💻 Freelance Rate Calculator
Calculate the minimum hourly and day rate you need to charge to hit your take-home income target as a freelancer or contractor.
Enter your values
- Day rate (8 hours)€431.47
- Annual revenue needed€74,428.57
- Estimated tax€21,428.57
- Billable hours per year1,380
- Rate at 50% utilisation€107.87
- Rate at 75% utilisation€71.91
What this means
- Required hourly rate: €53.93.
- Day rate (8-hour day): €431.47.
- Annual revenue needed to hit your target: €74,428.57.
- If you only bill 50% of your target hours, you need to charge €107.87/hr.
Visual results
Detailed breakdown
| Year | Annual revenue | Take-home after tax |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €76,661.43 | €53,663.00 |
| 2 | €78,961.27 | €55,272.89 |
| 3 | €81,330.11 | €56,931.08 |
| 4 | €83,770.01 | €58,639.01 |
| 5 | €86,283.11 | €60,398.18 |
| 6 | €88,871.61 | €62,210.12 |
| 7 | €91,537.75 | €64,076.43 |
| 8 | €94,283.89 | €65,998.72 |
| 9 | €97,112.40 | €67,978.68 |
| 10 | €100,025.78 | €70,018.04 |
About this calculator
Why your freelance rate must cover more than your salary
A freelancer earning €50/hr is not equivalent to an employee earning €50/hr. The employee receives employer pension contributions, paid leave, sick pay, equipment, and has no gaps between projects. The freelancer covers all of these from their hourly rate — plus their own taxes as a self-employed person.
The rate formula
Hourly rate = Total revenue needed ÷ Billable hours per year
Where total revenue = (target take-home ÷ (1 − tax rate)) + business expenses + profit margin buffer.
The two most commonly underestimated inputs are tax rate and billable hours. Many first-time freelancers use their employed tax rate (which may not account for self-employment taxes) and assume they will bill 40 hours per week every week — both lead to underpricing.
Billable utilisation
Not all working hours generate invoices. A realistic billable utilisation rate for a freelancer is 60–75% of available working time. The rest is consumed by business development, admin, meetings that go nowhere, and professional development. The sensitivity outputs (rate at 50% / 75%) show how much margin you need to maintain your income target if work dries up unexpectedly.
Working weeks and non-billable time
52 weeks minus holidays, annual leave, sick days, and inter-contract gaps yields roughly 42–46 realistic billable weeks per year. Estimating 52 weeks is a common mistake that makes your rate look lower than it needs to be — and leaves you short of your income target in practice.
Raising your rate over time
The chart projects your revenue and take-home over 10 years assuming you raise your rate annually. Even a 3% annual rate increase compounds significantly: a €70/hr rate today becomes €94/hr in 10 years, growing your income substantially without working more hours.
Frequently asked questions
Why should I use fewer than 40 billable hours per week?
Not all working time is billable. Freelancers typically spend 20–40% of their time on non-billable activities: finding new clients, writing proposals, admin, invoicing, professional development, and general business management. The default of 30 billable hours per week assumes a 40-hour week with 10 hours of non-billable work. Overestimating billable hours leads to underpricing — one of the most common freelance mistakes.
What working weeks should I use?
Start with 52 weeks and subtract: public holidays (10–14 days), annual leave (15–25 days), sick days (5–10 days), and a buffer for gaps between contracts (1–4 weeks). The default of 46 weeks is conservative for a stable freelance business. If you are new to freelancing, 40–43 weeks is more realistic while building your client base.
What should I include in business expenses?
Include any recurring costs you pay to operate your freelance business: software subscriptions (design tools, project management, accounting), hardware and equipment (amortised over useful life), professional liability insurance, accounting / legal fees, home office costs, training and certifications, and marketing costs. These are pre-tax expenses that reduce your taxable income — so the true cost to you is lower than the face value, depending on your tax rate.