When to use hourly rates vs. fixed project pricing for marketing freelancers — with real examples from MindHub contracts.
Every brand that hires a marketing freelancer asks the same question: hourly or fixed? Both work, but picking wrong costs you 20–40% of budget. Here's how to decide.
Use fixed price when:
- The scope is well-defined (e.g., "5 Instagram Reels per month")
- You want predictable monthly spend
- The freelancer is fast and experienced
- The work is modular and easy to spec
Use hourly when:
- The scope genuinely changes week-to-week (strategy, analytics)
- You want the freelancer to think, not just execute
- You're paying for seniority, not deliverables
- The project is exploratory (new channel, new market)
The hybrid that usually wins
- Fixed retainer for core deliverables (e.g., EGP 15k/mo for 8 ad creatives)
- Plus hourly rate for ad-hoc strategy calls or reports (e.g., EGP 800/hr, capped at 10 hrs/mo)
This keeps the freelancer's incentives aligned (produce work efficiently) but gives you access to their brain when needed.
MindHub contracts default to this hybrid — and renewal rates on hybrid contracts are 1.7x higher than pure-fixed or pure-hourly.