Calculators
Freelance Rate Calculator
Work out the hourly rate a freelancer needs to charge from target income, business costs, taxes, time off and billable hours.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing uploaded
The tool
Enter your numbers below. Results update as you type, and nothing leaves your browser.
Everything you enter stays on your own machine. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else, which you can confirm in your browser network tab.
What people use it for
- Setting rates as a new freelancer
- Checking whether current rates cover costs
- Moving from employment to freelancing
- Comparing hourly and day rates
About this tool
What the Freelance Rate Calculator does
A freelance rate has to cover far more than an employee’s hourly wage: business expenses, self-employment taxes, unpaid holidays and sickness, and the hours spent finding work and running the business. This calculator starts from the income you want and works back to the rate you must bill.
It also works as a hourly rate calculator or a freelance hourly rate calculator.
Formula
- Pre-tax profit needed = take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate)
- Revenue needed = (pre-tax profit + expenses) × (1 + profit buffer)
- Billable hours = (52 − weeks off) × weekly hours × billable share
- Rate = revenue ÷ billable hours
Worked example
Using the starting values in the calculator above:
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Target take-home income per year | $70,000 |
| Business expenses per year | $9,000 |
| Tax rate on profit | 28% |
| Weeks off per year | 6 |
| Working hours per week | 40 |
| Share of hours that are billable | 60% |
| Profit buffer | 10% |
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum hourly rate | $105.84 |
| Day rate (8 billable hours) | $847 |
| Annual revenue needed | $116,844 |
| Billable hours per year | 1,104 |
| Monthly revenue needed | $9,737 |
How to read the result
This is a floor, not a price. Value, demand and your positioning decide how far above it you can charge.
Most freelancers overestimate billable time. Admin, sales and learning usually take a third or more of the working week.
Related calculators
- Consulting Rate Calculator: Convert a salary-equivalent income into a consulting day rate and hourly rate that covers costs, benefits and utilisation.
- Project Pricing Calculator: Price a fixed-fee project from task estimates, hourly cost, expenses, risk contingency and target margin.
- Retainer Pricing Calculator: Set a monthly retainer fee from expected hours, your rate, a retainer discount and rollover policy, with annual value.
- Billable Utilisation Calculator: Calculate billable utilisation for a person or team, compare it with target, and the revenue gained by reaching target.
Browse every calculator in Freelance and Consulting Calculators, or talk to us about portfolio websites for freelancers and consultants.
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If you would rather someone did this properly for you, we offer Web Design Services and Website Development, SEO Services: Search Engine Optimization, AI Automation Agency.
Questions
Questions about this tool
The things clients actually want to know — costs, timelines, ownership and what happens after launch.
Add your target income, taxes and business costs, then divide by the hours you can realistically bill in a year.
Often 1,000 to 1,400 a year once holidays, admin and sales time are excluded.
Project pricing often earns more for efficient work; use the hourly floor to check project quotes.
Free strategy session
Let’s build something worth finding.
Tell us where you want the business to be in twelve months. We will come back with a costed plan, a realistic timeline, and the numbers we expect to move — no obligation, no jargon.
- 30-minute call, no pitch deck
- Fixed-price proposal in 48 hours
- You own everything we build
Talk to a developer
Not a sales team
- Response time
- Within 1 business hour
- Where we work
- UK, USA & the Gulf
- Contracts
- No lock-in, monthly rolling
- Working since
- 2023