Freelance rate calculator

Start from what you want to take home and work back to the hourly and day rate that gets you there, after tax, business costs and time off.

Income you want to keep per year

Business costs per year

Estimated tax rate (%)

Currency

Weeks off per year

Billable hours per week

Hours in a working day

The tax rate is a single estimate; real tax depends on your country, income and deductions.

Put the rate in writing

Once you know your rate, put it in the contract with the revisions and extras it covers. See the free freelance contract templates and the payment terms clause.

Add this calculator to your website

Free for blogs, accountants, law firms, trade associations and anyone who helps small businesses. Paste the code where you want the calculator to appear. It runs in your visitors' browsers, with no cookies, no tracking, and nothing they type sent anywhere.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://getclausery.github.io/free-tools/embed/freelance-rate.html" title="Freelance rate calculator" width="100%" height="580" style="border:0;max-width:760px" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:13px;margin:4px 0 16px">Freelance rate calculator by <a href="https://getclausery.github.io/free-tools/freelance-rate.html">Clausery</a></p>
<script>window.addEventListener('message',function(e){if(e.origin!=='https://getclausery.github.io'||!e.data||!e.data.clauseryHeight)return;var f=document.getElementsByTagName('iframe');for(var i=0;i<f.length;i++)if(f[i].contentWindow===e.source)f[i].style.height=e.data.clauseryHeight+'px';});</script>

Preview

The last line of the code resizes the calculator to fit; if your site strips scripts, leave it out and the calculator still works at a fixed height. On a dark website, add ?theme=dark after freelance-rate.html. Please keep the credit line under the calculator.

Questions

How do freelancers calculate an hourly rate?

Start from the income you want to keep, add tax and business costs to get the revenue you need, then divide by the hours you can realistically bill in a year after holidays, sickness and admin time.

How many billable hours should I assume?

Few freelancers bill 40 hours a week; finding work, admin and invoicing take time. 20 to 30 billable hours is a common planning range.

Should I charge by the hour or by the project?

Use the hourly rate to price projects: estimate the hours, multiply, and add a margin for revisions. The freelance contract templates let you choose a flat fee or an hourly rate.

More free tools: Amount in words converter · Contract deadline calculator · Invoice due date calculator · Late payment interest calculator · Loan repayment calculator · Sales commission calculator · Prorated rent calculator · Word template tag checker

Draft the whole document, not just one line

Clausery turns your Word templates into questionnaires and builds the finished document in your browser, with amounts in words, dates and totals calculated for you. Every library template is free.

Open Clausery Free templates