How to price your freelance work (without guessing)

Most freelancers price by gut feeling, or by copying what a friend charges. Both work until they don't: you either underprice and burn out, or overprice without knowing why and lose deals you should have won.

The fix is a simple calculation: work backward from what you actually need to earn.

The four numbers that matter

• Your target take-home income per month
• Your monthly business expenses (software, a laptop replacement fund, internet, etc.)
• How many days per month you can realistically bill (not calendar days, billable days)
• How many hours per day of that time is actually billable client work

The formula

(Target income + expenses) × (1 + margin) ÷ billable days = your day rate. Divide that by billable hours per day for your hourly rate.

The margin is a buffer, typically 15-25%, that covers slow months, non-billable admin time, and the gap between quoting and getting paid.

Why "billable days" is the number people get wrong

A month has roughly 22 working days, but almost nobody bills all 22. Between sales calls, admin, revisions, and the inevitable slow week, 12-16 billable days a month is realistic for most solo freelancers. Overestimating this number is the single most common reason freelancers underprice.

Rather than doing this math by hand every time your expenses or goals change, the free Rate Calculator does it instantly, you just adjust the sliders.