How to calculate your freelance hourly rate
Below is the calculator, and under it the same calculation step by step with an example. Put in your own numbers and it does the rest. No sign-up.
The calculation, step by step
- Budget. You need €3,000 a month take-home — €36,000 a year.
- Hours. Two months without work, 75 hours in each of the other ten: 750 hours a year.
- Unpaid time. A fifth goes on emails and finding clients — 600 hours get sold.
- Cost per hour. €36,000 ÷ 600 = €60.
- Tax 20%. €60 ÷ 0.8 = €75 — what you need to bill so that €60 is left after tax.
- Margin 50%. × 1.5 ≈ €113 an hour. That's the rate.
The calculator above does the same steps. Change any number and watch the rate move.
Working out your rate is half the job
The calculator tells you what to charge. The timer shows what you actually get: how many hours you worked today, how many of them are paid, and how much is left until your daily target.
A rate without tracked hours is a promise to yourself that nobody checks.
Five of your numbers, not someone else's median
Going by someone else's rate makes no sense: it's built from someone else's life — another city, another tax, another share of paid hours. Yours comes from five numbers, and all of them are about you.
Common questions
Why divide by hours sold rather than all working hours?
Because you sell fewer hours than you work. Holidays, sick days, emails and finding clients are hours too, but nobody pays for them.
Why add a margin if costs are already covered?
Without a margin the rate leaves you at zero by the end of the year: everything goes on living costs and tax. The margin is your cushion and what you actually earn.
When should I recalculate my rate?
Whenever your living budget, tax or hours sold change. The calculator redoes it in a minute.
Where is the full formula?
In the method: every step is explained separately, along with the time that doesn't go into production.
Rate, hours and projects in one place
A minute on how it works day to day.
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