Does this include tax and tools?

No. Enter the income you want from billable hours, then raise the rate or lower hours if you still need to cover tax, software, and unpaid sales time.

Should I use yearly or monthly mode?

Yearly mode fits annual income goals with weekly billable hours. Monthly mode fits a revenue target and hours for a single month.

Is the result what I should charge every client?

It is a planning floor. Market rates, urgency, and scope still shape what you quote on each engagement.

How do utilization and this calculator connect?

Billable Utilization turns available hours into sellable hours. Feed that sellable count here so the rate floor matches capacity you can actually book.

Rates & money

Freelance Rate Calculator

Back into a billable hourly rate from an income goal, annual costs, weeks off, available vs billable hours, and an optional tax buffer labelled as a planning assumption.

Rates and totals stay in this tab. Nothing is saved to an account.

How the math works

Yearly mode builds a rate floor from take-home or profit goal, annual overhead, weeks off (working weeks = 52 minus weeks off), available hours vs billable hours per week, and an optional tax/buffer percent that raises the revenue target as a planning assumption (not tax advice). Monthly mode divides a gross revenue target by billable hours for a shorter window. Outputs include hourly rate, day rate, and annual revenue needed. Treat the result as a planning floor before you negotiate, not a market survey.

How to use it

Choose yearly or monthly mode. Enter the income or revenue target, then the billable hours you honestly expect to sell (use Billable Utilization first if you only know available hours). Read the required hourly floor, convert to a day rate with Rate Converter if needed, and raise the number if tax, tools, or unpaid sales time still sit outside the model.

Assumptions

General calculator only. Not tax, legal, or financial advice. Amounts exclude tax unless you add tax yourself. Billable hours are the hours you expect to sell, not every hour you are awake. Weeks and monthly hour counts are inputs you choose; the tool does not import your calendar.

Worked numbers

Assumptions in

Yearly: 80000 income · 6000 costs · 6 weeks off · 35 available / 25 billable h/week · 0% buffer
Monthly: 3000 EUR gross · 100 billable hours

Result

Yearly example: 46 working weeks × 25h = 1,150 billable hours
Revenue floor = (80000 + 6000) = 86000 (or higher if a buffer % is set)
Hourly ≈ 86000 ÷ 1,150 · day rate = hourly × hours/day
Non-billable ≈ 10h/week when available is 35 and billable is 25.
Not tax, legal, or financial advice.

Quick comparison

Mode	You enter	You get
Yearly	Annual income + billable h/week	Hourly floor before tax
Monthly	Monthly revenue + billable hours	Hourly floor for that month
Then	Utilization + Rate Converter	Sellable hours and day-rate equivalents

More pricing scenarios

€80,000 income + €6,000 costs, 6 weeks off, 25 billable of 35 available hours/week → hourly and day-rate floor plus annual revenue needed.
€3,000/month with 100 billable hours → hourly rate for that period.
Re-run after a slow quarter when billable hours dropped below the plan.

Practical use cases

You are building a rate card from income goals and expected billable hours.
You need a project fee floor that still covers slow weeks.
You want the same math as your hourly target, in one place, before a sales call.
You are resetting rates after realizing last quarter’s billable hours were lower than planned.
You have a utilization percent and need the billable-hour count before solving for rate.

Limitations

Does not survey market rates. Does not compute tax, VAT, benefits, or pension. Does not reserve non-billable admin automatically. A low hour count inflates the rate; an optimistic hour count hides risk. Confirm local rules before you publish a rate card.

Rate and invoice questions

Does this include tax and tools?: No. Enter the income you want from billable hours, then raise the rate or lower hours if you still need to cover tax, software, and unpaid sales time.
Should I use yearly or monthly mode?: Yearly mode fits annual income goals with weekly billable hours. Monthly mode fits a revenue target and hours for a single month.
Is the result what I should charge every client?: It is a planning floor. Market rates, urgency, and scope still shape what you quote on each engagement.
How do utilization and this calculator connect?: Billable Utilization turns available hours into sellable hours. Feed that sellable count here so the rate floor matches capacity you can actually book.

Money tools are planning math, not tax or legal advice. Assumptions belong on the page. How our tools work · Editorial policy · Contact