NPS Calculator (Net Promoter Score)
NPS distills "How likely are you to recommend us?" (0–10) into one score: the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Enter your response counts to compute it properly.
How to use this calculator
- Count responses by bucket: 9–10 = promoters, 7–8 = passives, 0–6 = detractors.
- Enter the three counts and press Calculate.
- Track the same survey over time — the trend outranks any single reading.
Formula used
Passives count in the denominator but not the subtraction — they dilute both sides. The score is a number from −100 (all detractors) to +100 (all promoters), not a percentage. A 7/10 counting as passive and a 6/10 as detractor surprises everyone the first time.
Example calculation
120 promoters, 90 passives, 40 detractors (250 responses): 48% − 16% = NPS 32 — in the "great" band.
Note the leverage of passives: converting just 25 of the 90 passives to promoters would lift the score to 42.
What NPS does and doesn't tell you
NPS's genius is severity-weighting: by ignoring passives and subtracting detractors, it punishes polarization that a simple average hides — a product everyone rates 7 scores 0, the same as one splitting evenly between 10s and 5s. The follow-up question ("why?") is where the actionable substance lives; the score alone is a thermometer.
Its known weaknesses: cultural response styles shift scores across countries, small samples swing wildly, and survey timing (right after success vs after support tickets) biases results. Compare against yourself over time and within your industry, not against viral benchmark charts.
Why use this calculator?
- Compute the score correctly — the 7-8 passive rule trips up manual counts.
- See segment percentages, revealing whether passives are your conversion opportunity.
- Get honest banding without the inflated benchmarks vendors circulate.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good NPS?
Above 0 means promoters outnumber detractors; 30+ is strong, 50+ excellent, 70+ rare. Industry context matters enormously — airlines and telecoms average near 0 while beloved consumer brands exceed 60.
Why does a 7 out of 10 not count as positive?
By design — research behind NPS found 7–8 scorers behave neutrally: satisfied but not spreading word-of-mouth, and open to switching. Only enthusiastic 9–10s reliably drive referrals.
How many responses do I need?
For a stable score, aim for 100+ responses; below that, confidence intervals span tens of points. At 250 responses the margin is roughly ±8–10 points — still worth remembering when celebrating a 5-point 'improvement'.