MORETHAN.ONEThe back office for a business of one.

Calculator

Freelance rate calculator

Turn the income you want, your business costs and the hours you can realistically bill into an hourly rate and a monthly revenue target.

The yearly pay you want the business to produce, before you set money aside for taxes.
Software, equipment, insurance, accounting, workspace, marketing, and so on.
Take 52 and subtract vacation, holidays, sick days and slow weeks. 46 is used as an example.
Hours you actually bill, not hours you work. Admin, sales and learning don’t count here.
Extra margin for slow months, unpaid revisions and growth.

How the calculation works

  1. Income goal + business expenses gives the money the business must bring in before any buffer.
  2. Add your buffer. A 10% buffer multiplies that total by 1.10.
  3. Count billable hours: working weeks × billable hours per week.
  4. Divide. Annual revenue target ÷ billable hours = your hourly rate. Divide the annual target by 12 for the monthly revenue target.

Frequently asked questions

Why are billable hours so much lower than hours worked?

Most independent professionals spend part of every week on work nobody pays for directly: finding clients, writing proposals, invoicing, learning and administration. Your rate has to cover that time too, which is why this calculator divides by billable hours only.

Should I just charge this hourly rate?

Treat it as a floor for your planning, not a price tag. Market rates, the value of the result to your client and your specialty all matter. Many people quote by project or day, using this number to check that the project fee works out to at least this rate.

Does it include health insurance, retirement and paid time off?

Only if you put them in. Include benefits you’d otherwise get from an employer in your desired income, and the days you won’t work in your weeks-per-year figure.

Is my data stored?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or saved.