Freelance hourly rate calculator
Start from what you want to earn in a year. Add your costs, time off and the share of your week you can actually bill, and get the hourly and day rate that pays for it.
Yellow cells are yours, white cells calculate. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
The formula
hourly rate = (income + business costs) ÷ billable hours, where billable hours are the weeks you work × hours per week × the share you can bill.
Why billable hours matter most
Most freelancers divide their income goal by 40 hours × 52 weeks. That assumes no holidays, no sick days and every hour paid by a client. In practice a good part of the week goes on proposals, invoicing, email and learning. If only 65% of a 40-hour week is billable and you take 7 weeks off, you have about 1,170 paid hours a year, not 2,080, and the rate you need is almost twice as high.
Treat the result as the floor
This is the rate at which the business pays for itself, before tax. Price above it where you can: for rush work, for clients who need a lot of meetings, and for work where you know the result is worth much more to the client. Then check every few months: log your hours and see what share you really billed. The Client, Time & Invoice Tracker shows billed and unbilled hours per client.