Freelance rate calculator
From what you want to take home to what you need to charge per hour, counting costs, taxes, holidays and the hours nobody pays for.
Social security, software, equipment, accountant, insurance, training…
Your effective rate on profit, not the top bracket. In Spain, 20–30% for €25,000–45,000 of profit.
Holidays, bank holidays and a few sick days: 6 or 7 weeks is realistic. Nobody bills 100%: sales, quotes, admin and gaps between projects eat 30–50%.
Charge per hour, at least
£48.77
It's your floor, not your price: what you need to hit your goal. Your price is also set by what your work is worth to the client.
Excl. VAT: if you charge VAT, add it on top. And if a client can't afford your rate, adjust the scope rather than the price.
The usual mistake: salary divided by 1,760 hours
An employee works about 1,760 hours a year and gets paid for all of them. You don't: part of every day goes on finding clients, quoting, invoicing, learning and waiting between projects. Most freelancers bill 50–70% of the hours they work.
And your rate has to cover what an employer would pay: social security, equipment, software, an accountant, holidays and sick days.
The formula
- 1. Profit needed
- take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate)
- 2. Revenue needed
- profit + business costs
- 3. Billable hours
- (52 − weeks off) × 5 days × hours per day × % billable
- 4. Hourly rate
- revenue ÷ billable hours
Frequently asked questions
Should I charge per hour or per project?
Your hourly rate is your floor. Charging per day or per project is often better: the client buys an outcome, and you're not penalised for working fast.
Does the rate include VAT?
No. If you charge VAT, add it on top.
Put it on your website
Free, for your blog, practice or association: copy this code and paste it where you want it to appear. It updates itself when the figures change.
<iframe src="https://www.nyrut.com/en/embed/freelance-rate-calculator" title="Freelance rate calculator" width="100%" height="900" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe><p><a href="https://www.nyrut.com/en/freelance-rate-calculator">Freelance rate calculator</a> by Nyrut</p>Sources
Nyrut shows what you've invoiced this month and this year against your goal, without spreadsheets.