Freelance Retainer Calculator

Monthly retainer price

monthly = hourly_rate × hours/month × (1 − discount%)

= $150.00/hr × 20 hrs × (1 − 10%)

= $2,700/month

You're discounting 10% off your full rate of $150.00/hr in exchange for the predictability of guaranteed monthly income. The effective hourly rate under this retainer is $135.00/hr — good deal.

Total contract value

total = monthly_retainer × contract_months

= $2,700 × 6 months

= $16K over 6 months

Guaranteed revenue locked in for 6 months. Without a retainer, you'd earn $18K on paper — but only if you're fully booked every month, which rarely happens.

Break-even on client acquisition cost

break_even_months = churn_replacement_cost / monthly_retainer

= $2,000 ÷ $2,700

= 0.7 months to recoup acquisition cost

If this client churned and you had to replace them ($2,000 in ads, pitching, onboarding), it would take 0.7 retainer months of revenue to break even on that cost. Every retained month past that point is pure advantage.

Capacity locked

capacity_locked = hours/month × contract_months

= 20 hrs × 6 months

= 120 hours committed

You're committing 120 hours to this client over the contract term. Know this before signing — it shapes how many other clients you can take on.

Net revenue advantage vs. project work

advantage = retainer_total − (project_total × 75% utilization)

= $16K − ($18K × 0.75)

= +$3K vs. project work

Project-by-project work assumes ~75% utilization — gaps between projects, unpaid pitching, and feast-or-famine cycles eat roughly 25% of potential revenue. A retainer guarantees 100% utilization on committed hours, making $3K the real predictability premium.