Comparison
Fixed price vs hourly vs retainer: how to pay for web and marketing work
The three common ways agencies and freelancers charge, who carries the risk in each, when each makes sense, and how to protect yourself whichever you choose.
VAULT 33|27 · Updated 12 November 2026 · Reviewed 12 November 2026 · 1 min read
Reviewed on 12 November 2026. We price projects at a fixed price and ongoing work monthly, so we have a view. The trade-offs below apply to any provider.
The verdict
| Work type | Best model |
|---|---|
| A defined project: a website, a migration, a CRM setup | Fixed price against a written scope |
| Small, unpredictable fixes | Hourly, with a monthly cap |
| Ongoing improvement: SEO, automation, reporting | Monthly retainer with defined deliverables and results reporting |
At a glance
| Fixed price | Hourly | Monthly retainer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who carries the risk of overruns | The provider | You | Shared |
| Budget certainty | High | Low | High |
| Flexibility to change scope | Changes are quoted | Very flexible | Flexible within the agreed capacity |
| Incentive | Deliver efficiently | Hours, not outcomes | Keep you as a client, ideally through results |
| Main risk | Vague scope leads to disputes | Bills grow without clear progress | Paying for activity, not results |
How to protect yourself
- Fixed price: insist on a written scope with exclusions, revision rounds and acceptance criteria.
- Hourly: set a monthly cap and require a log of what each hour delivered.
- Retainer: agree what will be delivered each month, how results are measured, and a notice period.
- Always: you own the accounts, code, content and data, whatever the pricing model.
See our pricing approach.
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