Freelancer Rate Calculator
Price with confidence by baking in taxes, overhead, and realistic billable hours — not wishful thinking.
No sign-up required. 100% free to use.
Try the Freelancer Rate Calculator
Enter your target take-home income, estimated tax rate, overhead, and billable time to see hourly, day, and monthly retainer rates.
Pricing suite
Freelancer Rate Calculator
Match your rate to the lifestyle you want by accounting for taxes, overhead, and realistic billable hours.
Inputs
Plan your workload and costs
What you want to keep after taxes and expenses.
Vacation, holidays, sick days, downtime.
Total hours worked, not just billable.
Include federal, state, and self-employment tax.
Software, insurance, equipment, marketing, office.
Admin, marketing, and email usually consume 30-40% of the week.
Billable: 19.5 hrs/week | Non-billable: 10.5 hrs/week
Results
Your rate card
Required hourly rate
$219.78
Day rate (8 hrs)
$1,758.24
Weekly revenue (billable)
$4,285.71
Monthly retainer target
$17,142.86
Annual revenue needed
$205,714.29
Financial breakdown
Rough comparison assuming roughly 30% value in health insurance, paid leave, and employer taxes.
How this calculator works
- We gross up your target take-home by your tax rate to find the revenue you need before taxes.
- Overhead adds the buffer for software, insurance, equipment, and marketing.
- The billable-time slider backs out admin and marketing time so hours reflect reality.
- Rates are calculated as revenue needed divided by annual billable hours.
- Packages (day, week, month) stay aligned with your true hourly rate.
How to use the freelance rate calculator
- Target take-home income: What you want to keep after taxes and business expenses.
- Tax rate: Include federal, state, and self-employment (often 25–40% total).
- Overhead: Software, insurance, health benefits, marketing, gear, and office costs.
- Billable time: Realistic hours you can invoice after admin, marketing, and emails.
Adjust overhead, billable time, or tax rate to see how your hourly rate shifts for a sustainable freelance business.
Popular uses
- New freelancers setting their first hourly or day rate with taxes and overhead baked in.
- Agencies sanity-checking subcontractor rates and margins.
- Consultants and creators building retainers and packaged services.
Freelancer Rate Calculator FAQ
What does this freelancer rate calculator do?
It sets a realistic hourly, day, or project rate by factoring in your business expenses, taxes, billable hours, and income goals so you stop undercharging.
What information do I need?
Know your estimated expenses, desired take-home income, billable hours per week, and an approximate tax rate. The calculator uses this to estimate sustainable hourly, day, and retainer pricing.
Can I use this for both hourly and project pricing?
Yes. Start with a sustainable hourly rate, then build project pricing by estimating hours plus buffer for admin, revisions, and scope creep, multiplied by your hourly rate.
Once you’ve set your rate, use our ROI Calculator to evaluate projects, or the Break-Even Calculator when launching new services.
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