Free tool
Work out the day rate and hourly rate you need to hit your income goal — instantly, in your browser, with no signup. Enter what you want to earn and how you work, and we do the maths.
We work out how many days a year you can actually bill, then divide what you need to earn across them. Add business costs to cover overheads on top of your take-home target.
Enter your target annual income, working pattern and time off to see your suggested day and hourly rates.
A common mistake freelancers make is to take a salary, divide by 12 and bill that — forgetting that you are not paid for holidays, sick days, admin or the time you spend finding work. The fix is to spread what you need to earn across only the days you can actually bill.
The calculation is:
The result is a floor to aim above, not a ceiling — many freelancers add a margin for profit, quiet periods and rate rises over time. It is a planning estimate to help you price your work, not tax or financial advice.
Start with the income you want to take home for the year and add your annual business costs to get the revenue you need to bill. Then work out how many days a year you can actually bill: take your working days per week, multiply by 52, and subtract holiday and other non-billable days (admin, sick days, marketing). Divide the revenue you need by those billable days and you have your day rate.
Divide your day rate by the number of billable hours you work in a day. For example, a £400 day rate over 7.5 billable hours is about £53 per hour. Remember not every hour of the day is billable, so use realistic billable hours rather than total hours worked.
There is no single number — it depends on your working pattern. A common starting point is 5 days a week × 52 weeks = 260 working days, minus around 28 days holiday and roughly 30 further non-billable days for admin, sickness and finding work, which leaves about 200 billable days. Adjust the inputs to match how you actually work.
Yes. Your rate has to cover both the income you want to keep and the cost of running your business — software, equipment, insurance, pension and so on. Enter your annual business costs in the calculator so they are spread across your billable days rather than coming out of your take-home pay. This is a planning estimate, not tax or financial advice.
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