Free freelancer pricing tool

Know exactly what you need to charge.

Stop guessing your freelance rate. Enter your income goal, working schedule, expenses, and tax estimate to calculate the revenue and rates you need to make your business work.

Calculate my rate

Your numbers

Calculate your freelance rate

Adjust any number below. Your results will update instantly.

How much money you want to personally take home after business expenses and estimated taxes.

The number of weeks you expect to work during the year. This allows for holidays, vacation, and time off.

Your total working hours per week, including client work and non-billable business activities.

The percentage of your working time you can actually invoice to clients. The rest may go toward sales, admin, marketing, accounting, and other business tasks.

Your estimated yearly business costs, such as software, equipment, insurance, accounting, coworking, and marketing.

Your estimated effective tax rate. This is a planning estimate, not personalized tax advice.

Simple math

Your rate should work backwards from your goals.

Freelancers often start with an hourly rate and hope it produces enough income. This calculator does the opposite: it starts with what you need to earn and works backwards.

Start with take-home income

Tell us how much money you want to personally take home each year after business costs and estimated taxes.

Account for your business

Your business has expenses, and not every hour you work can be billed to a client. The calculator accounts for both.

Find your real rate

Your required revenue is translated into monthly, weekly, hourly, and daily targets you can use when pricing your work.

Know your numbers

What should you enter?

You don't need perfect numbers. Reasonable estimates are enough to create a useful starting point.

Desired annual take-home income

Think about the amount you want available to pay yourself and support your personal life. Enter this as an annual amount.

Example: If you want to take home $60,000 per year, enter $60,000.

Working weeks per year

You probably won't work all 52 weeks of the year. Subtract holidays, vacations, sick days, and other planned breaks from your expected working year.

Example: 48 weeks gives you roughly four weeks away from work.

Hours worked per week

Include all the time you spend working on your freelance business, not just the time spent with clients.

Example: A freelancer might work 40 hours per week but only bill clients for a portion of those hours.

Billable working hours

This is one of the most important numbers in the calculator. It represents how much of your total working time can actually be charged to clients.

Example: If you work 40 hours but can invoice about 28 of them, your billable percentage is 70%.

Annual business expenses

Include recurring and expected costs such as software, equipment, insurance, accounting, advertising, education, coworking, and other business expenses.

Estimated tax rate

Use an estimated effective tax rate rather than your highest marginal tax bracket. If you're unsure, use a conservative planning estimate and update it later.

About RateNest

Simple tools for smarter freelance decisions.

RateNest is built to help freelancers and independent professionals make better financial decisions without complicated spreadsheets or expensive software.

Built for freelancers

Freelance income can be unpredictable, and knowing what to charge is one of the most important parts of running a sustainable independent business.

Simple by design

RateNest focuses on practical calculations that are easy to understand and quick to use. Enter your numbers, get your results, and use them to make more informed decisions.

Made for planning

Our tools are intended to help you estimate targets, compare scenarios, and understand the financial side of freelance work.

Independent and transparent

RateNest is designed as a straightforward tools website. We aim to keep our calculators useful, accessible, and easy to understand.

Contact

We'd love to hear from you.

Have a question, found an issue with a calculator, or have a suggestion for a new tool? Get in touch with the RateNest team.

General questions

For general questions about RateNest or our tools, contact us by email.

[email protected]

Report an issue

If you notice an incorrect calculation, broken feature, or other technical issue, please let us know so we can investigate it.

Suggestions

Have an idea for a calculator or feature that would make RateNest more useful? We're always interested in feedback.

Take control of your freelance business

Get the complete freelancer financial dashboard

Go beyond your hourly rate. Track income goals, expenses, taxes, savings, profitability, cash flow, and the numbers that actually matter to your freelance business.

Get the complete freelancer financial dashboard

Frequently asked questions

Freelance rate calculator FAQ

How much should I charge as a freelancer?

Your ideal rate depends on your income target, business expenses, taxes, available working time, and the percentage of your time that can actually be billed to clients. That's why a rate that works for one freelancer may be completely unsuitable for another.

What is a good billable percentage?

There is no universal number. Your billable percentage depends on how much time you spend on client work compared with sales, administration, marketing, professional development, meetings, and other non-billable activities. Using a realistic estimate is more useful than assuming every working hour can be invoiced.

Why isn't my hourly rate based on 2,080 hours?

A traditional full-time employee may use roughly 2,080 working hours as a starting point. Freelancers generally cannot bill every working hour, however. Vacation, holidays, administration, marketing, sales, and other business tasks reduce the number of hours that can actually generate revenue.

Should I include taxes in my freelance rate?

Yes. Your rate needs to generate enough revenue to cover your desired take-home income, business expenses, and estimated tax obligations. This calculator uses your estimated tax rate to work backwards from your target take-home income.

Should business expenses be included in my target revenue?

Yes. Business expenses reduce the amount of revenue that ultimately becomes available to you. Including them gives you a more realistic picture of the revenue your freelance business needs to generate.

Is this calculator tax advice?

No. This is a planning and estimation tool. Tax rules, deductions, business structures, and personal circumstances vary by location and individual situation. Consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to you.

Can I use the result as my client-facing rate?

The calculated hourly rate is a useful financial floor, but it does not necessarily have to be your final client price. You may charge more depending on your experience, specialization, demand, value delivered, project complexity, and market positioning.

What if I don't know my exact expenses or tax rate?

Start with your best reasonable estimate. The purpose of the calculator is to help you understand the relationship between your assumptions and your required rate. You can return later and update the numbers as you learn more.

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Last updated: August 21, 2026

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Terms of Use

Last updated: August 21, 2026

Use of RateNest

By using RateNest, you agree to use the website and its tools for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use.

Calculator information

RateNest calculators provide estimates for informational and planning purposes only. Results depend on the information entered by the user and the assumptions used by each calculator.

No financial or tax advice

Nothing on RateNest should be considered financial, tax, accounting, legal, or professional advice. You are responsible for evaluating whether information provided by the website is appropriate for your circumstances.

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