Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator

Written byOleh Soloninupdated 5 October 2026

Currency

Income you want a month

Business costs a month

Software, hardware, connectivity, accounting.

Billable hours a week

Weeks off and idle a year

Tax

Tax, %

Advanced options

Unbilled hours a week

Finding work, emails and invoicing: time no client pays for.

Result

Hourly rate

$94.61

An eight-hour day

$756.87

Annual turnover

$108,800.00

Billable hours a year

1,150

Billable hours a month

95.8

Tax for the year

$27,200.00

Working

Needed a year: (6,000.00 + 800.00) × 12 = 81,600.00 Turnover: 81,600.00 ÷ (1 − 25%) = 108,800.00 Hours: 25 × 46 weeks = 1,150; rate 108,800.00 ÷ 1,150 = 94.61

This result is informational only and is not professional advice.

An hourly rate worked back from the income you want to keep

Work out the hourly rate a freelancer needs: from the income you want to keep, through business costs, weeks off and tax, to the hours clients actually pay for, with unbilled time shown as what you earn per hour worked.

The calculator works backwards: from the amount you want to keep each month, through your costs and tax, to the turnover you need in a year, and then divides that by the hours clients actually pay for.

Tax is entered as your own rate, with Russian self-employed and sole-trader regimes as options. If part of your week goes on finding work and admin, it also shows what you really earn for every hour you work.

How to use

Enter the income you want to keep each month and your business costs: software, equipment, phone, accounting.
Enter the hours clients pay for each week and the weeks a year lost to holidays and gaps between projects.
Enter your tax rate.
In the extra settings add unbilled hours per week.
Read the hourly and day rate, the turnover, the tax and the Working lines.

How billable hours change the rate

The rate depends far more on how many hours you actually bill than on how many you work. Time spent on quotes, invoices, email and learning is real work, but nobody pays for it directly, so it has to be carried by the hours that are billed.

The table keeps the same target — 6,000 of income plus 800 of expenses a month, a 25% tax rate and six weeks off — and varies only the billable hours per week. Doubling billable hours from 20 to 40 halves the rate you need, which is why an honest count of billable time matters more than any pricing formula.

Turnover needed 108,800 a year: (6,000 + 800) × 12 grossed up for 25% tax. Worked out with this calculator.
Billable hours a week	Billable hours a year	Rate needed
20	920	118.26
25	1,150	94.61
30	1,380	78.84
35	1,610	67.58
40	1,840	59.13

How to calculate a freelance hourly rate

Rate = (target income + costs) × 12 ÷ (1 − tax rate) ÷ billable hours a year, where billable hours = hours a week × (52 − weeks off).

To keep 6,000 a month with 800 of costs you need 81,600 a year. With 25% tax the turnover is 108,800. At 25 billable hours a week and 6 weeks off there are 1,150 billable hours, so the rate is 94.61 an hour, or 756.87 for an eight-hour day.

Billable hours drive the rate

Not every working hour is one a client pays for, and the rate depends most on the billable ones. At 20 billable hours a week the same target needs 118.26 an hour instead of 94.61.

If 10 more hours a week go on finding work, emails and invoices, the 94.61 rate means you keep 44.72 for each of the 35 hours you work, which is the number to compare with a salary.

Weeks off and costs

A freelancer has no paid holiday, so the same income has to be earned in fewer weeks. Include every cost of running the work in the monthly costs, and spread equipment over the years you will use it.

Russian self-employed and sole traders

The Russian options apply the self-employed tax of 4% on income from individuals and 6% on income from businesses, with a warning above the regime's 2.4 million rouble yearly limit, and the 6% simplified regime for sole traders without employees, including the 2026 fixed contributions that are deducted from that tax.

What this calculator shows

The hourly rate and the rate for an eight-hour day
The yearly turnover and tax
Billable hours a year and a month
What you keep per hour worked once unbilled time is included

What to keep in mind

Tax is charged on the whole turnover at the rate you enter.
Billable hours and weeks off are averages for the year.
Unbilled hours do not change the rate; they show what you keep per hour worked.

Where the numbers come from

Checked against the standard rate formula; Russian Law No. 422-FZ and Tax Code art. 346.20, 346.21, 430 for the Russian options · verified September 2026.

FAQs

How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?

(Target income + costs) × 12 ÷ (1 − tax rate) ÷ billable hours a year. Keeping 6,000 a month with 800 of costs and 25% tax over 1,150 hours needs 94.61 an hour.

Why not just divide my old salary by 2,080 hours?

Because you pay your own costs and tax, and clients do not pay for every hour or for weeks off. With 25 billable hours and 6 weeks off there are 1,150 paid hours, not 2,080.

How do weeks off change the rate?

The same income is earned in fewer weeks. With no weeks off the example rate would be lower; every week off pushes it up.

How do I account for time spent finding work?

Enter unbilled hours in the extra settings. The rate stays the same, but you see what you keep per hour worked: 44.72 in the example with 10 unbilled hours a week.

What is the day rate?

Eight hourly rates, worked from the unrounded rate of 94.61…: 756.87. If a client books a whole day, multiply the rate by the hours you will actually work.

What do the default figures give?

Wanting 6,000 a month with 800 of work expenses, billing 25 hours a week, taking 6 weeks off and paying 25% tax, the rate is 94.61 an hour. The chain is: 6,800 a month is 81,600 a year, grossed up for tax that is 108,800 of turnover, and 46 working weeks at 25 hours give 1,150 billable hours to carry it.

Worked example

Keeping 6,000 a month

Input: 6,000 a month to keep, 800 of costs, 25 billable hours a week, 6 weeks off, 25% tax

Output: 94.61 an hour; 1,150 billable hours a year

Note: At 20 billable hours a week the rate rises to 118.26.

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