MRR – ARR movements

What is an MRR movement

Tracking MRR variations is one of the foundations of recurring-revenue analysis in Fincome. Fincome calculates the monthly MRR of each active subscription and automatically detects value changes: these are the MRR movements.

Each movement corresponds to a net variation in MRR between two periods. Adding up all of a subscription's past movements lets you reconstruct its current MRR. These movements are analyzed in two complementary views:

• Customer-granularity view: the evolution of MRR by customer (the module's historical basis).
• Product-granularity view: the evolution of MRR at the product level. It comes in two variants: a simple product view (customer × product), which uses the same movements as the customer view but for each product; and a product view with decomposition (price / volume effect), which breaks out upsell and downsell by their price, volume, and mix effects, and isolates cross-sell.

Where to find them

Go to Analytics > Growth > MRR – ARR movements. You can switch between the customer-granularity view and the product-granularity view, filter by movement type, and click an amount to display the underlying view (the customers and invoice lines behind the movement).

Customer-granularity view

This view identifies the main dynamics of your recurring revenue at the customer level. It groups all the movement types that affect your overall MRR.

New
Recorded when a customer subscribes to a paid subscription for the first time. It reflects the arrival of recurring revenue from a customer who until then had no MRR. Typical cases: first subscription of a never-billed customer, activation of a first subscription after a trial period.

Reactivation
Occurs when a previously lost customer (churned, with no active subscription) takes up a paid subscription again. Typical cases: resuming a subscription after a full cancellation, returning to a paid offer after a pause.

Expansion (Upsell)
Any net increase in MRR for an already active subscription or customer. Typical cases: upgrade to a higher plan, adding users or modules, the end of a commercial discount, subscribing to an additional subscription with the same customer (cross-sell).

Contraction (Downsell)
A drop in MRR on an active subscription, without that subscription being fully cancelled. Typical cases: downgrade to a lower plan, removing users or options, applying a discount or credit note, or a partial cancellation (stopping a secondary subscription). Note: discounts or credits applied retroactively can generate a contraction dated on the period concerned, depending on the revenue recognition parameters defined in Fincome.

Attrition (Churn)
Recorded when a customer's last subscription is cancelled, causing them to leave the active MRR base. The churn recognition date is configurable in the calculation options.

Foreign exchange effect (FX)
Variation in MRR due to exchange rate fluctuations for subscriptions billed in foreign currencies. This effect is isolated so as not to distort the operational analysis: an increase or decrease in MRR purely tied to FX is not counted as a commercial expansion or contraction.

Example of a net reading. A customer increases an existing subscription (+€100), cancels another (−€50), and benefits from a one-off credit note (−€20): the net growth of their MRR over the period is +€30.

Product-granularity view

The product-granularity view drills down to the product level. It comes in two variants, to choose depending on the level of detail sought.

Simple product view (customer × product)

It uses exactly the same movements as the customer-granularity view (New, Reactivation, Expansion, Contraction, Attrition), but at the granularity of each customer × product pair. Useful to see which products drive a customer's growth or contraction, without yet distinguishing what stems from price or volume.

Product view with decomposition (price / volume effect)

This variant breaks down upsell and downsell to understand the economic drivers of your growth: is it price, volume, range, or the addition of a new product that moves your MRR? Two customers showing the same expansion can have opposite dynamics, which do not call for the same actions (pricing, packaging, commercial expansion).

Here Fincome distinguishes the following effects (symmetric upward for upsell and downward for downsell).

Price effect
Variation in MRR due to a change in unit price, at constant volume and product. Typical cases: a customer moves from a €20 plan to €25 per user, a temporary discount ends, new pricing is applied on an equivalent contract.

Volume effect
Variation in MRR due to a change in subscribed or consumed quantities, at constant unit price. It reflects a change in usage. Typical cases: a customer adds or removes users on an unchanged plan.

Mix effect
Variation in MRR due to a change in the distribution across products or plans of different price levels (moving up or down the range). Typical case: a customer shifts part of their users from a Standard plan to a more expensive Premium plan.

Cross-sell
Subscription by an existing customer to a product they did not yet hold, in addition to their current subscriptions. It is additional revenue on a new product, distinct from the increase of an already-held product (upsell).

What it takes for this decomposition. For Fincome to separate the price effect from the volume effect, your invoice lines must carry an identified quantity and product. Without a quantity, a variation in amount cannot be attributed to a price effect rather than a volume effect: it will appear as an overall expansion or contraction, without fine decomposition. This is the most common cause of a movement that "reads" like a downsell when it is not one.

See the article Products and plans in Fincome for how products and quantities are captured depending on your data source.

Example. A customer goes from an MRR of €200 to €260. In the customer-granularity view, this is an expansion of +€60. In the product-granularity view, this expansion can be decomposed as follows:

• volume effect: +€40 (from 10 to 12 licenses),
• price effect: +€20 (increase in unit price),
• mix effect: €0,
• cross-sell: €0.

This customer's growth therefore comes first from adding licenses, and secondarily from a price increase.

Intra-period netting: why some movements don't appear

Fincome nets MRR movements within the chosen period (monthly, quarterly, or annual). If the same customer experiences, for example, a churn then a reactivation in the same period, the two can offset each other: Fincome then only displays the net impact at the end of the period. This is why some churns or reactivations "disappear" when you widen the time granularity. For details, see the article Intra-period netting.

FAQ and common cases

My decomposition only shows overall effects, without price/volume detail.
Check that your invoice lines do carry an identified quantity and product. Without this information, Fincome cannot isolate the price effect from the volume effect.

A change in billing frequency appears as a downsell, is that normal?
A change in the way you bill (for example moving from several installments to a single one over the period) can vary the monthly MRR without the real value of the subscription having dropped. The product-granularity view and checking quantities help distinguish this case from a real downsell.

What is the difference between upsell and cross-sell?
Upsell increases MRR on an already-held product (more volume, higher price, moving up the range). Cross-sell corresponds to an additional product the customer did not yet have.

Why doesn't a churn appear in the selected period?
Because it may have been netted with a reactivation or an expansion in the same period. Reduce the time granularity to see the gross movements.

Related articles

• MRR and ARR calculation
• Products and plans in Fincome
• Intra-period netting
• Manage calculation options (churn recognition)
• NRR and GRR calculation

Updated on: 23/07/2026