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Retainer Hours Tracker

How much of this month’s retainer is left, and — more usefully — whether it will last at the rate you are going. Log the work on one sheet and the dashboard tells you where the month ends up.

Who it is for. Freelancers running one or more monthly retainers who would rather not discover an overage on the last day of the month.

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.

What the file looks like

This preview is generated from the same definition the downloads are built from, so what you see here is what opens. The figures below are the file’s own formulas, calculated — switch to formulas to see the arithmetic behind them.

Retainer tracker — workbook preview

Fill this in once at the start of each retainer period.

RETAINER SETUP
Everything on the dashboard is driven by these ten cells.
THE ARRANGEMENT
ClientNorthbeam Coffee Co.
Retainer nameMarketing support retainer
Period start2026-09-01
Period end2026-09-30
MONEY AND HOURS
Monthly fee$2,125.00
Included hours25.00The allowance for this period
Rollover hours brought in2.00Unused hours carried from last period
Overage rate$95.00Per hour, for work beyond the allowance
Warning threshold80.0%Status turns AT RISK at this usage
NOTES
Unused hours policyRoll over up to 5 hours
Overage policyContinue only after written approval
These two lines are a reminder of what the agreement says. Set them to match your signed retainer agreement.

Cream cells are yours to type into; grey cells are formulas. This sheet prints landscape.

What is included

  • Rollover as a first-class input

    Available hours are included plus rolled-over, so a month that starts with a balance starts with the right number.

  • A projection, not just a total

    Used hours per elapsed day, extended to the end of the period. Fifteen hours used is fine on day 25 and alarming on day 6.

  • A four-state status

    ON TRACK, WATCH, AT RISK and OVER, each produced by a rule you can read in the cell rather than by a colour someone applied by hand.

  • Overage in hours and in money

    Both, because the first is what you negotiate about and the second is what you invoice.

  • Effective hourly rate

    The monthly fee divided by the hours actually used. On a quiet month it flatters you; on a busy one it is the number that starts the renewal conversation.

How to use it

Five steps, in the order that keeps the work out of trouble.

  1. 1

    Fill in SETUP at the start of each period: dates, fee, included hours, overage rate, anything rolled over, and your warning threshold.

  2. 2

    Log work on ACTIVITY as it happens. Mark each row Included or Extra — extra hours are the ones that become overage.

  3. 3

    Set “days elapsed” on the dashboard, or leave the formula to work it out from today’s date.

  4. 4

    Watch the projection rather than the remaining hours. It is the number that gives you time to act.

  5. 5

    At the end of the period, read the overage value straight into the invoice template.

The worked example

The example is a 25-hour retainer with 2 hours rolled over — 27 available — and 20 used by day 18 of a 30-day period. Remaining 7 hours, usage 74.1%, and a projection that lands just over the allowance, so the status reads WATCH rather than ON TRACK.

Available hours
27.00
Used hours
20.00
Remaining
7.00
Usage %
74.1%
Projected month-end usage
33.33
Status
WATCH

Every figure above is read out of the workbook you can download, by evaluating its own formulas. If the file changes, this changes with it — there is no second set of numbers maintained on this page.

What to change

The parts that are deliberately yours to decide.

  • The warning threshold

    Set at 80% by default. If your client’s requests arrive in large lumps, set it lower — the threshold should fire while you can still do something.

  • Period length

    Calendar months by default, but the dates are inputs, so a four-week cycle works identically.

  • One file or many

    One file per retainer is the simplest arrangement. For several retainers, copy the sheet set per client rather than mixing clients in one activity log.

  • The status thresholds

    WATCH at 85% of projected usage and AT RISK at the warning threshold. Both are plain formulas on the dashboard, and both are yours to move.

About the formats

What differs between the files, and why you might pick one over another.

XLSX
Three sheets, frozen headers on the activity log, and a dashboard laid out to print on one page.
ODS
The same three sheets for LibreOffice Calc, with cross-sheet formulas in OpenFormula.
PDF
The dashboard and the activity log, as a printable month-end summary.

Questions

What counts as an “extra” hour?
Whatever your retainer agreement says is outside the included services. Mark it as you log it — deciding retrospectively at the month end is how overage goes unbilled.
How does the projection work?
Used hours divided by days elapsed, multiplied by the total days in the period. It is a straight-line estimate and it assumes the rest of the month looks like the start of it, which is usually close enough to be useful.
Why is my effective rate higher than my hourly rate?
Because the client did not use the whole allowance. That is not necessarily good news — you reserved the capacity either way, and an under-used retainer is a renewal risk.
Can I track several retainers in one file?
Better not to. Copy the three sheets into a new file per client; the formulas are all within-file and will follow.

Download it

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.