Freelance Rate Calculator
Freelancers routinely underprice themselves. Enter your income goal, realistic working time and costs to get an hourly and day rate that actually accounts for taxes, business expenses and unpaid time — so your rate covers what an employee's salary hides.
To calculate your freelance rate, enter your desired annual income, working weeks, billable hours per week, expenses and tax rate — your required hourly and day rate are calculated instantly.
Zero Server Uploads
Files process in local RAM
Instant WASM Speed
No waiting queues or lags
Unlimited Batching
Convert files without limits
Suggest a Feature or Improvement for Freelance Rate Calculator
Need custom options, higher limits, or extra format support? Let our engineering team know!
How to use Freelance Rate Calculator
- 1Enter your desired annual take-home income.
- 2Enter working weeks per year and billable hours per week (not total hours — just billable).
- 3Add annual business expenses and your tax rate.
- 4See your required hourly rate, day rate, and weekly/monthly targets.
Why billable hours, not total hours
A freelancer rarely bills 40 hours a week — admin, marketing, and unpaid pitching eat into the week. Using your realistic billable hours (not total working hours) is what keeps this calculation honest.
The formula
grossRevenueNeeded = (desiredIncome + expenses) ÷ (1 − taxRate) × (1 + profitBuffer); hourlyRate = grossRevenueNeeded ÷ billableHoursPerYear. The tax-rate division grosses up your target so what's left after tax is what you actually wanted.
Why your rate must be higher than an equivalent salary
It is tempting to take a salary you'd be happy with, divide by 2,080 hours, and call that your hourly rate. That badly underprices you. An employer quietly covers payroll taxes, health insurance, paid holidays, sick days, equipment, software and downtime — none of which a client pays for. As a freelancer, your rate has to fund all of it.
That is why a $60,000 salary does not translate to roughly $29/hour freelance. Once you strip out non-billable time, add self-employment tax, business expenses and a profit buffer, the equivalent freelance rate is often 50–100% higher. This calculator does that gross-up for you so you don't quietly work at a loss.
Set money aside for tax before you spend it
The rate this tool gives you is gross — tax still has to come out. Because no employer is withholding it, freelancers should move a percentage of every invoice into a separate tax pot the moment it is paid. In the US that usually means quarterly estimated payments; plan them with the Quarterly Tax Calculator and track set-asides with the Tax Set-Aside Calculator.
When you price project work rather than hourly, convert your target hourly rate into a fixed quote and check the profit with the Markup vs Margin Calculator so a 'big' project number still leaves the margin you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use total hours worked or billable hours?
Billable hours only — hours you can actually invoice a client for. Non-billable time (admin, sales, learning, breaks) is already accounted for by using a realistic, lower billable-hours figure. Most full-time freelancers bill 20–30 hours in a 40-hour week, not 40.
What tax rate should I use?
Use your effective tax rate from last year (total tax paid ÷ total income) as a starting estimate, or ask an accountant. Remember to include self-employment / payroll tax, which an employer would otherwise have covered — this is the piece freelancers most often forget.
Why is my freelance rate so much higher than my old salary?
Because your rate has to replace everything an employer used to pay on top of your salary: payroll taxes, health insurance, paid time off, equipment, software and unpaid gaps between clients. After grossing up for those, an equivalent freelance rate is commonly 50–100% higher than a naive 'salary ÷ 2,080 hours' figure.
How do I turn my hourly rate into a project quote?
Estimate the billable hours the project will realistically take, multiply by your hourly rate, then add a buffer for revisions and scope creep. Quote the fixed number rather than the hours so the client focuses on the value, and check the margin holds up before you send it.
Is my financial data uploaded anywhere?
No. Every calculator on this site runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Guides & Tutorials
Related Tools
Late Payment Interest Calculator
Work out interest owed on an overdue invoice, plus a ready reminder message.
Markup vs Margin Calculator
Stop confusing markup and margin — see both, side by side, from any two values.
Quarterly Tax Calculator
Estimate US self-employment quarterly tax payments so you're never caught by surprise.