AGREEMENTS

What Is a Retainer Agreement and Should You Use One?

Retainers give you predictable income every month. Here is how they work and how to set one up with your clients.

May 2026·7 min read

Why retainers beat project work

Project-based income is unpredictable. One month you are fully booked, the next you are chasing new clients. A retainer converts your best clients into recurring revenue, giving you a predictable base of income to build from. Even one or two retainer clients can transform the financial stability of a freelance business.

The fundamentals that never change

Regardless of your niche, experience level, or the type of clients you work with, these six things matter most:

✓A retainer is a monthly fee for a defined scope of ongoing work
✓Always put retainers in writing with a signed agreement
✓Set clear boundaries on what is and is not included each month
✓Require payment at the start of each month, not the end
✓Unused hours in a retainer do not roll over unless agreed in writing
✓Review and renegotiate retainers every 6 months as scope evolves

How to actually implement this

01

Identify your best candidates

Not every client is a good retainer candidate. The best ones have ongoing needs, value consistency, and have already worked with you successfully. Look at clients who come back repeatedly with new projects - those are your retainer conversations.

02

Define the scope clearly

A retainer without a clear scope is a recipe for resentment. Define exactly what is included each month - number of hours, specific deliverables, response times, revision limits. Everything outside that scope is billed separately.

03

Price it correctly

A retainer should be priced at a slight discount to your project rates to reward commitment, but not so much that you resent the work. A 10-15% discount in exchange for guaranteed monthly income and no sales effort is a fair trade.

04

Get it signed before you start

A retainer is a legal agreement. Both parties should sign before any work begins. The agreement should cover payment terms, cancellation notice period, scope, and what happens with unused hours.

05

Set up automatic billing

A retainer that requires you to send a new invoice every month defeats the purpose. Set up recurring invoices that fire automatically on the 1st of each month so you get paid without thinking about it.

The tool that handles the system for you

Becflow combines contracts, invoices, and automatic payment reminders in one place. You describe the project, the AI writes the agreement, client signs and pays the deposit in one link, and reminders fire automatically if the final invoice goes unpaid. Set up in under 5 minutes. Free for 7 days.

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