Freelance monthly retainer 2026 — what you keep after fees and buffer

This is not the homepage calculator

The freelance rate calculator turns a yearly keep into a live hourly floor: salary tab, profitable-rate tab, currency labels, a tax buffer you set. Example there: $80,000 ÷ (1 − 0.30) ÷ (48 × 25) ≈ $95.24/hr. This URL does not redo that division and does not reuse those four defaults. Job of this page: take a floor you already have and turn reserved hours into a monthly list, then show what lands after the payout step.

Nearby searches for “freelance rate calculator” belong on the hub. If you landed here from those queries, the calculator is realratecalc.com. Stay only if you want reserved-capacity keep, not salary → hourly.

This is not how to set a freelance rate

How to set a freelance rate is the 2080 trap: $72,000 keep after a 28% buffer you type, 46 weeks × 22 hours = 1,012 invoiced hours, floor $98.81/hr versus $34.62 from ÷2080. This retainer page does not reprint that hole and does not tell you what hourly to charge. Paste the floor you already trust. If $90 is still a guess, set it there or on the hub, then come back to price the month.

This is not recurring billed hours

Recurring bills the same job every month for hours that actually land: 3 × 8h × $90 = $2,160. No unused-hours buffer. Quiet weeks do not mint keep. A retainer is the other product: they bought a reservation. If they use 11 of 20 hours, the list is still $1,800 (then Stripe or Wise). This page will not invent “retainer is 10% off recurring.” Ten percent off $1,800 would be $1,620 — that haircut is not here. If they want March, April, and May of the same 8-hour report, price it on recurring. If they want you on tap whether they ping or not, stay here.

The private formula, then the payment method

List = hourly floor × (included hours + unused-hours buffer you type). Overage, if they blow the cap, defaults to the same floor unless you type a different rate. The client sees one monthly fee, the cap, unused-hour rule, and the overage line. The unused-hours buffer is a planning default you set — not CPI, not a statute, not an official freelance percent.

The list is not take-home. Processor cut lives on Stripe vs Wise (Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ planning; Wise domestic receive listed free). Tax set-aside stays on the hub. Do not paste 2.9 into a tax-buffer box, and do not paste a self-employment guess into this month. Two subtractions. Confirm the live payment method in your dashboard. No affiliate IDs.

Unused hours are reserved keep, not a leak

Some months they use 20. Some months they use 11. If unused hours roll forever, you sold a reservation and then gave the unused slice back as a debt on next month’s calendar. That is how $1,747.50 of Stripe keep quietly becomes unpaid overtime.

• A common freelance practice is use-it-or-lose-it inside the month: unused hours expire, they still pay the $1,800 list, next month the cap resets. Planning choice you write down — not a statute this page can invent.
• If they consistently use 11 of 20, shrink included hours (and the fee) at the next cycle, or keep the 20 as reserved capacity they are paying for. You pick. The unused slice is why they get you without a queue.
• Do not “bank” unused hours into a six-month pile. A bank is a project you did not quote, sitting on a calendar you already sold.

The hub retainer tab runs the other direction: paste a fee and included hours to see effective hourly if they under-use or over-use. Use it to sanity-check the $1,800 you priced here. That tab is not this take-home story.

Overage: the cap has to mean something

When they go past 20 hours, invoice the extra at an overage rate. This card defaults that rate to the same hourly floor if you leave the box blank (here, $90). You can type a higher number if blowing the reserved week costs you other work. There is no official industry multiplier — not 1.25×, not 1.5× — on this page. You set it.

• Say the cap and the overage in the same note as the monthly fee. “20 hours included. Hours past that are $90/hr that month.”
• Invoice overage that month. Do not “make it up next month” for free. Next month already has its own 20 hours.
• If they hit the cap mid-month, stop or send the overage line before you keep working. Silence is how a $1,800 list becomes $45/hr before the payment method even runs.

What this page will not do

• Will not rebuild the homepage salary or profitable-rate tools ($80,000 / 30% / 48 × 25, expenses, utilization, currency labels).
• Will not reprint the 2080 keep-floor ($72,000 / 28% / 46 × 22 → $98.81/hr).
• Will not stack months of billed hours that land — that is /recurring.
• Will not invent an industry retainer table, a 10% unused mill, or “retainer is 10% off.”
• Will not add Stripe, Wise, or PayPal affiliate IDs. The payment method math is planning; confirm live rates.
• Will not open a 50-state tax engine. Tax buffer stays on the hub.

Build the keep floor on the homepage calculator Gross the retainer on Stripe vs Wise

If the floor moved, rebuild it on realratecalc.com and reprice the month. Same job billed only when hours land still lives on recurring. The 2080 vs keep-floor story still lives on how to set a freelance rate. PayPal invoicing is a third payment method on PayPal invoice fees — not this reserved-hours keep.

FAQ