Retainer vs. project pricing
Retainer pricing charges a fixed recurring fee for ongoing capacity, while project pricing charges a fixed or scoped fee for a defined deliverable with a clear end date.
Retainers produce predictable, forecastable revenue and deeper client relationships, but require enough trust or track record for a client to commit before seeing the full year of output. Project pricing is easier to sell cold because the buyer's risk is bounded to one deliverable.
Many agencies use project or sprint-based pricing as the land step and convert into a retainer once delivered work has proven the relationship, rather than choosing one model exclusively.
Why it mattersAn agency that only offers retainers struggles to close new-logo business quickly; one that only offers projects never builds forecastable recurring revenue.
Related terms and practice.
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Start with the founder-dependency audit.
Ten working days, fixed fee, a written read your team owns. The fee credits against the build that follows.