Compare Hourly Billing With a Retainer — Free, Including the Break-Even
Freelancers switch to retainers for stability and discover later that the guaranteed work was priced below their hourly rate. The trade-off is arithmetic: guaranteed hours at a discount against variable hours at full rate.
The proof surface
Free path: the tool computes locally in this browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — free tiers exist (Google AI Studio, Groq), but plans and limits change, so check the provider's own page. No third-party service is claimed here as verified: UNCONFIRMED — model has no browsing access this session.
Why the flat version breaks
A rate card states one number and no volume. The comparison needs both models over the same month, with the hours actually worked and the bad weeks included, which is what turns 'stability is worth something' into a figure you can accept or decline.
How to use the freelance pricing comparison sheet in four passes
Take the last six invoices, add the hours that produced them, and include the unpaid admin time in the hours. A rate that ignores admin is the most common way a retainer looks generous.
Fee per client, number of clients, and anything included. Meetings, on-call expectations and reporting are hours; note them on the context line so the comparison remembers them.
A monthly gap of a few hundred is a rounding error; the same gap over a year is a holiday, a tax bill or a pension. The comparison is annual for that reason.
The break-even in billable hours is the sentence to take to the client: below it the retainer is a discount, above it is stability worth having. If they want more inclusions, the fee has to move.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: the starter record is a 72-dollar hourly rate against two 1,800-dollar agency retainers over twelve months. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Comparing a retainer with a perfect month
Hourly work has quiet months; the retainer's real advantage is covering them. Use the average billable month, not your best one, or the comparison flatters hourly billing.
Leaving admin out of both sides
Retainers still generate invoices, reports and meetings. Excluding admin from the hourly side and including it in the retainer side makes the guaranteed work look worse than it is.
Treating guaranteed income as risk-free
One client is one point of failure, and a retainer that occupies most of your capacity makes that failure total. The comparison prices money, not concentration risk.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A rate calculator subscription | Monthly fee for a spreadsheet you can run once per offer | $8–$20 a month |
| Underpricing to win the retainer | A discount that runs for the whole contract, not the first month | the annual gap |
| An accountant's ad-hoc advice | Hourly fee to check a decision the sheet already prices | $60–$180 an hour |
| This page + the free freelance pricing comparison sheet | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free freelance pricing comparison sheet right here
Load the starter offer and drop the retainer fee to 1500 to see how far the annual gap opens.
FIRST-LOAD · sample record filed
Take it into the free freelance pricing comparison sheet
The companion app runs the same logic with a numbered intake, three starter records, a stateful share link, the one-time printable layer, and the local history shelf.
Open the free freelance pricing comparison sheet →Keep the work if you will use it again
The full comparison: both models over twelve months, the difference, the break-even in billable hours and what is excluded, unlimited re-runs.
The on-screen result is free and complete. The one-time layer adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it.
Boundary: This compares figures you enter; it is not financial, tax or legal advice and it does not verify any contract term. Rates, tax treatment and contracting rules vary by jurisdiction — confirm the numbers with an accountant and read the contract before signing.