Business tools
Retainer Pricing Calculator
Estimate a monthly retainer from service hours, delivery costs, overhead, contingency and your target profit or margin.
Choose whether to set a target profit on cost or target profit margin. Enter monthly cost assumptions; blank optional expenses count as zero.
The calculation runs locally in your browser. No input values are saved or sent to a server.
Estimate a recurring monthly price for your service work.
About this calculator
Internal hourly cost
The estimated internal cost of delivering one hour of service. This is not necessarily the rate charged to the client.
Direct expenses
Costs specifically associated with delivering the retainer.
Overhead allocation
A portion of general business expenses allocated to the engagement.
Contingency
An allowance for unexpected work, scope variation or cost uncertainty.
Profit on cost and profit margin
Profit on cost is calculated as a percentage of delivery cost. Profit margin is profit expressed as a percentage of the final selling price.
Pricing context
A retainer price should also reflect scope, expertise, client value, risk, availability and market conditions. This calculator focuses on cost and profitability assumptions. Cost-plus pricing is one approach, not the only pricing method.