Home › Free Tools › Free Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Work out the hourly rate you actually need to charge to hit your income goal after expenses, tax and time off.
Most freelancers set their rate by guessing, or by copying what someone else charges — and then wonder why they’re always broke. The problem is that your billable hours are far fewer than the hours you work, and your rate has to cover taxes, business expenses, and unpaid time for admin, marketing and sick days. This calculator works backward from the income you actually want.
Enter your target take-home income, how many hours a week you can realistically bill, how many weeks a year you’ll work (leave room for holidays), your annual business expenses, a profit buffer, and the percentage you set aside for taxes. The tool returns the hourly rate — and a day rate — you need to charge to hit your goal.
The logic: your billable hours per year are hours/week × weeks worked. Your rate has to gross up enough to cover income plus expenses after tax and buffer are removed, then spread that across those billable hours. If the number looks high, that’s the point — it’s what the math actually requires. You can then adjust: bill more hours, cut expenses, or accept a lower income.
StandupCRM helps service businesses track billable time and get paid for it — this tool makes sure the rate you set is one you can actually live on.
Work backward from your target income plus expenses, gross it up for tax and a profit buffer, then divide by your realistic billable hours per year.
You bill far fewer hours than you work and must cover your own taxes, expenses, and unpaid admin and time off.
Usually well under 40/week — many freelancers bill 20–30 productive hours after admin and marketing.
Yes, free with no signup.
StandupCRM gives repair shops Google Ads landing pages, lead capture, and a CRM dashboard — plus free tools like this to bring customers in.
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