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Freelance hourly rate calculator

Start from the take-home pay you want and work backwards to the minimum hourly and day rate you need to charge.

After tax, in your currency.
Software, equipment, insurance, coworking, accountant.
Holidays, sick days, quiet weeks.
Admin, sales and email aren’t billable.
Minimum hourly rate0
Minimum day rate0
Revenue needed per year0
Revenue needed per month0
Billable hours per year0

This is the floor, not the target. Most freelancers quote 10–20% above it to leave room to negotiate.

The formula

First work out the revenue you need: your take-home pay, grossed up for tax and savings, plus your expenses.

Revenue needed = take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate − savings rate) + expenses

Then divide by the hours you can actually bill. That isn’t 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. You need time off, and a good share of every week goes on admin, pitching and invoicing.

Billable hours = (52 − weeks off) × days per week × hours per day × billable share

Minimum hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours

Why most new freelancers undercharge

The common mistake is taking an old salary, dividing it by 2,080 hours and calling that the rate. That ignores tax, which an employer used to handle, it ignores expenses, and it assumes every working hour is paid. With realistic billable hours, the rate you need is often close to double the “salary ÷ hours” figure.

Read more: How to calculate your freelance hourly rate

Do this automatically, all year

The complete kit includes this calculator as a spreadsheet, with a what-if table and a project quote helper, plus the finance tracker and an invoice template.

Get the complete kit, $29 See what’s inside