Is the result the exact rate I should quote clients?

It is the break-even floor with no profit margin or buffer built in. Most freelancers add a markup on top to cover negotiation room, slow months, and clients who pay late.

Should the target monthly income be before or after tax?

This tool does not model income tax. Enter the amount you want to actually take home, and estimate your own tax reserve separately, folding it into the fixed costs or target income field if you want it covered.

How do I estimate billable hours per day accurately?

Count only hours you can actually invoice a client for, not total hours at your desk. Most freelancers can realistically bill 4 to 6 hours a day, well short of a full 8-hour day.

What non-billable ratio is realistic?

Early on, while you are still finding clients, 30% or higher is common. Once work is steady and most of your time goes into active projects, 10% to 20% is more typical.

Is there a limit on days off, billable hours per day, or the non-billable ratio?

Yes: days off is capped at 364, billable hours per day at 16, and the non-billable ratio at 90% — each cap keeps at least a sliver of billable time in the calculation so the rate never divides by zero.

JR Toolkits — Freelance Rate Calculator

When it is worth recalculating your rate

Just starting out and having no idea what an hour has to be worth to avoid working for free.
A client wants a fixed project price and you need your cost floor before quoting one.
Moving from full-time to freelance and checking what rate matches the salary you had.
Insurance or fixed costs went up and you want to know whether the current price list still holds.
Working flat out with nothing saved, and wanting to find out whether the rate itself is below cost.

What this tool does

Fill in a target monthly income, expected days off per year, billable hours per working day, monthly health and labor insurance, and other fixed costs on the left, and the right side immediately shows the minimum hourly rate you need to charge. This is not an arbitrary number — it is the exact rate at which your take-home pay, required insurance and business overhead break even against the hours you can actually bill a client for. Charge less than this, and the more you work, the less you actually keep.

The formula

Annual revenue needed = (Target monthly income + Insurance + Fixed costs) × 12
Working days per year = 365 − Days off per year
Billable hours per year = Working days × Billable hours per day × (1 − Non-billable ratio)
Minimum hourly rate = Annual revenue needed ÷ Billable hours per year

The minimum daily rate is the minimum hourly rate multiplied by billable hours per day — what a full billable working day should cost at minimum.

Why days off and the non-billable ratio both reduce your rate headroom

A salaried employee gets paid through weekends, public holidays and paid leave. A freelancer does not — every day off is a day with no income against it, so the more days off you plan for, the fewer working days are left to cover the same annual revenue need, and each remaining day has to earn a bit more to make up for it.

The non-billable ratio captures a cost that is easy to underestimate: writing proposals, emailing clients, bookkeeping, learning, marketing yourself. That time goes into the business, but no client pays for it directly. This tool treats it as a reduction in billable hours rather than an extra expense line, because what it consumes is time you could otherwise have billed, not an additional amount of money going out.

What the breakdown bar on the right shows

The minimum hourly rate is made of three parts: take-home income, insurance, and fixed costs. The bar's width splits proportionally between them, and the legend below lists each part converted to an hourly amount. Adjust the matching field on the left to see how raising your target income or cutting fixed costs moves the rate — the bar recalculates immediately.

Why there is no currency symbol

This tool does not detect your location and has no currency field, and guessing the wrong symbol is more misleading than showing none. Amounts are formatted with thousands separators only — use the same currency across every field and interpret the result in that currency.

Does anything you enter leave the browser

No. All the math runs in your browser, and the numbers you type are never sent anywhere. That is true of every tool on this site — see the privacy policy for the details.

Frequently asked questions

Is the result the exact rate I should quote clients?: It is the break-even floor with no profit margin or buffer built in. Most freelancers add a markup on top to cover negotiation room, slow months, and clients who pay late.
Should the target monthly income be before or after tax?: This tool does not model income tax. Enter the amount you want to actually take home, and estimate your own tax reserve separately, folding it into the fixed costs or target income field if you want it covered.
How do I estimate billable hours per day accurately?: Count only hours you can actually invoice a client for, not total hours at your desk. Most freelancers can realistically bill 4 to 6 hours a day, well short of a full 8-hour day.
What non-billable ratio is realistic?: Early on, while you are still finding clients, 30% or higher is common. Once work is steady and most of your time goes into active projects, 10% to 20% is more typical.
Is there a limit on days off, billable hours per day, or the non-billable ratio?: Yes: days off is capped at 364, billable hours per day at 16, and the non-billable ratio at 90% — each cap keeps at least a sliver of billable time in the calculation so the rate never divides by zero.

Freelance rate calculator — find the lowest hourly rate that still pays the bills