Free Tool
Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
The rate that keeps a freelancer in business is not a guess and not a market average: it is your target income, plus your costs, grossed up for platform fees, divided by the hours you can actually bill. This calculator does that maths in both directions.
Planning estimate, not financial advice. Tax is not included in this rate — set money aside for tax separately (see the tax planner linked below). All figures on this page are estimates or scenarios for planning purposes only. They are not financial, tax or legal advice, and no earnings are promised. Read the full financial disclaimer.
What this tool does
Most freelancers undercharge because they divide their old salary by 40 hours a week. That forgets three things: time off, time that is not billable (finding clients, admin, learning), and the fee the platform takes from every invoice. This calculator corrects all three. Enter the monthly take-home pay you need, your monthly business expenses, how many hours a week you can genuinely bill, how many weeks a year you take off, and the platform fee percentage. It returns the minimum hourly rate that covers all of it, plus a day rate (based on an 8-hour day) and the monthly revenue target that rate implies.
Switch to the monthly-income mode to run the same maths backwards: enter a rate you are considering and see what it earns you in a month after fees and expenses. The two modes use one engine, so the numbers agree with each other — a rate that the first mode recommends produces the target income in the second mode.
Platform fees are entered by you. As a starting point, Upwork's fee is variable between 0% and 15% depending on the contract (as stated on Upwork's own fee page, last checked 14 November 2026 — verify it there before relying on it), and Fiverr charges a flat 20% service fee on freelancer earnings (as stated on Fiverr's fee page, last checked 14 November 2026). Fees change; always check the platform's own page.
Try it
Waiting. Enter your numbers and press Calculate. The result is a planning estimate based on the figures you enter.
How it works
The rate mode works in three steps. First, billable hours per year: billable hours per week multiplied by (52 minus weeks off). Second, the revenue you must collect in a year: (target take-home per month plus business expenses per month, times 12) divided by (1 minus the platform fee as a decimal). The fee gross-up matters: if the platform takes 10%, you must invoice about 11% more than you need, because the fee is taken from the invoice, not added on top of your target. Third, the hourly rate: required annual revenue divided by billable hours per year. The day rate is the hourly rate times 8.
The monthly-income mode runs the same formula backwards: billable hours per month equal billable hours per week times (52 minus weeks off) divided by 12; monthly income after fees equals rate times billable hours per month times (1 minus the fee), minus monthly business expenses.
There is no "market rate" table on this page, because a rate that is right for a designer in one country and niche is wrong for a developer in another. What the maths can tell you is the floor below which the work does not pay for itself.
Assumptions and limitations
This calculator finds a floor, not a price. It does not model tax — the take-home figure you enter is after tax, and you must set tax aside separately. It does not model unpaid time beyond the billable-hours figure you enter, late payments, refunds, or the time it takes to find clients. A rate that covers your costs can still be too low for your market if clients will pay more for your skill, and it can still be too high if your niche will not support it. Re-run the numbers whenever your expenses, fees or available hours change.
- Billable hours are the hours clients pay for. Most freelancers bill 20–30 of a 40-hour week; entering 40 overstates income.
- Weeks off of 52, or billable hours of zero, produce no rate at all — the calculator shows an error instead of a number.
- A platform fee of 100% cannot be grossed up (division by zero) and is rejected.
- Results are rounded to two decimals; very large inputs are accepted but check them — a misplaced zero is the most common mistake.
Worked example
Example (illustrative inputs, not a real person's income). A freelancer wants $3,000 a month to live on, has $200 a month of business expenses, can bill 25 hours a week, takes 4 weeks off a year, and pays a 10% platform fee. Billable hours per year: 25 × (52 − 4) = 1,200. Required annual revenue: ($3,000 + $200) × 12 ÷ (1 − 0.10) = $38,400 ÷ 0.90 = $42,666.67. Minimum hourly rate: $42,666.67 ÷ 1,200 = $35.56 per hour. Day rate (8 hours): $284.44. Monthly revenue target: $3,555.56. In monthly-income mode the same inputs at $40 an hour give about $3,400 a month after the fee and expenses — above the $3,000 target, which is the buffer this freelancer needs for slow months.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my minimum rate higher than my old salary divided by 2,080 hours?
Because a salary covers paid holidays, sick days, employer-paid costs and a full 40-hour week. A freelancer bills fewer hours, pays their own expenses and loses a platform fee from every invoice. Dividing a salary by 2,080 hours ignores all of that, which is why so many new freelancers undercharge.
How many billable hours per week should I enter?
Only the hours clients pay for. For most freelancers that is 20–30 hours of a 40-hour week — the rest goes to finding clients, proposals, admin, learning and revisions. Be honest here: entering 40 billable hours inflates the income the calculator shows and hides the gap.
Should I include tax in the rate?
Not inside this rate. Enter your take-home target after tax, then set tax aside separately — the freelance tax planner on this site shows how to estimate the set-aside. Mixing tax into the rate hides it, and tax rules differ by country.
What platform fee should I enter?
The fee your platform actually charges you — check its own fee page. Upwork's fee is variable between 0% and 15% depending on the contract, and Fiverr charges a flat 20% service fee on freelancer earnings (both as stated on the platforms' own fee pages, last checked 14 November 2026). Enter 0 if you invoice clients directly and pay no platform fee.
Is the rate this calculator gives me the rate I should charge?
It is the minimum rate that covers your costs — a floor, not a price. Charge above the floor when your skill, demand and niche support it. Never charge below it for long: below the floor, every hour worked loses money once expenses and fees are counted.
Why does the calculator ask about weeks off?
Because a year has 52 weeks but nobody bills all of them. Holidays, sick days and gaps between clients are real, and every week off raises the rate the remaining weeks must earn. Ignoring time off is the second most common reason freelance income falls short of the plan.