Services & Pricing
Fixed Price vs Hourly Rate vs Monthly Retainer Templates
Compare the three major freelance pricing models in Flanceflow and learn how to set up project templates that maximize your earnings.
Different projects call for different billing mechanics. High-certainty deliverables excel with flat fixed fees, exploratory research benefits from hourly billing, and ongoing advisory relationships thrive on monthly retainers. Flanceflow provides dedicated workflows for all three.
Setting up the three pricing models
- Open Services > New Service in your Flanceflow dashboard.
- To set a Fixed Price: Select "Fixed", enter your total project fee, and list the exact milestone deliverables included in the price.
- To set an Hourly Rate: Select "Hourly", enter your billable rate per hour (e.g., $95/hr or ₹4,500/hr), and optionally define estimated hours.
- To set a Monthly Retainer: Select "Recurring Retainer", enter the monthly recurring fee, and specify the included monthly hours or deliverable count.
- Save your service templates. When creating a project or invoice, select the matching model to apply the appropriate billing logic automatically.
Comparing the three billing models
| Model | Best suited for | Advantages for freelancer | Potential risks to manage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed Project Fee | Well-defined deliverables like logos, landing pages, or audits | Value-based pricing rewards speed and expertise | Scope creep if deliverables are poorly defined. |
| Hourly Rate | Open-ended consulting, bug fixing, and exploratory technical work | Guarantees compensation for every minute worked | Caps upside; penalizes efficient freelancers. |
| Monthly Retainer | Ongoing marketing, fractional CTO/design advisory, maintenance | Predictable recurring monthly cash flow (MRR) | Client over-utilization without clear monthly hour caps. |
Pricing strategy tips
- Transitioning to value pricing: As you build domain authority, transition standard deliverables from hourly to fixed fees to capture the full economic value of your speed.
- Deposit protection on fixed fees: For fixed contracts over $1,000, create two linked milestones: a 50% upfront invoice and a 50% delivery invoice.
- Retainer auto-renewal: Use Flanceflow’s recurring invoice automation to automatically draft retainer invoices on the 1st of every month.
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