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Work out the minimum hourly rate you need to charge to take home the income you want, after business costs, tax and the unpaid hours every freelancer has. Also shows a day rate and a monthly retainer. Free, no sign-up, runs in your browser. Any currency.
Minimum hourly rate
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Day rate
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Monthly retainer (avg billable hours)
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Billable hours per year
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This is the break-even rate for your goal. Many freelancers add 10-20% on top for slow months and late payments. An estimate, not tax advice: your real tax rate depends on where you live.
The Freelance Time Tracker & Invoice spreadsheet logs your hours by client with per-client rates, shows billed vs unbilled work and fills in a printable invoice from your time log. Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers. $6, instant download, no subscription.
Get it on Gumroad ($6)View on Etsy
Or the Small Business Spreadsheet Bundle ($12, 4 files): time tracker & invoice + bookkeeping with a tax set-aside estimate + seller profit + inventory. Also on Etsy.
1. Income before tax = the take-home you want ÷ (1 − tax set-aside %).
2. Revenue you need = income before tax + business costs.
3. Billable hours = (52 − weeks off) × hours per week × billable share. Sales, admin, invoicing, learning and chasing payments take real time but nobody pays for it, so 50-70% billable is common.
4. Hourly rate = revenue you need ÷ billable hours.
Why not just copy an employee salary? An employee's pay doesn't include their employer's share of tax, their tools, paid holidays or the hours between projects. As a freelancer you cover all of that from billable hours alone.