What is a retainer agreement?
A retainer is an ongoing arrangement where a client pays a recurring fee — usually monthly — for continued access to your work, either for a set quantity of hours or deliverables, or to reserve your availability.
Two different arrangements share the name. A pay-for-access retainer reserves your availability whether or not the client uses it; a pay-for-work retainer buys an agreed volume of hours or deliverables each period. Disputes almost always trace back to the two sides assuming different ones.
The terms worth settling in writing are whether unused hours roll over (usually they should not, or the arrangement becomes an open-ended liability), what happens when the client exceeds the allowance, the notice period on either side, and when the invoice is issued relative to the work.
For independent workers the appeal is predictability: a base of recurring revenue makes cash flow forecastable and reduces the pressure to accept poor-fit projects. The risk is concentration — a retainer large enough to dominate your income gives that client leverage over your rates and your calendar.
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