Freelance Rate Calculator

A free tool from Practical Templates — work out the hourly rate you actually need to charge, from the salary you want, your real expenses, taxes, time off, and how much of your week is billable.

Your inputs

Target annual salary you pay yourself

$ Before personal taxes — what the business must pay you

Annual business expenses

$ Software, insurance, gear, coworking, accounting…

Taxes & benefits loading 25%

% Self-employment + income tax + benefits you fund yourself

Weeks off per year (vacation + holidays + sick)

weeks

Hours worked per week

hours

Billable share of your hours 60%

% The rest is admin, sales, and everything unpaid

Profit margin on top of break-even 20%

% Buffer for slow months and growth — 10–25% is typical

Your rates

Revenue the business must bring in (Salary + expenses) grossed up for taxes/benefits—

Billable hours per year—

Break-even hourly rate Below this, you are paying to work—

Target hourly rate The rate to quote—

Target day rate (8 hours)—

Project pricing — at your target rate

Project size	Hours	Quote at target rate
Small fix / audit		—
Typical project		—
Large engagement		—

Project minimum Smallest engagement, priced at your target rate — never quote below this—

Reality check

Hourly rate you charge today

What that rate actually grosses per year At your billable hours above—

Gap vs the revenue you need Negative = the shortfall your current rate leaves—

Pro version — $9 one-time

Everything in this free calculator, plus:

Multiple rate scenarios — save and compare side-by-side scenarios (e.g. part-time vs full-time, solo vs with a subcontractor, this year vs next) instead of retyping your numbers every time.
Client-ready PDF export — a clean, branded one-page rate sheet you can attach to a proposal, so your price arrives looking considered, not scribbled in an email.
Tax presets — one-click loadings for common situations (US sole proprietor, LLC with S-corp election, UK sole trader, and more) instead of guessing your tax percentage.