Free agency tool
Agency retainer pricing calculator
Enter the hours to deliver each task each month, plus loaded costs. Get a monthly retainer built from utilization and a minimum healthy labor margin, with a scope buffer and a clear read on whether today’s fee is underpriced.
Price retainers from cost, not from a competitor's rate card. Cost per billable hour is loaded monthly cost divided by 173.3, then by utilization. Mark that up to at least 50 to 60% labor margin, the minimum healthy range, and add a scope buffer so revisions do not erase the profit.
- Monthly retainer
- $14,580/ mo
- Annual value
- $174,964
- Delivery cost
- $6,561labor / mo
- Gross margin
- 55%+$2,580 vs today
What you charge today is at least 15% below a cost-based retainer with your target margin. Reprice at renewal or cut scope.
| Task | Hours | Rate | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | 34.5 | $147 | $5,055 |
| Content | 27.6 | $128 | $3,538 |
| Social | 23 | $110 | $2,539 |
| PR | 18.4 | $187 | $3,448 |
| Total | 103.5 | $141 | $14,580 |
Hours include the 15% scope buffer. Rates are built from loaded cost ÷ 173.3 ÷ utilization, then marked up to your 55% labor margin.
Why use it
Price the work so the margin survives delivery.
Retainers fail quietly when they are priced from a competitor’s rate or a round number. Use this before you send a proposal or renew a thin account.
Build the fee from task hours, cost, and margin so every line of work is visible before you send the proposal.
Compare today's retainer to the cost-based build. A 15% gap or more is a renewal conversation, not something to absorb for another year.
The scope buffer keeps margin intact when the client asks for one more round. Repeated buffers become a reprice signal.
50 to 60% on labor is the floor, not a stretch goal. When a salary moves, recalculate so the fee still clears that floor.
How it works
The same math as the pricing guide.
Built from how to price agency retainers. Related: agency gross margin, servicing gap, and the utilization calculator.
Loaded monthly cost ÷ 173.3 ÷ utilization. Non-billable time is still paid for, so it belongs in the rate.
Price to at least 50 to 60% gross margin on labor. That covers AM time, reviews, and the unbilled work every retainer accumulates.
Price each task on its own cost, add the buffer, and present one monthly retainer. Reprice from usage at renewal.
Questions
What does this agency retainer pricing calculator do?
It builds a monthly retainer from the hours involved in delivering each task per month, the loaded cost of the people who do the work, their utilization targets, and a labor margin of at least 50 to 60%. It also applies a scope buffer so revisions are priced in, and compares the result to what you charge today.
How should I set the billing rate from cost?
Divide fully loaded monthly cost by 173.3 hours to get cost per available hour, then divide by target utilization to get cost per billable hour. Mark that up so labor margin is at least 50 to 60%, the minimum healthy range. A 2.0x multiplier is 50% margin; 2.5x is 60%.
What counts as hours for a task?
The number of hours involved in delivering that task each month of the retainer. If SEO is scoped at 30 hours every month, enter 30. Do not enter the whole team's capacity; enter only what this retainer owes for that task.
What is loaded monthly cost?
Salary plus employer taxes, benefits, and the software and equipment that follow the person. Do not use base salary alone. Understating cost is the fastest way to price a retainer that looks profitable on paper and loses money in delivery.
Why include a scope buffer?
Retainers accumulate unbilled revisions and small extras. A 10 to 20% buffer on task hours prices that in up front so you stay profitable without an awkward mid-year re-quote. If the same overage repeats for three months, reprice the retainer instead of living on buffers.
When should I raise rates or reprice a retainer?
When the calculator says your current fee is at least 15% below the cost-based build, when a task's servicing gap stays amber or red, or when loaded costs rose and the rate card did not. Reprice at renewal from usage, not from a gut feel mid-term.
Should I use a blended rate or task rates?
Task rates. A blended rate assumes a mix, and when the client asks for the director on every call the mix shifts and the margin goes with it. Price each task from its own cost and utilization, then sum them into one retainer fee.
What margin should an agency target on retainers?
50 to 60% gross margin on labor is the minimum healthy range. Below 50% is fragile: one revision round or a week of PTO can push the month into a loss. Above 60% is stronger than the minimum and achievable on narrow specialist work.
Track the servicing gap every month, not only at renewal.
Verbial paces retainer tasks against the cap and shows real margin on every account.