What is a retainer?
A retainer is a monthly fee a client pays to reserve a set number of your hours — for example 20 hours of design, development or marketing every month. You get predictable income; the client gets priority and usually a lower rate than booking you job by job.
How to calculate a retainer fee
Monthly retainer = hourly rate × hours per month × (1 − discount). At $50 an hour, 20 hours and a 10% discount the retainer is $900 a month — $10,800 a year, or $5,400 over a 6-month minimum term. The client saves $100 every month compared with paying for the same hours ad hoc.
Key terms to set
- Minimum term: 3–12 months, so the discount is worth it for you.
- Unused hours: expire each month (you are paid for availability) or roll over for one month.
- Overage rate: hours above the plan, often billed at your full rate.
- Payment in advance: invoice at the start of each month.
Is the retainer paying off?
Enter the hours the client really uses. If they use fewer hours than included, your real hourly rate is higher than your normal rate. If they keep going over, bill the overage or move them to a bigger package — the calculator builds Starter, Growth and Scale packages for you.
How a retainer works
A retainer is a fixed monthly fee for a set number of hours or a set amount of work. Clients get priority and a predictable bill; you get predictable income.
Example with the defaults
20 hours a month at your normal $82 an hour is $1,640. With a 10% retainer discount the monthly fee is $1,476. Extra hours above the 20 are billed at $100 an hour, and the minimum term is 6 months.
Settings that protect you
- Minimum term: 3–6 months is common, so you can plan.
- Unused hours: choose whether they expire or roll over to next month. Expiring hours are simpler; roll-over is friendlier but limit it (for example one month).
- Extra hours rate: usually your full rate or higher, so overflow work is worth doing.
- Hours actually used: if the client uses 18 of 20 hours, your effective hourly rate goes up.
When to offer a retainer
- When a client has steady monthly work — social media, maintenance, bookkeeping, SEO.
- After a successful project, as the natural next step.
- When you want to replace small one-off jobs with stable income.