Time tracking for marketing agencies that keeps retainers honest.
A retainer pays the same every month while the work behind it grows: another campaign, another report, another quick call. TrackTimer shows what each client’s retainer costs in team time, so over-servicing becomes a number you can act on instead of a feeling at renewal time.
At a glance
- Model a flat monthly retainer as a fixed-fee project and see the fee, labor cost to date, and fee less cost as the month goes on.
- Use hourly projects for hour-bank retainers and one-off work such as audits and launches, priced at saved billing rates.
- Split a client into projects by channel, such as SEO, paid social, and content, to see where the hours go.
- Clients can have a free, read-only dashboard of completed hourly billable time by project and day.
- Timers switch in one step on the web, iPhone, Raycast, or an AI assistant, and AI Auto Track on a Mac catches the ten-minute tasks.
- Every feature is free during early access. Planned pricing is per seat, with no charge for clients, projects, or reports.
Where marketing agencies lose time and margin
Over-servicing hidden inside a flat fee
The retainer covered a monthly report and two campaigns. Now it also covers landing page edits, a weekly call, and whatever the new marketing manager asks for. The invoice stays the same, so nothing flags that the account has become unprofitable.
Dozens of small tasks across many clients
Checking an ad account, answering a question in Slack, tweaking a meta description, pulling numbers for a report. Each takes minutes, nobody starts a timer for them, and together they can outweigh the planned work.
Clients asking what they pay for
When results dip, clients question the fee. An agency that can show hours by project and day has a better renewal conversation than one relying on a list of deliverables.
Specialists who cost different amounts
A paid media specialist, a content writer, and a freelance designer cost the agency different hourly amounts. Multiplying every hour by one blended rate hides which clients are actually profitable.
How TrackTimer works for marketing agencies
Match each project to the contract
Create a fixed-fee project for a flat monthly retainer, such as “Acme, October retainer”, with the monthly fee as the agreed amount. Use an hourly project for hour-bank retainers and one-off work, and a non-billable project for pitches and internal reporting. Split a client into channel projects if you want reporting by channel.
Watch retainer cost while the month runs
A fixed-fee project shows the fee, tracked time, labor cost at each person’s saved pay rate, and fee less cost to date, including running timers. Compare it with last month’s project for the same client before the renewal conversation, not after.
Catch the small tasks
Starting a timer stops the previous one at the same instant, so switching between clients takes one step on the web, iPhone, Raycast, or through an AI assistant. On a Mac, AI Auto Track keeps a private timeline of your day and turns any block into an entry, so the quick Slack answers are not lost.
Cost each specialist correctly
Every person has their own pay rate and billing rate, with overrides by client or project. Freelancers and other contractors see only their own hours and earnings, never the client’s fee or the agency’s margin.
Show clients the hours behind hourly work
Invite a client contact to a free, read-only dashboard of completed billable hours by project and day, a natural fit for hour-bank retainers. Rates, pay, notes, and names stay private.
Invoice from reviewed numbers
With Mercury connected, choose the client and dates, review hourly billable time at saved rates or select a retainer’s agreed fee, and create an unsent invoice in Mercury. Review and send it from Mercury.
Example: three retainers, one losing money
An agency runs three flat monthly retainers, each set up as a fixed-fee project for October. To keep the arithmetic readable, everyone on this team has a $45 hourly pay rate. At the end of the month:
| Client | Monthly fee | Tracked | Labor cost | Fee less cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO and content | $4,000 | 38h | $1,710 | $2,290 |
| Paid social | $3,500 | 31h | $1,395 | $2,105 |
| Full-service | $5,000 | 96h | $4,320 | $680 |
| Total | $12,500 | 165h | $7,425 | $5,075 |
- Retainer fees
- $12,500
- Tracked time
- 165h
- Labor cost
- $7,425
- Fee less cost
- $5,075 · 41%
Illustrative example with hypothetical clients, hours, and rates. The full-service retainer took more than 2.5 times the hours of the SEO retainer for 1.25 times the fee, leaving 14% after labor. The response might be a scope conversation, a new price, or moving launch work into a separate hourly project. Either way, the numbers make the conversation specific.
Set up your first week
Add clients and a project per contract. Create this month’s fixed-fee project for each flat retainer, plus hourly projects for hour banks and one-off work.
Set pay and billing rates. Give each person a pay rate, and a billing rate for hourly work. Override rates where a client or a freelancer has different terms.
Invite the team and freelancers. Assign each person to the client projects they work on. Contractors can track only those projects.
Track a full month. Switch timers as you move between clients, and turn AI Auto Track blocks into entries on a Mac. Correct mistakes with a reason; the audit history keeps both versions.
Review before renewals. Compare fee less cost across retainers, create next month’s retainer projects, and invite clients with hourly work to their dashboards.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track a monthly retainer in TrackTimer?
For a flat fee, create a fixed-fee project for each month with the retainer as the agreed amount; it shows labor cost to date against the fee. For an hour-bank retainer billed by the hour, use an hourly project so the hours are priced at your billing rate and visible to the client.
Can clients see how many hours we spent?
Yes. A client viewer sees completed billable hours by project and day on a free, read-only dashboard. To let a client follow retainer hours, track that retainer as an hourly project.
Can we report time by channel, such as SEO versus paid media?
Yes. Projects are the reporting unit, so create one project per channel for a client. Analytics filter by client, project, member, and date range.
Can we see which retainers are profitable?
Yes. Each fixed-fee retainer shows its fee, tracked time, labor cost at saved pay rates, and fee less cost, and hourly work shows billable value, pay, and gross profit. Compare them month by month before each renewal.
Will managers see our team’s AI Auto Track activity?
No. Each person’s activity timeline is visible only to them. Managers and clients see the time entries people create, never their activity.
What does TrackTimer cost for an agency?
Nothing during early access, with every feature included. Planned pricing is $8 per seat per month billed yearly, or $10 month to month, with no charges for clients, projects, or reports. Client dashboards are free.
See what your time earns.
Set up your first client and project in a few minutes. Free during early access.
Written by TrackTimer about its own product and reviewed . Examples use hypothetical people, hours, and rates. Features and planned pricing can change; the pricing section has the current terms.