Skip to content
Clockbill

Free tool

Freelance hourly rate calculator

Start from the income you want to take home, add your costs and taxes, and divide by the hours you can actually bill. The result is the lowest rate that gets you there.

Calculator

After tax and business expenses — what you'd pay yourself.

Software, equipment, insurance, accounting.

Income tax plus social contributions.

Client work only, not admin or sales.

Holidays, sick days and public holidays.

Your minimum hourly rate

$74.78

Day rate
$374
Billed per month
$7,167
Billed per year
$86,000
Billable hours per year
1,150

Day rate assumes your weekly billable hours are spread over five days. Calculated in your browser; nothing is saved or sent.

How it works

How to calculate your freelance hourly rate

  1. 1. Gross up your take-home income for tax

    If you want to keep 60,000 and lose 25% to tax, you need a profit of 60,000 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = 80,000.

  2. 2. Add your business expenses

    Expenses come out before tax, so add them on top: 80,000 + 6,000 = 86,000. That's what you need to bill in a year.

  3. 3. Count the hours you can actually bill

    At 25 billable hours a week with 6 weeks off, that's 25 × 46 = 1,150 hours a year.

  4. 4. Divide

    86,000 ÷ 1,150 ≈ 74.78 per hour. Charging less means earning less than you planned; most freelancers add a margin on top for slow months.

Why billable hours are lower than you think

A 40-hour week rarely means 40 billable hours. Emails, proposals, invoicing, learning and finding the next client all take time you can't charge for. Billing 20 to 30 hours in a full week is common. Tracking every hour, billable or not, is the only way to know your real number.

Questions about hourly rates

Should I charge more than the calculated rate?

Usually, yes. The calculator gives the minimum that meets your income target if every planned hour gets billed. A margin covers quiet months, late payers and clients who leave. Also check what others with your skills charge in your market.

Should I use my employee salary as the income?

Use what you take home after tax, and remember that as a freelancer you pay for things an employer used to cover: paid holidays, sick days, equipment, pension contributions and health insurance. Add those to your income or expenses so the comparison is fair.

How accurate is the tax calculation?

It uses a single flat rate applied to your profit, which is a simplification. Real tax systems have brackets, allowances and deductions. Use your effective rate from last year if you know it, and check with an accountant for anything important.

Hourly or day rate: which should I quote?

Either works as long as it's based on the same yearly target. Hourly suits work that comes in small pieces; a day rate suits longer blocks of work at one client. Whichever you choose, track your time so you can see if your estimates hold up.

Got your rate? Now bill every hour of it.

Clockbill is a free time tracker that prices each hour at your project's rate and turns it into an invoice.

Get started free