Set how often the project renews, establish the expected hours for each cycle, and monitor time, revenue, costs, and profit throughout the engagement.

This is especially useful for agencies, consultants, and service teams working with clients under monthly or recurring agreements.

Roles: Administrators, Managers | Pro & Business Feature

A retainer is a recurring agreement in which a client pays for an ongoing service or an agreed block of work during each billing period.

Depending on your agreement, a retainer can be:

Each retainer is divided into separate periods, making it easier to compare the work performed, estimated hours, expenses, revenue, and profitability from one cycle to another.

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When you choose a recurring frequency, TrackingTime automatically creates separate billing periods for the project.
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The frequency determines how often a new retainer period begins.
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For example, a monthly retainer that restarts on the 31st may generate periods such as:

Choose the restart day based on the agreement you have with the client. The period does not need to begin on the first day of the calendar month.

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The Default estimated hours value is applied to the retainer periods created for the project.

For example, a monthly retainer may include:

You can adjust the estimated hours for individual periods from the project’s Billing tab without changing the other periods.

Estimated hours help the team compare the time worked against the expected allocation for the period.

Open the project’s Edit screen, and then on the Billing settings tab, and select one of the available billing methods:
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Use By the hour when the client is charged according to the time worked.

The applicable hourly rate can come from the task, project, or user settings. When multiple rates are configured, TrackingTime applies them in this order:

This lets you charge different rates for different kinds of work without creating separate projects.

Example: A project may use a standard rate of USD 80 per hour, while specialized campaign strategy tasks are billed at USD 120 per hour.

Use Fixed fee when the client pays an agreed amount for the entire retainer period.

TrackingTime can then compare the value of the work and costs associated with the project against the agreed fee, helping you monitor the period’s profitability.
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Use Non-billable when the project is recurring but is not charged to a client, such as an internal operations or business-development project.

Open the project and go to the Report tab to review the selected retainer period.
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The report includes:

Use the period selector to switch between:

Reviewing periods separately makes it easier to identify trends, such as repeated overruns or unused capacity.
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Select the information icon next to the period to see a summary of its financial configuration, including:

You can also open the project menu to view the current period, update its estimated hours, or edit general project properties.

Go to the project’s Billing tab and scroll to Period billing settings.
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Here, you can review each period and update its estimated hours. The section also shows the rate configuration that applies to the period.

When a new retainer is created, TrackingTime may need a moment to generate all its billing periods. A message appears while this process is underway.

The project’s Billing tab also contains Task billing settings.

Use this section to add tasks and configure a billing method or rate that differs from the project default.

For example:

Retainer visibility helps you act before the billing period closes.
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For example, the team has used 90% of the estimated hours while half the period is still remaining.

You may decide to:

For example, only 40% of the hours have been used near the end of the period.

You may decide to:

Retainer history gives account managers and clients a clearer view of the value delivered during each cycle.

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TrackingTime does not automatically transfer unused hours from one retainer period to the next.

When your agreement includes rollover hours, you will need to account for them manually when configuring the next period.

Retainers may involve additional costs such as advertising, travel, software licenses, materials, or subcontractors.

You can record these from the project’s Billing tab. Billable expenses contribute to the project’s revenue, while non-billable expenses contribute to its cost.

This provides a more complete view of the retainer’s financial performance for each period.
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For complete instructions, see the Expenses article.
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An agency provides ongoing marketing services for 40 hours per month. The project restarts monthly, and the project manager checks consumption halfway through each cycle.
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A consultant records time against a recurring project. The client is billed according to the approved hours and can review the work performed during the period.
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A software team charges a fixed monthly fee for maintenance. By monitoring the time and project costs, the team can confirm whether the agreement remains profitable.
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A project uses a standard hourly rate for production work and a higher task rate for strategic consulting. Task-level billing avoids the need to split the engagement into separate projects.
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