Contractor Retainer Calculator
Add up your contractor and agency retainers into one recurring monthly and annual number.
Total per month
$6,300.00Across 3 items
Total per year
$75,600.00Biggest single cost
Design agency
$4,000.00 / month
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This tool is for education and planning only. It is not financial advice. Your inputs run in your browser and are not stored by Recurrings.
Committed before any work begins
Retainers are fixed recurring fees for ongoing help — an agency, a fractional exec, a freelancer, a bookkeeper or lawyer on a standing arrangement. List each one to see how much of every month is committed to retainers before a single project starts.
They're sticky by design, which makes them easy to keep paying long after the need has changed. Totaling them is what turns “we have a few retainers” into a number you can actually weigh.
How this fits into your recurring money
A retainer is recurring money you've promised in advance — reliable for the provider, and easy for you to stop noticing. Like every recurring cost, the risk is that it renews on autopilot past the point it earns its fee.
Recurrings keeps each retainer in view alongside your software, vendors, and bills, so the full recurring commitment of the business is one picture — and the retainers that have gone quiet are easy to spot.
The math
monthly total = Σ ( retainer × times billed per year ) ÷ 12 annual total = monthly total × 12
Each retainer is normalized to a monthly equivalent and summed, so a quarterly arrangement sits fairly next to a monthly one. The annual total is twelve times the monthly figure — the yearly weight of your standing fees.
Common questions
What counts as a retainer?
Any fixed, recurring fee for ongoing services — an agency, a fractional exec, a freelancer on a monthly arrangement, a bookkeeper or lawyer on a standing fee. Enter each at its billing cadence.
Why track retainers as recurring cost?
Retainers are sticky — they renew quietly and outlive their usefulness if nobody reviews them. Totaling them shows how much of your monthly burn is committed before any project work begins.
How often should I review them?
Quarterly is a good rhythm: confirm each retainer is still delivering, and check whether the scope still matches the fee. The total here is what's at stake.
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Retainers renew quietly — track them
Recurrings keeps every retainer in the same picture as the rest of your recurring spend, so none outlive their value unnoticed.
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