How many hours should a freelance retainer include?

Start from capacity, not from what the client asked for

A 20-hour retainer is cheap to promise and expensive to keep if only 65% of your calendar is billable. If you have 160 available hours and 65% utilization, you have 104 billable hours — not 160. The retainer has to fit inside that 104, after admin, other clients, and recovery.

Leave a buffer you can name

Revisions, Slack questions, and “quick looks” are the work that makes a vague retainer unprofitable. Put a scope buffer in the price and write included hours, response time, and out-of-scope rates into the agreement. Unlimited access is not a package size.

Do not sell more than half the month to one client

If one retainer uses more than 50% of billable capacity, a late invoice or a paused project becomes a cash-flow event. Quote a range — 10, 15, 20 hours — and let the client buy the size that fits both of you.

Same income goal, five package sizes

On the calculator’s default plan ($6,000 take-home, $1,800 costs, 160 hours, 65% utilization, 15% buffer) the hourly floor is $75 and a 20-hour retainer prices at $1,725. The table uses that same floor; only included hours change.

A 20-hour package uses 19% of capacity. You could include up to 30 hours on this plan and still keep at least half the month for other clients. Compare those packages in the calculator, then check whether the month still reaches the income goal and whether the block still beats hourly at real usage.

This page is arithmetic, not financial, tax, or legal advice. It does not tell you what to charge or which clients to take. Hosted URLs, when they exist, carry no availability SLA.