# Churn

> Canonical page: https://wayhatch.com/glossary/churn/
> Evidence label: Research evaluated. Definitions: https://wayhatch.com/about/evidence-labels/
> Updated: 26 October 2026 (2026-10-26). Publisher: wayhatch, wayhatchai@gmail.com

Churn is the loss of customers or recurring revenue over a period, through cancellation or non-renewal, usually expressed as a rate.

Churn is the result that Customer Success, product and Sales qualification all feed into. Reported as a single number, it hides whether the losses are small accounts or large ones, and which reasons recur.

Customer churn rate = customers lost in the period ÷ customers at the start of the period. Revenue churn rate = recurring revenue lost from cancellations (and, if you choose, downgrades) ÷ starting recurring revenue. Record a churn reason on every lost account.

Related terms: [Gross revenue retention (GRR)](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/gross-revenue-retention/), [Renewal risk](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/renewal-risk/), [Customer health score](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/customer-health-score/)

Workflow: [Customer health and renewal risk](https://wayhatch.com/workflows/customer-health/)