Break the Hourly Billing Trap.
Calculate the rate you actually need after taxes, business expenses, and unbillable time — then turn that number into simple project and productized service package prices.
Calculate My RateNo account. No email required. No data stored.
What you want to personally keep after estimated taxes and business expenses.
Use a rough estimate for income tax, self-employment tax, state/local tax, and other tax obligations.
Software, tools, insurance, contractors, subscriptions, marketing, bookkeeping, and other operating costs.
Total working hours, including client work, admin, sales, marketing, and operations.
Vacation, holidays, sick time, recovery time, and slow periods.
Time spent on sales, marketing, proposals, onboarding, revisions, invoicing, bookkeeping, and business operations.
What you charge now, or the hourly rate you are considering.
Estimate the real delivery time for a typical project, including meetings, communication, revisions, and admin.
Turn your recommended hourly rate into three starting-point package prices — Starter for a smaller, lighter-scope offer, Core as your default/main package, and Premium for a higher-touch or higher-value version.
These tiers show different starting-point package options. They are not perfect prices. Final pricing should also consider scope, urgency, strategic value, market demand, and client risk.
Your hourly floor is only the starting point. We're building a Digital Product & Workshop Pricing Calculator to help solo operators price self-service products, paid workshops, webinars, group programs, and coaching offers.
Get notified when the tool is ready and you may be invited to test the beta version.
A quick look at the numbers behind your diagnosis, plus the patterns worth paying attention to.
How your current rate stacks up against your floor and your recommended target.
Get the Solo Operator Pricing Worksheet to save your assumptions, compare package ideas, and refine your offer.
Pricing is only one part of running a solo business. These categories help you invoice, collect payment, track expenses, and protect scope.
Most freelance rate calculators stop at your minimum hourly rate. This tool also shows your recommended target rate, current rate gap, project/package pricing, and how many projects you need each month.
A freelance rate calculation starts with what you want to take home, not with a number you've seen other freelancers charge. From there, the math works backward to a realistic hourly floor.
Freelancers do not get paid for every working hour. Sales calls, proposals, client onboarding, revisions, admin work, invoicing, and marketing all take real time, but none of it shows up on an invoice. Underestimating this non-billable time is one of the most common reasons freelancers underprice their services — the hourly rate that looks profitable on paper assumes a level of billable capacity that rarely matches reality.
Hourly pricing is simple to explain and easy to start with, but it caps your upside — you can only earn more by working more hours. Project pricing gives you more control over your income and rewards efficiency rather than time spent. Package pricing works best once your scope is clear and repeatable. This calculator helps translate your underlying rate math into a starting project or package price, so the move away from pure hourly billing is grounded in numbers rather than guesswork.
Estimate your required annual gross revenue, then divide it by your realistic annual billable hours. Your required gross revenue should account for desired take-home income, estimated taxes, and business expenses.
There is no universal good rate. A good rate depends on your income target, taxes, expenses, experience, market, service type, billable hours, and non-billable workload. This calculator helps estimate the rate your business model requires.
Because not every working hour is billable. Freelancers also spend time on sales, proposals, admin, marketing, client communication, revisions, bookkeeping, and unpaid gaps between projects.
Hourly pricing is simple and useful early on. Project or package pricing can be better when you have a repeatable service, clear scope, and enough experience to estimate effort accurately.
A productized service package is a clearly defined service offer with a specific scope, outcome, process, and price. It helps reduce custom quoting and makes your service easier to buy.
Yes, the calculator includes your estimated tax rate as an input. It is only an estimate and should not be treated as tax advice.
No. This tool is for educational planning only. Consult qualified tax, legal, or financial professionals for advice specific to your situation.