Fractional retainers
Set the hours your retainer includes each month or quarter. Every review and presentation draws it down, so you see when a client is getting more than they pay for.
For creative directors
Time tracking and invoicing for freelance creative directors
A fractional retainer here, a campaign there, and a crew of designers, writers and editors in between. Bill all of it, see the margin on every campaign, and keep what you pay your crew to yourself. Free.
No credit card · No trial clock · No per-seat fees
Demo Try the timer
Fade to Black Optics · Campaign concepting
00:00:00
Just a demo: no account, nothing saved. The clock runs at 60×, so a second is a minute.
Built for the way you bill
Made for creative directors
Campaigns at a fixed fee
Quote the campaign, bill it at kickoff, concept approval and delivery, and watch the budget burn as the crew logs time.
Your crew, your margin
Invite freelance designers, writers and editors free. Give each an internal cost rate and see what every job earned after paying them.
Costs stay private
Cost rates and margins are for you and your admins. Members can't see what anyone costs, their own rate included, and can't change clients, rates or invoices.
Production costs passed on
Add lines for photography, illustration licenses, printing or production you bought on the client's behalf.
Invoices worth presenting
On Pro, PDFs carry your logo and colors in a Minimal, Classic or Bold layout, and clients pay from a link.
How it works
One campaign, brief to paid
- 01
Scope it
Add the client and the campaign as a fixed-fee project, with their PO number and a target rate to measure it against.
- 02
Bill the kickoff
Invoice the first stage of the fee before the crew starts. Print it, share the link, or email it on Pro.
- 03
Run the crew
Everyone tracks their own time against the campaign, tagged as concept, design, copy or production.
- 04
Read the margin
The project shows hours used against budget, the effective rate, and the margin after your crew's cost.
All of that is free. Pro is $5.99 per team a month and adds emailed invoices, reminders, online payments and branded PDFs.
01 Can I see my margin after paying freelancers?
Yes. Give each crew member an internal cost rate. Fixed-fee projects show the fee, the cost of the hours logged, and the margin, to owners and admins only.
02 Can freelancers see what I pay them, or my margin?
No. Internal cost rates and margins are for owners and admins only. Members track their own time and can't change clients, rates or invoices.
03 Can I bill a campaign in stages?
Yes. When you build an invoice you choose how much of a project's fee to bill, so kickoff, approval and delivery can each be their own invoice.
04 Can I bill a day rate?
Not as a unit yet. Most creative directors either bill days inside a fixed fee, or set an hourly rate of their day rate divided by the hours in their day.
05 What does a crew of six cost?
Nothing. Inviting your team is free, with no per-seat fees. Pro is a flat price per team, not per person.