What is the max number of retainers?

[Nixxe]

I hate to revive a dead thread from long ago, but I am rather confused by this. I paused playing sometime in HW and didn't resume till halfway through stormblood. Played with the normal 2+6 retainers all the way till now. Had to redo my payments which involved reestablishing my retainer service. I have ALWAYS wondered why the mog station allows me to buy 7 additional retainers, but in game, I am only allowed to have 8. Can't hire past the 8th retainer in Gridania even though I'm technically paid up for 2free + 7 extra which would be 9.

I read in this thread from last year that you folks claim you CAN have 9 retainers, but I haven't found a way in the game to accomplish that. Not on a single character at least since in game you are limited to the 8 retainers they are willing to rent to you. This has always been hard for someone who is an omnicrafter and has a bajillion mats and I don't throw away stuff even from 2.0. Now I'm reading about some new companion thing that would let you get an extra retainer as well? Well perhaps not new but I completely ignored it as I ignore anything called an "app" and it came out while I was not playing so never knew any details on it.

TLDR: I've played the past year with the maximum 8 retainers, even though the mog station is willing to charge me for 9 but I cannot get 9 in game, but this thread claims I can get up to 10. What's the deal cause I'm lost here.

You can have 10 retainers. 2 free + 7 Mogstation + 1 app subscription. I'm unsure what your problem is, unless you perhaps selected the wrong option in the Mogstation, because I've certainly had 9 (without the app) and 10 (with the app) retainers.