How a retainer is priced
Providers typically price a retainer from delivery cost and target margin — HeyOrca's 2026 benchmark gives the formula as monthly delivery cost divided by target margin, so $1,000 of cost at a 50% margin becomes a $2,000 retainer. From the buyer's side, that means a retainer is a bundle of hours, tools, and overhead; the retainer hours calculator shows how many hours a given fee implies at a stated rate, which is the fastest way to sanity-check a quote.
How a project is priced
A project is priced from an estimate of the hours and production the deliverable needs, plus a margin — and, in practice, a buffer for revisions. Good project quotes itemize phases, deliverables, revision rounds, and what happens if scope changes. The finish line is the point: when the deliverable ships, the engagement ends unless you choose to continue.
Which fits your situation
| Choose a retainer when | Choose a project when |
|---|---|
| The work is continuous — publishing, community, reporting | The work has a finish line — a launch, a rebuild, a strategy document |
| Consistency is the product | You're testing a new provider |
| You want one team on the account over time | You need a specific deliverable, not a relationship |
| Scope can be written as monthly cadence | Scope can be written as a deliverable list |
Writing the scope either way
For a retainer: deliverables, cadence per platform, formats, community management response window, reporting contents and frequency, meeting cadence, and the triggers that change the price. For a project: phases, deliverables, revision rounds, approval steps, timeline, and what counts as done. In both cases, what isn't written down is what you'll argue about in month three.
The hybrid
Many engagements start as a project — an audit, a strategy sprint, a launch — and convert to a retainer once the working relationship and the ongoing scope are both proven. That sequence is a sound default for a first engagement with any provider.