As of may 4th, 2026, ChurnIQ reports churn with two metrics: Subscriber Churn Rate and Subscription Churn Rate. One tracks how many of your customers you lost during the month; the other tracks how many of your active subscriptions ended during the month. Together they give you a clearer picture of retention. The subscription-level view can be filtered by offer, acquisition channel, and offer period.
You will find both metrics in the Cleeng Dashboard under Analytics.
What to expect in the numbers
The new metrics generally show lower percentages than before. This isn't a change in subscriber behavior. The denominator is simply broader. The effect is most pronounced for services with a high share of annual or non-monthly subscribers, where the previous denominator was narrowest.
Why two metrics instead of one
A single churn rate has always had to answer two very different questions at once:
- What does retention look like for my customer base?
- What does retention look like for a specific offer, price plan, or acquisition channel?
These questions don't share the same unit of measurement. The first is about customers; the second is about subscriptions.
When the two are collapsed into one number, filtering by offer title or acquisition channel becomes difficult to interpret. A single subscriber can hold several subscriptions on different offers, so a "churned subscriber" can't be cleanly attributed to one offer.
By splitting churn reporting into a subscriber-level metric and a subscription-level metric, each one becomes straightforward to read:
- Subscriber Churn Rate answers "what percentage of my customers did I lose this month?"
- Subscription Churn Rate answers "what percentage of my active subscriptions ended this month?" This one is filterable by acquisition channel, offer title, and offer period, because each subscription belongs to exactly one offer and one channel.
Subscriber Churn Rate
The percentage of subscribers who churned from their last remaining paid subscription during the month, relative to all subscribers who had at least one active paid subscription at the beginning of that month.
Formula
(from among subscribers active at the beginning of the month)
How it's calculated
- A subscriber is considered churned only if all of their subscriptions have ended.
- The denominator includes subscribers who had at least one active paid subscription at the beginning of the month.
- Free trials are excluded from the calculation. Being on a trial only does not count as being an active subscriber at the beginning of the month.
- Churn type (voluntary / involuntary) is determined by the final subscription from which the subscriber churned.
Available filters
- Date
- Customer Country
- Churn Type
You can find Subscriber Churn Rate on its dedicated KPI dashboard. Because it's a customer-level metric, it is not filtered by offer or acquisition channel. A subscriber can span multiple offers and channels, so filtering by those at the customer level would be misleading.
Subscription Churn Rate
The percentage of paid subscriptions that ended during a given month, relative to all paid subscriptions that were active at the beginning of that month.
Formula
(from among subscriptions active at the beginning of the month)
How it's calculated
- A subscription is counted in the denominator if it was active and paid at the start of the month.
- Free trials are excluded from the calculation.
- Subscriptions that both started and churned within the same month are not included. The metric tracks what happened to the population that existed at the beginning of the month.
- Aggregation is done by the current offer on the subscription, not the acquisition offer, so offer switches are reflected correctly.
Available filters
- Date
- Customer Country
- Churn Type
- Acquisition Channel
- Offer Title
- Offer Period
Subscription Churn Rate is shown on its own KPI dashboard. This is the metric to use whenever the question is about a specific product slice. For example, compare annual vs. monthly retention, look at churn on a particular offer, or isolate the performance of a single acquisition channel.
How the new metrics differ from the previous Churn Rate
The previous churn rate measured against subscribers due to renew in the period. The new metrics measure against everyone active at the start of the month - a snapshot, not a renewal cohort.
The main change is the denominator. The previous metric measured churn only against subscribers whose subscription was due to expire during the period. The new metrics measure it against the full active base at the start of the month. This includes every subscriber (or every subscription) that was active and paid on day one.
What's different
- A broader, more consistent denominator. Every active subscriber or subscription is counted, not just those up for renewal. Trends become comparable across months regardless of the renewal mix.
- Subscribers and subscriptions reported separately. Each metric measures exactly what its name says, with no mixing of customer-level and subscription-level logic.
- Meaningful subscription-level filtering. Because Subscription Churn Rate is calculated subscription by subscription, it can be filtered by Offer Title, Offer Period, and Acquisition Channel.
FAQs
What's the difference between Subscriber Churn Rate and Subscription Churn Rate?
Subscriber Churn Rate measures people. A subscriber is only churned once all of their subscriptions have ended. Subscription Churn Rate measures contracts. Every individual subscription that ends is counted, even if the subscriber still has other active subscriptions.
Which metric should I use?
Use Subscriber Churn Rate to track the health of your customer base. Use Subscription Churn Rate whenever you need to slice churn by offer, acquisition channel, or offer period, or whenever you're looking at product-level retention.
Are users in a grace period included?
No. Users in a grace period are still treated as active subscribers until the grace period expires and the subscription is fully terminated.
Are free trials included?
No. Trials are excluded from both metrics. A subscriber is considered active at the beginning of the month only if they hold at least one paid subscription at that point.
Are non-recurring offers (e.g., passes) included?
No. Both metrics track subscription churn and do not apply to one-time purchases or non-recurring offers.
How is churn type determined?
For Subscription Churn Rate, churn type is read directly from the subscription that ended. For Subscriber Churn Rate, churn type is determined by the final subscription from which the subscriber churned. This is the one that tipped them into a fully churned state.
Why can't I filter Subscriber Churn Rate by offer or acquisition channel?
Because a subscriber can hold subscriptions on multiple offers and can have been acquired through different channels over time, these dimensions don't have a single, unambiguous value at the subscriber level. To analyze churn by offer or channel, use Subscription Churn Rate.
What happens to subscriptions that started and churned within the same month?
They are excluded from Subscription Churn Rate. The metric is calculated against the population of subscriptions that were already active at the beginning of the month, so a subscription that didn't exist at that point isn't part of the denominator. They are visible in the “Churned Subscriptions” dashboard though.