Free tool
Freelance Retainer Calculator
What should you charge for a monthly retainer — and what could it add up to across your clients? Move the sliders to see your recurring-revenue potential.
A monthly retainer is usually priced as your rate × the hours you reserve for that client. Reserving capacity is worth a premium — many freelancers add 10–20% on top for priority access.
Monthly retainer
$1,500
per client
Per client / year
$18,000
recurring
With 3 clients
That's $54,000 a year in predictable revenue you don't have to chase or re-sell every month.
How to price a freelance retainer
A retainer is a recurring monthly fee a client pays to reserve a set amount of your time or a defined scope of work. The simplest way to price one is to multiply your hourly rate by the hours you set aside for that client each month. At $75/hour and 20 reserved hours, that's a $1,500/month retainer.
Should you charge a premium or a discount?
Both are common, and they pull in opposite directions. Some freelancers offer a small discount (5–15%) because a retainer guarantees income and reduces the cost of constantly finding new work. Others add a premium (10–20%) because the client is buying priority access and reserved capacity — you're turning down other work to be available. If your calendar is full, lean toward a premium. If you're building predictable income, a modest discount can make the “yes” easier.
Why retainers beat one-off projects
Project work means you re-sell yourself every month and ride a feast-or-famine income. Retainers flip that: revenue is predictable, you can plan your capacity, and your effective hourly often rises because you spend less time on sales and proposals. A handful of retainer clients can cover your baseline costs before the month even starts.
Get paid without chasing
The hard part of retainers isn't the math — it's collecting every month without awkward reminders. RetainerBase puts your clients on automatic monthly billing through your own Stripe account (we take 0%), sends proposals and contracts, and gives each client a clean portal — so the recurring revenue above actually shows up, on time, on its own.