Free Retainer Pricing Calculator
Determine the right monthly retainer price based on committed hours, blended team cost, buffer for scope creep, and your target margin.
Scope & Cost
Blended fully-loaded cost of your team
Margin & Buffers
Buffer for scope creep and revisions
Account management, meetings, reporting
Suggested Retainer
Monthly Retainer Price
$8,500
$212.5 effective hourly rate
Annual Revenue
$102,000
Annual Margin
$51,000
Tip: Healthy agency retainers target 50-60% gross margin. If your number looks too high for the market, rethink the scope rather than cutting margin.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter the monthly hours you plan to commit and your team's blended fully-loaded cost per hour. Use fully-loaded cost, not base salary divided by 2,080; you need a number that already includes payroll taxes, benefits, overhead, and software.
Set a target gross margin. Healthy agency retainers land at 50-60%. Add a scope buffer for the creep that always happens on retainers, plus a management overhead percentage for account management, reporting, and coordination that's tough to bill line-by-line.
The calculator back-solves to the retainer price that produces your target margin after all the hidden costs. Compare the effective hourly rate it implies to your standard billable rate; if it's lower, you're subsidizing the retainer.
Key Insights
- Buffer is not optional. Clients ask for more. Build a 10-20% buffer and you'll still deliver the same value, just without eating your margin when they do.
- Management overhead is real cost. A 60-hour retainer typically requires 6-10 hours of account management on top. Price for it or pay for it.
- Effective hourly rate tells the truth. If your calculated retainer divided by committed hours is below your standard rate, you're discounting quietly.
- Revisit quarterly. Retainer scope drifts. Reprice or rescope annually so yesterday's margin doesn't become today's loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate a monthly retainer fee?
Start with committed scope hours multiplied by blended hourly cost. Add a buffer for scope creep and another layer for account management. Divide that total by (1 - target margin) to back into the retainer price. This gives you a number that covers realistic delivery and produces your target profit.
What is a good gross margin on a retainer?
Healthy agency retainers target 50-60% gross margin. Below 40% you have almost no room for scope creep, sick days, or inefficiency. Above 65% you may be overpricing for the market and will have trouble closing deals or keeping clients long term.
Why do you include a scope buffer?
Retainer scope always expands. Clients ask for one more round, one more asset, one more meeting. A 10-20% buffer prevents minor creep from eating all your margin. It also gives account managers room to say yes to reasonable asks without renegotiating every month.
Should I price retainers by hours or outcomes?
Use hours for internal calculation, price for outcomes externally. The calculator helps you check whether the value-based price you want to charge actually covers realistic delivery cost. If your outcome price is below your cost-plus-margin price, renegotiate scope or walk.
How many hours should I commit per month?
Only commit hours you can reliably deliver at your target utilization. A common mistake is committing 60 hours monthly to a retainer when the assigned strategist only bills 120 hours total in a normal month. That single retainer ate half their capacity; a fire drill and you miss the commitment.
Stop guessing at retainer scope
AgencyPro tracks actual hours against retainer commitments so you know when a client is eating your margin, in time to do something about it.