---
title: "What is Recurring revenue? | Chargezen"
description: "Revenue you can expect to come in again on a schedule, such as subscription renewals, memberships and repeat contract payments."
url: "https://chargezen.com/glossary/recurring-revenue"
lang: "en"
---

Canonical URL: https://chargezen.com/glossary/recurring-revenue

# Recurring revenue

Recurring revenue

Revenue

Revenue you can expect to come in again on a schedule, such as subscription renewals, memberships and repeat contract payments.

## What is Recurring revenue?

Recurring revenue is the part of your sales that repeats without winning the customer again. A one-time order is earned once. A subscription renewal arrives every week, month or year until the customer skips, pauses or cancels. **What counts:** - Subscription renewals for physical products (coffee, supplements, pet food). - Memberships and paid loyalty programs. - Digital access, such as apps, courses and content. - Prepaid plans, earned as each delivery ships. **What doesn't:** one-time orders, even from loyal repeat buyers, because nothing commits them to the next one. Repeat purchase revenue is valuable, but it's tracked separately. **How it's measured.** Most brands report it as monthly recurring revenue (MRR) or yearly recurring revenue (ARR). The useful view splits it into new revenue, revenue added by upgrades and add-ons, and revenue lost to cancellations and downgrades, so you can see what is driving the change. **Quality matters as much as size.** Recurring revenue from subscribers who stay a year is worth far more than the same amount from subscribers who cancel after one order. That's why brands watch renewal rate and revenue retention next to the total.

## Example

A pet food brand has 2,000 subscribers paying an average of $45 every month. Its monthly recurring revenue is $90,000, before counting one-time orders from the same customers.

## Why Recurring revenue Matters

Revenue you can count on lets you plan inventory, hiring and ad spend with far less guesswork than one-time sales.

## Explore More Terms

Browse our complete glossary of e-commerce and subscription terms.

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