Recurring retainers
Set up monthly billing once. Get paid automatically forever.
What's a retainer?
A fixed monthly fee for ongoing work. Common in marketing, design, accounting, IT support, legal, consulting.
Setup
Create a normal invoice for month 1
Add the retainer as a single line item: "Monthly retainer — [service description]" — set qty 1, price = monthly fee.
Toggle "Make this recurring"
In the editor → Automation section.
Set frequency: Monthly
Pick the day of month (e.g. 1st = bills on the 1st of each month).
Auto-send: ON
Set "Auto-send when created" so each new invoice goes out without you doing anything.
Save
That's it. Every 1st of the month, a fresh invoice goes to your client. They pay (ideally via Stripe), invoice auto-marks paid, you've done nothing.
Combining retainers with overage
Retainer covers X hours/month. If they go over, send a separate one-off invoice that month for the extra hours. Don't modify the recurring template — keep them clean.
Annual retainers paid monthly
Same setup: monthly recurring, total = annual / 12. Add a note in the footer: "Annual contract, billed monthly."