About this tool
Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator is a free, in-browser tool that finds the minimum you must bill per hour to actually reach a target annual income. Unlike salary ÷ 2080, it accounts for the realities of self-employment: business expenses, a tax set-aside, limited working weeks, and the fact that only part of your week is billable client work.
The rate is (target income + expenses) ÷ (1 − tax buffer) ÷ (weeks × hours × billable share). Dividing by (1 − tax) grosses revenue up so that after setting aside your tax percentage you still net the target; dividing by billable hours spreads that revenue over only the hours you can invoice. The tool also shows an 8-hour day rate, your billable hours per year, the total revenue you need, and a project price (rate × project hours × (1 + contingency)).
Use it before quoting: at 46 working weeks, 60% billable and a 25% tax buffer, a 70,000 target with 8,000 of expenses needs a far higher rate than most freelancers guess. All inputs stay in your browser — nothing is uploaded.