Freelance Rate Calculator
Enter the take-home you want and your yearly costs to see the hourly, day and project rate you need to charge. Nothing is uploaded.
Work out your freelance hourly rate, day rate and project rate in any currency (₹ INR by default), from your target take-home income, business costs, tax buffer, weeks off and billable hours, with your hourly rate set beside the hourly pay of a salary that gives the same take-home.
Revenue needed = (take-home ÷ (1 − tax buffer) + costs) ÷ (1 − margin), and the hourly rate is that revenue ÷ your billable hours. All rates are your own inputs; no tax rules are applied.
Use a dot for decimals (120000.50); commas and spaces are read as thousands separators. Percentages are typed as percentages: 30 means 30%. The tax buffer is your own estimate, not a tax rule. Business costs are things like software, equipment, insurance and co-working.
How it is worked out: Revenue needed = (take-home ÷ (1 − tax buffer) + costs) ÷ (1 − margin). Billable hours = days a week × (52 − weeks off) × hours a day × billable share. Hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours. Day rate = hourly rate × hours a day. Project rate = hourly rate × project hours. Salary = take-home ÷ (1 − tax buffer). Salaried hourly = salary ÷ (days a week × 52 × hours a day).
How to use the Freelance Rate Calculator
- Enter the take-home income you want each year and your yearly business costs. Pick your currency.
- Check the assumptions: your tax buffer, working days a week, weeks off, hours a day, billable share and any profit margin.
- Read your hourly and day rate, and the billable hours a year they assume. Add project hours to get a price for a project.
- Use the salary line to compare your hourly rate with the hourly pay of a job that gives the same take-home.
Frequently asked questions
How is the rate worked out?
Revenue needed = (take-home ÷ (1 − tax buffer) + costs) ÷ (1 − margin). Billable hours = days a week × (52 − weeks off) × hours a day × billable share. The hourly rate is revenue needed ÷ billable hours, the day rate is the hourly rate × hours a day, and the project rate is the hourly rate × project hours.
What should I enter as the tax buffer?
Your own estimate of the share of your income before tax that goes to tax. It is not a tax rule, and no tax rules for any country are applied. It is taken from income before tax, after business costs. The default of 30% is only a starting point, so use a figure that fits your situation.
What is the billable share of time?
The part of your working hours you can charge to clients. Admin, finding clients, invoicing and learning are working time that nobody pays for. The default is 60%, which turns 8 working hours into 4.8 billable hours.
What goes in weeks off?
Every week you do not work and do not get paid: holidays, public holidays and sick days. The default is 6 weeks. The calculator counts 52 weeks in a year.
Why compare with a salary?
The salary figure is take-home ÷ (1 − tax buffer), the gross pay that leaves the same take-home at the same tax buffer. A salaried job is paid for the whole year, holidays included, so its hourly figure is that salary ÷ (days a week × 52 × hours a day). Your freelance rate also has to cover your costs and any margin, and it is earned only in billable hours in the weeks you work. An hourly rate that looks high beside a salary is mostly costs and unpaid time, not greed. The salary figure leaves out employer benefits and any tax differences.
What does the profit margin do?
It is a share of revenue kept on top of your take-home, tax and costs, for example for slow months or for growing the business. The default is 0%. At 20%, revenue needed is your take-home before tax plus costs, ÷ 0.8.
How do I type amounts like 1,20,000 or 120,000.50?
Both work. Use a dot for decimals (120000.50); commas and spaces are read as thousands separators. That means 1.234,56 written the European way is not read correctly, so type 1234.56 instead.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser. Only your currency and the six assumptions are remembered, in this browser; Clear removes them. Your take-home, costs and project hours are not stored.
Fun facts about freelance rates
- Five 8-hour days a week for 46 weeks is 1,840 working hours a year, but at 60% billable only 1,104 of them are paid.
- Raising your billable share from 60% to 75% lowers the hourly rate you need by a fifth.
- Going from 6 weeks off to 8 raises the hourly rate you need by about 4.5%, because 46 weeks of work become 44.
- At a 30% tax buffer, every 70 of take-home needs 100 of income before tax.