Are you asking how much is the right amount to charge your clients for freelance work? Worried that you might be charging too little or too much for your hourly rate? The Freelance Rate Calculator helps you determine your hourly rate by taking into account a commensurate salary at a job of equal skill and pay, and what the true cost to an employer would be.
For example, if you are providing services to a company that would normally pay $52,000 as base salary for your position, the calculator takes this, along with other benefits, to calculate what your true cost to an employer would be, in-house. Hover over the “i” for more information on what to do in each field. This will give you the “minimum” output, which is a good lowest point for your rate.
The second section takes into considers that A) you are providing a convenience by not being in-house and B) You are charging for active work time only C) You are technically a business and need to generate a profit after paying yourself and D) If a company was selling your time, they would add in their own overheads and profit, and charge more for YOUR work. The sliders help you adjust based on these factors.
How to Interpret the results:
The number on the left is a great rate to charge a client that has reached out to you for work; for example, an e-commerce firm “Jimmy’s Jeans” has asked you to create some illustrations or graphic design content for them, which they will publish without any further work by their internal team. In other words, they’ve hired you much like they would hire a design agency.
Meanwhile, the number on the right is a great rate if an agency is hiring you to augment their team to do work for Jimmy. Remember, they’ll take your rate and charge their own profit and overhead to THEIR client. This number is what their own internal graphic design team is costing them per hour. KEEP IN MIND: the “Minimum” rate doesn’t take into account the “Convenience Premium” “Net Profit Surplus” or “Upcharge Premium”… which means if you think your contract employer should pay for these, then find a rate somewhere between the high and low numbers you see above.
Here’s some great TED content about building up your freelance career:
SOME GREAT BOOKS ON THE TOPIC AT AMAZON.COM
We’re always open to ideas on how to make our calculators better: if you think we got something wrong, or could do better with a calculator, use the form below to let us know.