Freelance Rate Calculator
Freelancers routinely underprice themselves. Enter your income goal, working time and costs to get an hourly and day rate that actually accounts for taxes, expenses and time off.
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.
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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.
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) is already accounted for by using a realistic (lower) billable-hours figure.
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 for a more precise figure.
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.
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