Question 1

How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?

Accepted Answer

Add your target annual income and your annual business costs, then divide by your real billable hours: (52 minus weeks off) × billable hours per week. That is your break-even floor — the rate below which you are earning less than your target. Price at or above it.

Question 2

Why only 20–30 billable hours per week?

Accepted Answer

Because prospecting, proposals, admin, invoicing, email, and bookkeeping are unpaid. Most full-time freelancers genuinely bill 50–75% of their working hours. Assuming 40 billable hours is the single most common reason freelance rates are set too low.

Question 3

Should my rate include taxes?

Accepted Answer

The income target you enter should be your pre-tax income — taxes come out of what you earn, like a salary. What the rate must additionally cover, unlike a salary, is everything an employer normally pays for: equipment, software, insurance, retirement savings, and unpaid time off. That is why a freelance rate should be well above the equivalent employee hourly wage.

Question 4

Hourly, day rate, or project pricing?

Accepted Answer

Use the hourly figure as your internal floor even if you never quote it. Day rates reduce negotiation friction for on-site or intensive work. Project (fixed) pricing usually earns the most per hour once you can estimate scope reliably — quote it by estimating hours × your rate, then adding a risk margin.

Question 5

When should I raise my rate?

Accepted Answer

When you are consistently booked more than ~80% of your target billable hours, when a new client asks (quote new clients the higher rate first), or at minimum once a year to cover inflation. Existing clients accept modest annual increases far more readily than freelancers expect.

Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?

Why only 20–30 billable hours per week?

Should my rate include taxes?

Hourly, day rate, or project pricing?

When should I raise my rate?