Enter your target pay
Enter the take home pay you want to keep in a year, plus your yearly business expenses and tax rate.
CALCULATORS · FREE ONLINE TOOL
Freelance Rate Calculator
Work out the hourly rate you actually need to chargeMost freelancers set their rate by copying someone else, then wonder why the money runs out by the third week. This calculator starts from the other end: your target income, realistic billable hours and business costs give you the minimum hourly rate that works.
// FREELANCE RATE CALCULATOR · GET STARTED
Use Freelance Rate Calculator
Work out the hourly rate you actually need to charge
Advertisement
What you want to keep after tax and expenses.
Software, equipment, insurance, workspace and similar costs.
Only hours a client pays for. Not your full working week.
Your rates
Hourly rate: $ 68.75
Day rate
$ 550.00
Weekly rate
$ 1,718.75
Monthly rate
$ 6,875.00
Based on 1,200 billable hours a year. Weekly rate is gross divided by weeks worked, monthly rate is gross divided by 12.
| Breakdown | Per year |
|---|---|
| Take home pay you keep | $ 60,000.00 |
| Business expenses | $ 6,000.00 |
| Tax amount | $ 16,500.00 |
| Gross revenue you need to bill | $ 82,500.00 |
The usual trap is non billable time. Admin, marketing, emails and chasing new work are real hours, but no client pays for them, so this rate assumes only your billable hours earn money. If your rate looks high, check the billable hours first before lowering your target pay.
Advertisement
How to use the Freelance Rate Calculator
Add hours and costs
Add your billable hours per week, the weeks you plan to work in a year, and your hours per day.
See your real rate
Read your hourly, daily, weekly and monthly rates, plus the breakdown of the gross income behind them.
// FREELANCE RATE CALCULATOR · ABOUT THIS TOOL
About the Freelance Rate Calculator
Copying what others charge is how freelancers end up busy and broke. This calculator starts from the money you want to keep and works backwards to a rate covering tax, expenses and billable hours.
The breakdown shows target pay, expenses, tax and total gross side by side, making quotes easier to explain and defend.
Where it helps most
Pricing decisions, made with real numbers.
Starting out
New to Upwork or Fiverr and tempted to race to the bottom? The tool shows the floor you cannot go below without subsidizing your clients.
Fixed-price quotes
Quoting a fixed-price project? Convert the quote into an effective hourly rate and compare it against your personal minimum hourly rate.
Retainer offers
Considering a retainer or a full-time offer? Run both through the same math so the comparison is apples to apples.
Yearly raises
Raise your rate yearly by rerunning the numbers as expenses grow; 'my costs went up 10%' is a better reason than a feeling.
Using it well
The inputs force honest thinking.
Real billable hours
Billable hours are not hours at your desk; most freelancers bill somewhere between 15 and 25 of their 40 hours.
True target income
Your target income has to cover taxes, health costs, equipment, software subscriptions and all the months with no work between clients.
Compare everything
Use it at every pricing decision so any quote, offer or raise goes through the same honest math, every time.
Freelance Rate Calculator: built for trust
Tell it the income you need and the hours you can bill, and get the rate that makes the whole thing work.
Freelance Rate Calculator FAQs
Start from the annual income you need, add business expenses and taxes, then divide by your realistic billable hours per year. That gives your minimum sustainable rate. The calculator walks through exactly this math with your own numbers.