Retainers & Recurring Revenue
Recurring revenue is what turns an agency from a series of one-off projects into a predictable business. When most of your income is committed before the month starts, you can fund payroll, plan ahead, and hire before you are drowning, instead of lurching from feast to famine.
This hub gathers what you need to build a stable recurring book: the definitions, a guide to retainer agreements and ready-to-use retainer templates by profession, benchmark data on retainer pricing and churn, and the retainers feature.
Key definitions
Retainer templates
Benchmark yourself
Frequently asked questions
A retainer is an ongoing agreement where a client pays a fixed recurring fee, usually monthly, for an agreed scope or amount of capacity. It gives the agency predictable recurring revenue and the client priority access, instead of one-off project billing.
A common healthy target is for recurring retainer income to make up 60% or more of total revenue, the point where recurring covers most fixed costs. Retainers are now the primary model for most agencies.
Projects pay more per engagement but are unpredictable; retainers pay steadily and compound through retention. Most stable agencies lead with retainers for the base and take projects on top, rather than relying on projects alone.
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