August 17, 2026
What Is NPS? Definition, Calculation and Benchmarks
NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how likely customers are to recommend your product. Learn the 0-10 scale, the exact calculation, benchmark ranges and the questions to ask.
TL;DR
NPS asks customers how likely they are to recommend you on a 0-10 scale. Promoters (9-10) minus detractors (0-6) gives a score from -100 to +100. Above 50 is excellent, 0 to 50 is good, below 0 needs urgent work. Measure monthly or quarterly, always with one open follow-up question.
Author: Inputly
What is NPS?
NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is a customer loyalty metric built on one question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?" Respondents scoring 9 or 10 are promoters, 7 or 8 are passives, and 0 to 6 are detractors. You subtract the detractor percentage from the promoter percentage to get a score between -100 and +100. NPS is popular because it is one question, one number, and a reliable early warning: promoters grow you, detractors churn you.
How is NPS calculated?
- Send the 0 to 10 recommendation question.
- Count promoters (9 to 10), passives (7 to 8) and detractors (0 to 6).
- Compute the promoter share and the detractor share.
- Subtract: promoter percent minus detractor percent.
Example: 50 percent promoters and 15 percent detractors gives an NPS of +35. Passives count in the denominator but not in the score. That is deliberate: a passive customer is a weak signal, one cancel away from either side.
Which NPS questions should you ask?
The core question plus one open follow-up is enough: "What is the main reason for your score?" Optionally add "What could we do to earn a 10 from you?" That second question converts the survey into a feature request pipeline, because the answers can flow straight into your feedback board. Keep the whole survey to two questions. Every extra question costs response rate.
What is a good NPS benchmark?
The scale runs from -100 to +100, so the first milestone is simply being positive. In practice: above 0 is the minimum bar, 0 to 50 is good, 50 to 70 is great, above 70 is exceptional and rare. Benchmarks by industry are useful only as context, because the same score means different things in a free B2B tool versus a luxury brand. The number you can actually manage is your own trend: a rising NPS with a rising response rate is the strongest health signal a product team can watch.
How is NPS different from CSAT and eNPS?
CSAT asks about a specific experience ("How satisfied were you with support today?") and is transactional. NPS asks about the whole relationship and predicts retention and word of mouth. eNPS applies the identical mechanics to employees: instead of recommending a product, staff rate recommending the company as a workplace. Many teams run eNPS in HR and NPS in product, and the two trends usually move together, which makes them a useful cross-check.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can NPS be gamed? Every survey can. The risk is lower when you invite a random sample, avoid incentivizing 10s, and read the open answers, which are much harder to fake than the number.
- Should NPS be anonymous? For customers it can be identified or anonymous. For employees it should always be anonymous, otherwise the score is silently optimistic.
- What if your NPS drops? Segment it. A drop concentrated in one plan, one feature or one onboarding step is a fixable bug, while a broad drop is a positioning problem.
- Do promoters really refer more? On average yes, and they also forgive mistakes and tolerate price increases. That is why NPS is a growth metric, not just a satisfaction score.
- What is a passive NPS customer? Someone scoring 7 or 8: satisfied enough to stay, not enthusiastic enough to refer. Follow up with passives, because they are your most winnable group.
Measure your NPS without spreadsheets. Create a free space on Inputly, send the one-question survey, and watch the trend as you ship.