frequently asked questions
- What is churn rate?
- Churn rate is the share of your subscribers or members who cancel or lapse during a period. It's the mirror image of retention rate: if 3% of the subscribers you started the month with churned, you retained 97%. Publishers, associations, and nonprofits track it because every lost subscriber has to be replaced before recurring revenue can grow.
- How do I calculate churn rate?
- Divide the subscribers you lost during a period by the subscribers you had at the start of it, then multiply by 100. Example: you start the month with 10,000 subscribers and 300 cancel, so 300 ÷ 10,000 = 3% monthly churn. This churn rate calculator does that division instantly and converts the result to a monthly equivalent, an annualized rate, and an average subscriber lifetime.
- Should new sign-ups be included in the calculation?
- No. The standard customer churn formula only counts subscribers who were active on the first day of the period, both in the denominator and in the number lost. Subscribers who join and cancel inside the same period are real losses worth tracking, but mixing them in makes the rate swing with your acquisition volume instead of reflecting how well you keep the audience you already have.
- Why isn't annual churn just monthly churn times 12?
- Because churn compounds. Each month's churn applies to a smaller remaining group, so a 5% monthly rate leaves 0.95¹² ≈ 54% of a starting cohort after a year, which is 46% annual churn rather than 60%. The calculator converts between periods with the same compounding, assuming the rate stays constant.
- How is average subscriber lifetime calculated?
- Average lifetime is 1 ÷ monthly churn rate. At 3% monthly churn, the average subscriber stays about 33 months. It's a simplification that assumes churn holds steady, since in practice churn is often highest in a subscriber's first months, but it's the input most customer lifetime value (LTV) models start from.
- What is a good churn rate?
- It depends heavily on your model: monthly versus annual billing, print versus digital, trial offers, and whether renewals are automatic. We don't publish a single benchmark here because there isn't a credible one that fits every publisher. The most useful comparison is your own churn rate period over period, and split by plan, acquisition channel, and payment method.
- What's the difference between voluntary and involuntary churn?
- Voluntary churn is a subscriber deciding to cancel. Involuntary churn is a subscription lapsing because a payment failed, such as an expired card or a declined charge, even though the subscriber meant to stay. Involuntary churn is usually the easiest to win back, through card updaters, payment retries, and dunning emails.
- Is my data stored anywhere?
- Your inputs are saved only in your own browser's localStorage so they survive a refresh. Nothing is sent to a server unless you choose to enter your email.