Monthly retainer agreement template
A fixed monthly fee for an agreed amount of recurring work: included hours, extra work, renewal and notice. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For a freelancer, consultant or small agency that works for one client month after month, such as on support, content or advice, and wants the monthly fee, included hours and notice agreed once.
What it covers
15 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Service Provider stays available to the Client and does recurring work every month for a fixed monthly fee.
2. Services covered
A blank for the recurring services. Anything not described is outside the retainer and is handled as extra work.
3. Included hours and requests
The fee covers a set number of hours a month. Requests go through a named channel, unused hours expire or carry over for one month (you choose), and the time spent is recorded for the Client.
4. Availability and response
Working days and hours with a time zone, and a set number of working days to reply. These are targets, not promises, and the Service Provider warns in good time if it will miss one.
5. Client cooperation
The Client supplies information, access, materials and decisions in good time. If it is late, the Service Provider’s deadlines move by the same time.
6. Term and renewal
A set initial period in months, then the agreement renews automatically month by month unless a party ends it under the termination clause.
7. Monthly fee and invoicing
The monthly fee comes from the price schedule and is invoiced as you choose. It does not shrink when fewer hours are used. A fee change needs a set number of days’ notice, and the Client may leave instead.
8. Extra work
Work beyond the included hours or the services covered needs the Client’s approval first and is charged at a set hourly rate or an agreed price.
9. Expenses
Third-party costs such as licences, hosting, advertising spend or travel are not in the fee. They are incurred only with approval and invoiced at cost against receipts.
10. Intellectual property
Once the fees are paid, the Client owns what is made specially for it, or gets an exclusive right to use it where ownership cannot be transferred. The Service Provider keeps its own earlier tools and know-how.
11. Confidentiality
Each side keeps the other’s non-public business information secret and uses it only for this agreement. Public, already known or legally required information is excepted, and the duty lasts a set number of years.
12. Termination
After the initial period either side ends the agreement on a set number of days’ notice at the end of a month. Serious, unremedied breach allows immediate ending, and fees for work done up to the end date stay payable.
13. Liability
The Service Provider works with reasonable care but promises no business results. Liability is capped at the fees of a set number of months, with the usual exceptions such as intent, gross negligence and personal injury.
14. Independent parties
Both sides are independent businesses; no employment, partnership or agency is created, and the Service Provider decides how to do the work.
15. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule (items, quantities and prices) is part of this contract. It starts empty, in your currency, and the clauses on fees and payment point to it.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check, and QuoteBill does not let you send a contract while one is left. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Monthly Retainer Agreement
Parties: Service Provider · Client
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Service Provider keeps itself available to the Client and performs recurring services each month for a fixed monthly fee.
2. Services covered
The Service Provider performs the following recurring services for the Client:
[[Describe the services and deliverables]]
Services that are not described here are outside the retainer and are handled as extra work.
3. Included hours and requests
The monthly fee covers up to [[20]] hours of services in each calendar month. The Client sends requests by [[Channel, e.g. email or the agreed project tool]], and the Service Provider confirms receipt and plans the work. Hours that are not used in a month [[expire / carry over for one month]]. The Service Provider records the time spent and gives the record to the Client with each invoice or on request.
4. Availability and response
The Service Provider is available on working days from [[9:00]] to [[17:00]] ([[Time zone]]) and aims to reply to a request within [[2]] working days. These are targets, not promises of a particular result or speed; the Service Provider tells the Client in good time if it expects to miss one.
5. Client cooperation
The Client provides the information, access, materials and decisions the Service Provider needs, in good time and in the form requested. If the Client is late, the Service Provider’s deadlines move by the same time.
6. Term and renewal
This agreement starts on the effective date and runs for an initial period of [[3]] months. After that it renews automatically for successive periods of one month unless a party ends it under Termination.
7. Monthly fee and invoicing
The Client pays the monthly fee shown in the price schedule of this contract. The Service Provider invoices it [[monthly in advance]], and the Client pays on the payment terms stated in this contract. Taxes are added where the law requires. The fee is not reduced if the Client uses fewer hours than the fee includes.
The Service Provider may change the fee for a later period by giving at least [[60]] days’ notice in writing or in electronic form. If the Client does not agree, it may end this agreement before the change takes effect.
8. Extra work
Work beyond the included hours, or outside the services covered, is done only after the Client has approved it in writing or in electronic form, and is charged at [[Hourly rate]] per hour or at a price agreed for it in advance.
9. Expenses
Third-party costs, such as licences, tools, hosting, advertising spend or travel, are not part of the monthly fee. The Service Provider incurs them only with the Client’s prior approval and invoices them at cost against receipts.
10. Intellectual property
Once the Client has paid the related fees, it owns the results the Service Provider creates specifically for it under this agreement or, where the law does not allow ownership to be transferred, receives an exclusive, perpetual right to use them for its business. Materials, tools and know-how that the Service Provider owned or developed independently of this agreement remain its own, and the Client may use them as part of the results.
11. Confidentiality
Each party keeps the other’s non-public business information confidential, uses it only for this agreement and shares it only with people who need it and are bound to confidentiality. This does not apply to information that becomes public without a breach, that the receiving party already knew, or that the law requires it to disclose. The duty continues for [[3]] years after this agreement ends.
12. Termination
After the initial period, either party may end this agreement by giving [[30]] days’ notice in writing or in electronic form, effective at the end of a month. During the initial period neither party may end it by notice. Either party may end it immediately if the other seriously breaches it and does not remedy the breach within [[14]] days of being asked to. When the agreement ends, the Service Provider hands over work in progress and the Client pays the fees for services performed up to the end date.
13. Liability
The Service Provider performs the services with reasonable care and skill but does not promise particular business results. Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to the fees paid or payable for the [[3]] months before the event that caused the damage.
14. Independent parties
The parties are independent businesses. This agreement does not create an employment, partnership or agency relationship, and the Service Provider decides how it performs the services within the agreed availability.
15. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
The monthly fee is invoiced [[monthly in advance]] and is payable within [[14]] days of receiving the invoice, by bank transfer to the account stated on the invoice.
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
You sign first, then send each signer a secure link and, by another route, an access code. Signers need no account.
Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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