Retention

Retention is the single most important number for a server. If new players don't come back, nothing else matters. The Retention page turns retention into charts you can actually read and compare.

What retention means on Analyse

Retention is the percentage of new players from a given week that came back on day 1, day 7, and day 30.

• D1 = returned within 1 day after first session
• D7 = returned within 7 days after first session (not only on exactly day 7)
• D30 = returned within 30 days after first session

Good servers typically hit 20-30% D1 and 5-10% D7. Great servers go higher. If you're under 10% D1, your onboarding is losing people.

The main chart

The retention line chart shows retention curves over time. Use the view mode to pick how the lines are split:

• Platform - one line for Java, one for Bedrock
• Projects - one line per Server, available on Network Retention
• Domains - a line per connection address (hostname), not root domain only
• Campaigns - a line per tracked Campaign

The time range control lives on the retention curve card (1 week, 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, or All) — not at the top of the page.

Under the curve you'll find expandable Advanced retention insights and Retention extensions panels, then the cohort table (W0–W8). Extension charts use a fixed 90-day lookback.

Summary stats

Above the chart you get the headline numbers for the selected window:

• D1 retention
• D7 retention
• D30 retention
• Total new players

Each stat also shows whether it's up or down vs the previous period.

Advanced retention insights

Scroll down and expand Advanced retention insights for extra charts without leaving the page:

• Time to second session — how long it takes new players to come back once
• Retention by session length — do longer first sessions mean better comeback rates?
• Resurrection rate — players who went quiet and then returned
• Lifecycle breakdown — new, active, at-risk, dormant, churned, and resurrected players
• Login streaks — session-derived estimate (approximate until full snapshot backfill); shows average streak, longest streak, and players on 2+ day streaks

Lifecycle and resurrection rates respect thresholds in Server Settings → Analytics (at-risk, dormant, churned, and resurrected day counts).

You don't need all of these every day. Open the panel when D1 looks wrong and you want a hint where players drop off.

Time range

On the retention curve card, pick:

• 1 week
• 4 weeks
• 3 months
• 6 months
• All

The curve and summary D1/D7/D30 stats react to this. The cohort table and extension panels use their own windows (see above).

Comparing cohorts

The cohort table is where retention becomes actionable. A row that dips hard on W1 when every other row holds up means something specific went wrong that week: a lag spike, a bad update, a creator that sent bots, etc. Click through to Players or Campaigns to investigate.

Splitting by Campaign vs Platform

Switching to Campaigns view in particular is where you learn the most:

• "The Discord campaign has 2x the D7 retention of the TikTok campaign" is an actionable number.
• Global retention is a vanity number. Always split before making decisions.

Retention inside Campaigns

Campaign pages also have their own Retention tab. Use it when you want to judge one creator, ad, or source by player quality instead of raw joins.

The Campaign Retention tab shows:

• D1, D7, and D30 retention for players attributed to that Campaign
• Average session time for those players
• A retention curve
• Weekly cohorts for that Campaign

This is the fastest way to answer "did this Campaign bring players who actually played?".

Retention inside Countries

Country detail pages include retention too. Use this when you want to understand whether a region is healthy, not just whether it sends a lot of players.

For example, a country with a smaller player count but better D7 retention may be a better creator market than a country with a large spike and weak return rate.

Tips

• Set a baseline, then move it. Write down your current D1 and D7. Any change you make (a new spawn, a new tutorial, a new kit) should move one of these. If it doesn't, it didn't matter.
• Weekly review. Glance at the cohort table every Monday. Vertical stripes of "this cohort did bad" always have a story.

Network-level retention

If you want retention across every Server in a Network, open the Retention page from the Network in the sidebar instead of from a single Server. It's a separate page that rolls up the numbers.

Related

• Acquisition for new vs lost players and return rate
• Sessions for a closer look at what's happening during a visit
• Funnels for finding the exact step where new players leave
• Campaigns for Campaign-specific retention
• Countries for region-specific retention
• Retention playbook for a checklist of changes that actually move retention