# Fee, commission or hourly rate: which do I choose?

**Short answer.** A fixed fee when the work returns every month, a project price when it is bounded, an hourly rate only for what you cannot bound. Commission on media spend rewards volume, not effect.

The choice follows from one question: how well can you describe in advance what has to happen? The sharper that answer, the more fixed the remuneration form can be.

## Fixed monthly fee

**Choose this when** the work returns every month and you want a team that knows your brand. You are buying availability and continuity, with a predictable cost.

**Then write down** exactly what it contains, expressed in work rather than hours: how many campaigns, how many adaptations, how many meetings. Without that list the scope grows a little every month, and someone has a painful conversation a year later.

## Project price

**Choose this when** the assignment has a beginning and an end and you can describe the scope. The agency carries the risk of surprises, you get an amount.

**Then write down** how many feedback rounds are included and what happens on a change. Nine out of ten overruns come from that, not from a wrong estimate.

## Hourly rate

**Choose this only** for work you cannot bound: research, coaching, a crisis, an exploratory phase. It is the fairest form for uncertainty and the most expensive for routine.

**Then write down** a ceiling per phase and a mandatory alert when that ceiling comes into view. An hourly rate without a ceiling is an open account.

## Commission on media spend

**Choose this carefully.** The model rewards volume: the more you spend, the more your agency earns, including when spending less would be better. If you do work this way, agree that advice on the budget level is separate from its execution, or have that advice given by another party.

## The combination that works most often

A fixed fee for the running work, project prices for anything on top, and an hourly rate as a fallback for whatever fits neither. Three forms in one contract, each with its limit stated, is clearer than one form stretched over everything.

Which model suits which assignment, and what you settle alongside it, is the conversation IKAg runs under [Agency evaluation & remuneration](https://www.ikag.be/en/agency-evaluation).

See also: [which remuneration models exist](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/vergoedingsmodellen) and [how to keep costs from running away](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/kosten-onder-controle-houden).

## Related questions

- [Which remuneration models exist?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/vergoedingsmodellen): Five occur in practice: hourly rate, project price, fixed monthly fee, commission on media spend, and performance-related pay. Most contracts combine two of them.
- [Do I pay by the hour or by the project?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/per-uur-of-per-project): By project as soon as you can describe the scope: then the agency carries the risk of surprises and you get certainty on the amount. By the hour, you pay for uncertainty you created yourself.
- [How do I keep the costs from running away?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/kosten-onder-controle-houden): Almost every overrun comes from scope that grew without anyone writing it down. Agree that every extension gets a written estimate before work starts, and the argument disappears.

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IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19