Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator
Work backwards from the income you want to the hourly rate you need to charge.
Most freelancers bill 20–30 hours of a 40-hour week — the rest goes to finding clients, admin, and email. Currency-agnostic. Not financial advice.
How it works
The math is simple but the inputs are where people fool themselves: the default 25 billable hours and 4 weeks off are realistic, not pessimistic. Divide what you need (income plus expenses) by the hours someone will actually pay for, and the resulting rate often surprises people who priced themselves against their old salary. Pairs well with our salary converter for comparing against employed rates.
FAQ
Why not just divide a salary by 2,080 hours?
Because employees get paid for all 2,080 hours; freelancers don't. Unbillable time (sales, admin, invoicing), unpaid vacation, expenses, and self-funded benefits mean a freelancer typically needs 1.5–2× the equivalent hourly salary to net the same income.
What counts as a business expense?
Software subscriptions, hardware, insurance, accounting, co-working space, health coverage you fund yourself, and the employer half of payroll taxes where applicable. Most solo freelancers land between 10–25% of revenue.
How many hours are actually billable?
Surveys of freelancers consistently land around 50–60% of working time — call it 20–30 hours of a 40-hour week. New freelancers bill less because more time goes to finding clients.