Freelance Rate Calculator

The hardest part of freelancing is not doing the work; it is pricing it. Divide your old salary by two thousand hours and you will undercharge, because that calculation ignores the costs and the unpaid time that come with running your own show.

Start from the income you want after tax, then work upward. Add your business expenses — software, insurance, equipment, accounting — because they must be covered before you earn a cent. Gross up for tax, since you are paying it yourself rather than having it withheld. What remains is the revenue the business must generate to leave you the income you targeted.

Then be honest about billable hours. A salaried job pays for the whole week; freelancing pays only for the hours a client values. The rest goes on chasing invoices, writing proposals, marketing, learning new tools and admin. Twenty to twenty-five billable hours a week is realistic for many solo operators, not forty. Dividing the required revenue by the true billable hours, rather than the total hours at the desk, is the step most people skip, and it is the one that reveals the real rate.

That is also why your rate feels high: it has to carry all the hours that earn nothing. Each non-billable hour is a cost, and the billable rate must absorb it. Once you see the number clearly, the rate stops looking greedy and starts looking like arithmetic.

Raise rates gradually and test them. Raise the price for new clients first, keep existing ones for a while, and watch for resistance. A small increase across a full schedule often beats chasing more work. And remember that the rate is a starting point for negotiation, not a fixed law — value-based pricing can earn more than any hourly figure.

This calculator gives a floor for your rate, not a ceiling. It is a planning aid, not tax or financial advice; confirm your tax position with an accountant.

This calculator returns estimates for general information only. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it cannot replace guidance from a qualified professional who knows your circumstances. Figures such as loan payments, investment growth and retirement projections are simplified models based on the inputs and assumptions you provide, not guarantees of future results.