Guides · Pricing

How to price a monthly retainer

A retainer isn't just a bundle of hours sold in advance — it's reserved capacity. The client is paying to guarantee your availability, so you price it from a monthly block of hours at your hourly rate, and you keep the fee whether or not they use every hour. Done right, a retainer is the most stable income a freelancer can have.

The Toolkit has a retainer model built in — set the hours, see the monthly fee and your protected income. Get the Toolkit ($29) →

Start with a block of hours and your rate

The simplest, soundest retainer is a fixed number of hours per month at your established hourly rate. If you haven't set that rate yet, do it first — see how to set your freelance hourly rate. Decide how many hours a month the client's needs realistically require, multiply by your rate, and that's your baseline monthly fee.

Worked example

Monthly hours block	20
Your hourly rate	$104 / hr
Baseline monthly retainer	$2,080 / mo
If the client uses only 14 hours	still $2,080
Your effective rate that month	~$149 / hr

Why the fee holds even when hours go unused

This is the part freelancers new to retainers get wrong. You've reserved 20 hours of your month for this client. That capacity is gone whether they use it or not — you turned away or deprioritized other work to hold it. So if they only need 14 hours in a given month, you still earn the full fee; you sold availability, not a punch card. The protection runs the other way too: cap the hours, and anything well beyond the block is billed separately or rolls into next month by prior agreement, so a heavy month doesn't quietly eat your time for free.

Premium or discount?

There's a reasonable case for either. A small discount versus your hourly rate can reward the client for committing to predictable, recurring work — and predictability is genuinely valuable to you. A small premium can be justified because you're guaranteeing priority access and reserving capacity. Pick one deliberately; just don't discount so heavily that the stability isn't worth it. Many freelancers price retainers at their normal rate and let the guaranteed income be the win.

Put the terms in writing

A clean retainer agreement states: the monthly fee, the hours included, what happens to unused hours (typically they don't roll over — that's what protects your income), how overage is handled, and the notice period to end it (30 days is common). Clear terms keep a good recurring relationship from drifting into resentment on either side.

Model retainer fees, hour blocks, and your protected income in one place. See the Toolkit →

Questions

Should unused hours roll over to the next month?

Usually no. Non-rolling hours are what make a retainer protect your income — you reserved the capacity regardless. If you do allow rollover, cap it (e.g., expires after one month) so it doesn't accumulate into a large unpaid liability.

What if the client consistently needs more than the block?

That's a signal to raise the retainer to a bigger block. Bill overage at your rate in the meantime, and revisit the size every quarter.

How is a retainer different from just charging hourly?

Hourly pays you only for hours used; a retainer pays you for reserved availability. The retainer trades a little flexibility for a lot of income stability.