Attrition Rate
The rate at which customers or employees leave over a given period, expressed as a percentage.
Attrition rate measures the proportion of customers (or employees) who leave during a specific time period. In SaaS, it's functionally identical to churn rate. The formula and the maths are the same. The difference is mostly about context: "attrition" tends to appear in HR and broader business discussions, while "churn" is the standard subscription term.
Attrition rate formula
Attrition Rate = (Number who left during the period / Number at the start of the period) x 100
Say you started the quarter with 1,000 customers and 60 left. Your quarterly attrition rate is 6%. If you'd rather skip the manual calculation, our attrition rate calculator does it for you.
Attrition rate vs churn rate
In practice, attrition rate and churn rate mean the same thing when applied to customers. The distinction is about context. "Attrition" tends to show up in workforce analytics and board-level reporting. "Churn" is what you'll see in SaaS dashboards and retention conversations. For a deeper comparison, see our guide on attrition vs churn.
Why attrition rate matters
A high attrition rate means you're constantly backfilling lost customers just to maintain your current numbers. In practice, 20 to 40% of customer attrition is involuntary: driven by failed payments rather than deliberate cancellations. That chunk is recoverable with proper dunning.
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