Freelance Retainer & Contract Value Projector
Model any retainer contract — project gross value, churn-adjusted revenue, realized hourly rate, and scope creep risk. Export an SLA breakdown. No sign-up required.
How It Works
Four metrics that matter for any retainer contract
Gross Contract Value
Total projected revenue over the full contract term, calculated as the sum of all monthly retainer payments plus expected overage hour billings.
Churn-Adjusted Value
Your expected revenue after accounting for the probability of early contract termination. More reliable than gross value for financial planning.
Realized Hourly Rate
Your true effective hourly rate when total compensation is divided by total hours worked. Shows whether the retainer is worth your time.
Frequently Asked Questions
A retainer contract is a recurring agreement where a client pays a fixed monthly fee for a predefined scope of work. It gives freelancers predictable income and clients priority access. Most retainers run 3 to 12 months and include a set number of work hours per month.
For freelancers, a monthly churn rate of 3% to 5% is typical — meaning you lose 3-5% of your retainer clients each month. Top performers keep churn under 2%. A churn rate above 8% means you're spending too much time replacing clients instead of doing billable work.
Retainers typically price 10-20% below your standard hourly rate in exchange for guaranteed recurring revenue. For example, if your standard rate is $150/hr, a retainer might be $120-$135/hr for a fixed 20 hours per month. The trade-off is predictable income vs. premium billing.
Scope creep happens when a client asks for work beyond what the retainer covers. Common examples include urgent revisions, meetings that run over, or extra deliverables. A good retainer contract specifies exactly how many hours are included and what the overage rate is for anything beyond that.
Yes — always. Overage rates protect you from scope creep. Set them 10-25% above your effective retainer hourly rate so clients have an incentive to stay within scope. The standard is 1.5x the effective hourly rate for overage hours.