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Free tool · Freelance pricing

Free freelance day rate calculator

Turn your annual goals into a day rate. Allow for time off, business costs and the days you cannot bill.

  • Free, no account
  • Stays in your browser

Plan your freelance rate

Build an annual plan around the way you actually work. Example
1
Your annual funding goalSeparate your personal income goal from business costs and any extra reserve.
Your income before personal tax and social contributions, after the business costs entered below. This is not take-home pay.
Software, insurance, equipment and other business expenses. Do not include your personal income goal again. Blank means zero.
Optional amount for savings, reinvestment or unexpected costs. Do not count amounts already included above. Blank means zero.
2
Your working yearUse a 52-week planning year. Deduct time off before allowing for non-billable work.
Your normal schedule, from more than 0 to 7 days. Fractional days are allowed for part-time work.
Total equivalent weeks for holidays, public holidays, illness and other time away. Count overlapping time off only once. Blank means zero.
Share of the remaining working time spent on admin, sales, training or without client work. Exclude the time off already entered.
3
Day length and rate checkDefine what a day means, then optionally compare a rate you already charge.
Used only to show the equivalent hourly rate. Choose more than 0 and no more than 24 hours; this does not change the day rate.
Enter a positive rate before VAT or sales tax to compare its annual revenue with your funding goal. Blank skips the comparison.

Illustration: 48,000 income + 9,000 costs + 3,000 reserve = 60,000 a year. With 5 days a week, 4 weeks off and 20% non-billable time, there are 192 billable days. The day rate is 312.50, or 39.06 per hour for an 8-hour day.

Your freelance rate

Planning estimate, not a market-rate or take-home-pay calculation. No personal tax, social contributions, VAT or sales tax are calculated. Revenue assumes all planned billable days are sold and paid. Changing currency does not convert values.

How do you calculate a freelance day rate?

Updated · By the Skileo team

Divide the annual revenue you need by the number of days you realistically expect to bill. Your revenue goal includes your personal income before tax, business costs and an optional reserve. Billable days are what remain after time off and non-billable work. This produces a planning rate for your own assumptions, not a prediction of demand or a recommended market price.

Freelance day rate formulas and worked example
CalculationFormulaWorked example
Working days(52 − weeks off) × working days per week(52 − 4) × 5 = 240 days
Billable daysWorking days × (1 − non-billable percentage ÷ 100)240 × (1 − 20 ÷ 100) = 192 days
Annual revenue goalIncome goal + business costs + reserve48,000 + 9,000 + 3,000 = 60,000
Day rate and hourly equivalentRevenue goal ÷ billable days; day rate ÷ hours per day60,000 ÷ 192 = 312.50 per day; 312.50 ÷ 8 ≈ 39.06 per hour
Accounting

From a day rate to a paid invoice

Send a quote your client accepts online. Turn it into an invoice without typing it again, and let them pay it online.

Quotes clients accept onlineYour client accepts or rejects the quote on its own page. You see which.
Online paymentConnect Stripe, and clients pay the invoice by card.
Paid, due, overdueOne list shows who has paid and who needs a nudge.

Find your day rate in three steps

  1. 1Set your annual goalEnter the income you want before personal taxes, your annual business costs and any extra reserve. Avoid counting the same cost twice.
  2. 2Estimate your billable yearChoose your working week, allow for time off and set a realistic non-billable share. Include sales, admin and gaps between assignments.
  3. 3Review your rateCheck the day rate and hourly equivalent, compare your current rate if useful, then copy your assumptions. Enter the reviewed rate manually in your next quote.

Before you quote a day rate

  1. Separate revenue from personal incomeClients pay revenue, but business expenses and reserves use part of it. The income goal here is before personal taxes and social contributions. If you start from a take-home target, establish the appropriate pre-tax goal separately for your circumstances.
  2. Count the costs of staying freelanceReview software, insurance, professional fees, equipment and other recurring business costs. Use annual totals even when bills are monthly or irregular. Keep the reserve separate from costs already included, and review both when your business changes.
  3. Allow for work you cannot invoiceWriting proposals, keeping accounts, learning and finding your next client take time. The non-billable percentage applies after time off is removed. It is an assumption about your own working year, not an industry benchmark. Compare it with your records when possible.
  4. Make your day length explicitAgree with your client what a day includes, how partial days are charged and how extra hours are handled. An eight-hour day is only the example used here. Changing the day length changes the hourly equivalent, not the annual billable-day calculation.
  5. Test the plan against realityA rate that covers your target still needs clients willing to pay it. Compare your scope, experience and client value with the offer. Try a year with fewer billable days to see the effect, and revisit your plan after quiet periods or changes in costs.

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Freelance day rate questions

Is this freelance day rate calculator free?

Yes. Calculate and copy a rate summary without an account. The calculation runs in your browser and uses no paid API.

Why not divide my annual income by 260 days?

That assumes five billable days in every one of 52 weeks, with no time off, administration or gaps between clients. This calculator deducts time off and a non-billable share, and includes business costs and a reserve if entered.

Is the income goal before or after tax?

It is before personal tax and social contributions, but after the business costs entered in the calculator. The tool does not estimate local taxes or convert a net-income target into gross income. Establish the right pre-tax target separately if you need a specific take-home amount.

What if I have no billable days?

There is no finite day rate that can fund a positive annual goal with no paid work. Weeks off must be below 52, working days must be positive and non-billable time must be below 100%. The calculator blocks impossible schedules instead of showing an infinite rate.

Can I use this for part-time freelancing or half days?

Yes. Enter fractional working days, equivalent weeks off and your usual day length. The model uses a 52-week planning year rather than counting dates in a particular calendar. Convert public holidays or occasional time off into equivalent weeks for your chosen work pattern.

Does this tell me the market rate or guarantee my income?

No. It calculates the rate needed to fund your own assumptions. The comparison assumes every planned billable day is sold at the rate entered and paid. It does not predict bookings, discounts, late payments or demand, and the monthly figure is an annual average, not a cash-flow forecast.

Where are my figures saved, and does copying create a quote?

Your draft stays in this browser when storage is available. Nothing is sent to Skileo. Clear inputs to remove your figures. Copying creates a text summary only; it does not create, send or automatically fill a quote.

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