How do you price a monthly retainer?

Start from committed monthly hours × your standard hourly rate, then apply a modest discount (commonly 5%–15%) in exchange for guaranteed monthly income. For 20 hours/month at $100/hour with a 10% discount: (20 × $100) × 0.90 = $1,800/month.

Why offer any discount for a retainer at all?

A retainer trades a small rate reduction for predictable, guaranteed monthly revenue and priority access to your time — value the client is effectively paying for even though it isn't itemized. The discount also rewards a client for reserving capacity rather than booking work ad-hoc.

What is a minimum retainer floor and why set one?

A floor is the lowest monthly fee you'll accept regardless of the discounted hourly math, because holding a client slot open has a real opportunity cost even in a light month. It prevents a low committed-hours retainer from underpricing the value of guaranteed access to you.

What happens if the client needs more hours than the retainer covers?

Most retainer agreements bill overage hours at the full, undiscounted hourly rate — the discount only applies to the committed monthly hours, not unlimited work. This should be spelled out clearly in the contract before work begins.

Agency Retainer Calculator

(Monthly Recurring Pricing Tool)

Turn committed monthly hours and your hourly rate into a fair recurring retainer — with a retainer discount for guaranteed income and a minimum floor so a light month never underprices your time.

Step 1 — Committed Monthly Work

Hours Committed per Month

Your Standard Hourly Rate ($)

Step 2 — Retainer Terms

Retainer Discount (%)

A small discount in exchange for guaranteed monthly income and priority access

Minimum Monthly Floor ($)

The lowest you'll accept regardless of hours — covers holding a client slot open

Calculated Results

Enter your committed hours and hourly rate to calculate a monthly retainer.

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Retainer Pricing Is Ad-Hoc Pricing With Two Adjustments

A retainer isn't a different pricing model from hourly billing — it's hourly billing with a discount for guaranteed volume and a floor to protect against light months. Skip either adjustment and a retainer ends up either overpriced for the client or underpriced for you.

Retainer = max( (Committed Hours × Hourly Rate) × (1 − Discount %), Minimum Floor )

Worked Example

An agency commits to 20 hours/month for a client at a $100/hour standard rate, with a 10% retainer discount and a $1,500 minimum floor.

Ad-hoc value: 20 × $100 = $2,000
After 10% discount: $2,000 × 0.90 = $1,800
Since $1,800 > the $1,500 floor, the retainer is $1,800/month ($21,600/year)

If the committed hours dropped to 10/month instead, the discounted value would be $900 — below the $1,500 floor — so the floor takes over and the retainer stays at $1,500 regardless.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Most agencies explicitly do not roll over unused hours — a retainer pays for guaranteed access to capacity that month, not a banked hours balance. Allowing rollover tends to create scheduling and cash-flow problems down the line.

A retainer is recurring and ongoing — it prices access to your time every month. Our Project Quote Calculator is for a single, defined deliverable with a start and end date.