Retainers and recurring billing for freelancers and agencies.
Predictable income, and an invoice that sends itself
A retainer is the best deal in freelancing: the client buys availability and a known amount of work each month, you get income you can plan around, and the invoice becomes a routine instead of a negotiation. The catch is that routines only pay off when they run without you. This guide covers both halves: how to structure a retainer that clients accept, and how to make the billing automatic.
Three shapes of retainer
- Fixed scope. A defined deliverable each month (two blog posts, a maintenance window, bookkeeping through the 10th) for a fixed fee. Easiest to invoice, easiest to explain, and the one to start with.
- Block of hours. A bank of hours at a retainer rate, invoiced up front, with unused hours expiring at month end and extra hours billed at a stated rate. Fair to both sides only if you track time honestly and report it.
- Fixed plus usage. A base fee for availability and the core work, plus whatever else was asked for, billed from tracked time. This is what most mature retainers become, and the one that most needs a tool, because every invoice has a fixed part and a variable part.
What the agreement needs to say
One page is enough, but these points belong on it: what is included and what is not; the fee and the billing day; whether unused hours roll over (say no, or cap it); the rate for work beyond the retainer; how either side ends it, typically 30 days’ notice; and that the retainer is billed in advance. Billing in advance is the point of a retainer. If you bill in arrears you have an hourly client with a discount.
Price it for the relationship, not the month
Retainer rates usually sit a little under your project rate, in exchange for the commitment. Do not go so low that a busy month makes you resent the client. Revisit the fee once a year on the agreement’s anniversary; a retainer that has not changed in three years is a pay cut.
Make the invoice run itself
In IMW Invoice a recurring invoice is a template with a schedule. Set it up once per client and the app issues the invoice on the chosen day, at the chosen frequency: weekly, every two or four weeks, monthly, every two months, quarterly, twice a year, yearly or every two years.
- The fixed part is the template’s line items: the retainer item, the quantity, and a price pinned to the agreement or left blank to follow the catalog price when you raise it.
- The variable part is swept in automatically: choose an hourly rate under Bill unbilled time and every hour tracked for that customer since the last invoice lands on the next one, with hours on a project billed at the project’s own rate. One invoice carries the fixed fee and the overage together, which is exactly how a fixed-plus-usage retainer should read.
- Tax per line. Each template line carries its own tax, so a taxed service and an untaxed one can share a schedule, as they do in most jurisdictions.
- Review first, or not. A schedule can save each invoice as a draft for you to look over, or send it the moment it is generated. Start with drafts for the first cycle or two, then let it send.
- Collect automatically. With auto-pay on, a customer with a saved card or bank account is charged when the invoice generates, and the payment is recorded against it. Bank debits take a few days to settle and are recorded when they do.
- End dates and notices. Give a fixed-term retainer an end date and let the app remind you a month before it expires, which is the right moment to talk about renewal and the fee.
Schedules imported from FreshBooks keep their frequency, next date, lines and per-line taxes, so a migrated retainer keeps running without being rebuilt; the migration checklist covers the handover.
The monthly rhythm
Billing day: the invoices go out, or wait as drafts for a five-minute review. A week later: the aging view shows who has not paid, and the late-payment routine applies like any other invoice. End of month: a glance at tracked hours against each retainer tells you which clients are under-using their allowance, which are over, and which agreement needs a conversation. Or ask your assistant for that list.