Built so you never work a month for free.
Retainer Burn is a small, focused tool for the independents who run their business on monthly retainers.
Retainer Burn started with a frustrating, recurring realization: at the end of a busy month the work was done, the client was happy — and somehow the math didn't add up. Hours had quietly spilled past the retainer, and nobody noticed until it was time to invoice. For a lot of freelancers and small studios, that gap is exactly where the profit leaks out.
Why we built it
The big time-trackers can technically do retainers, but they bury it under timesheets, projects, and reports you don't need — or they price the useful parts into a tier you can't justify for a one-person business. We wanted the opposite: a single screen that answers one question for every client, “how much of this month's retainer is left?” — and a tap on the shoulder at 70% and 90% so you can have the scope conversation before you've worked for free.
What we believe
We're a small team building deliberately. A few principles guide what we ship:
Sharp beats bloated
One tool that does one job well, not an all-in-one suite you fight with. If a feature doesn't help you protect your hours, it doesn't ship.
Your data is yours
Every client and time entry is isolated to your account at the database level. We don't sell it, mine it, or train on it.
Honest pricing
Free while we're in beta, simple and flat after. No per-seat traps, no surprise tiers to unlock the basics.
Respect your time
Setup is two minutes. The number you need is on the first screen. Software should get out of your way.
Who it's for
Retainer Burn is for solo freelancers and small studios — designers, developers, consultants, marketers, agencies of one to five — who bill clients on recurring monthly hour packages and want to stop guessing where each one stands.
If that's you, we'd love to have you. And if there's something missing, tell us — a lot of what's here came straight from people who reached out.