Freelance Frame
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Freelance Rate Calculator

Find the minimum hourly and day rate that pays you what you want after tax, covers the costs an employer used to cover, and fits the hours you can actually bill.

Any country · any currency · built by Aftab Ahmad · checked September 29, 2026

Your numbers

What the year must pay for

What you want to keep after tax, per year.

Per year, if you pay it yourself. Use 0 if not.

What you want to put aside per year.

Software, equipment, insurance, fees: per year.

A budgeting assumption for all taxes on your profit, not a statutory rate. Replace it with your own estimate or your accountant's.

Your time

Holidays, vacation and sick days.

All work: billable, admin, sales, learning.

Utilisation. 60% is the guide's example; track your own for a few months.

Minimum hourly rate$108.333.2× a salary divided by 2,080 hours ($33.65)

Day rate$867at 8 hours a day

Revenue needed$119,600$9,967 a month

How the rate is calculated
1. Personal needstake-home + health + retirement$85,200
2. Grossed up for taxline 1 ÷ (1 − 25%)$113,600
3. Revenue neededline 2 + business expenses$119,600
4. Working weeks52 − 6 weeks off46
5. Working hoursline 4 × 40 hours1,840
6. Billable hoursline 5 × 60%1,104
7. Hourly rateline 3 ÷ line 6$108.33

The same revenue at different billable shares

50% billable$130.00
60% billable$108.33
70% billable$92.86
80% billable$81.25

The formula

The calculator follows the method in our guide, shown here with the guide's example figures:

  1. What you need personally$85,200take-home $70,000 + health $7,200 + retirement $8,000
  2. ÷ (1 − planning tax rate)$113,600$85,200 ÷ 0.75, an assumed 25% heuristic, not a tax rate
  3. + business expenses$119,600software, insurance, equipment: $6,000
    1. Working weeks × hours1,840 hours46 weeks × 40 hours
    2. × utilisation1,104 billable60% of hours are billable
  5. Revenue ÷ billable hours$108.33 / hour$119,600 ÷ 1,104
The pricing equation used in this guide: personal needs grossed up for tax, plus business costs, divided by the hours you can actually bill. The figures are the guide's illustrative example; put in your own.
  1. Personal needs = the take-home pay you want + health insurance + retirement saving.
  2. Grossed up for tax = personal needs ÷ (1 − your planning tax rate).
  3. Revenue needed = grossed-up needs + business expenses.
  4. Billable hours = (52 − weeks off) × working hours per week × billable share.
  5. Hourly rate = revenue needed ÷ billable hours. The day rate is the hourly rate × hours per working day.

The reasoning, how utilisation changes the answer, and when to price by project or retainer instead of by the hour are in our guide How to Price Freelance Services.

Assumptions and limits

  • This gives a floor: the least you can charge to meet your targets. Your market rate may be higher, and value- or project-based pricing can earn more.
  • The planning tax rate is a single budgeting figure for all taxes on your profit. It is not a tax rate from any authority. Taxes depend on your country, income and deductions, so ask a local accountant for a realistic figure. In the US, our Self-Employment Tax Estimator shows one part of it.
  • Grossing up treats the whole of your personal needs as taxable income. If some costs, such as health insurance or retirement contributions, reduce your tax where you live, the true rate may be slightly lower.
  • Unpaid time (finding clients, admin, learning) is covered by the billable share, not added separately.
  • The currency setting only changes how numbers are shown. Numbers you type stay in your browser; nothing is sent to us or stored.

A planning tool, not financial, tax or business advice. Check your figures with an accountant before setting prices.

Related sources

  1. Freelance Frame: How to Price Freelance Services — the method, worked example and utilisation analysis this tool implements
  2. IRS: Self-employment tax — one of the taxes a US freelancer's planning rate must cover
  3. IRS: Estimated taxes — paying tax during the year when no employer withholds it (US)

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