What should I charge?
Enter the income you want to keep, your costs and your time. Ratecard works out your hourly and day rate.
For freelancers and independent consultants in any field, anywhere. Everything is worked out in this browser.
Recommended rate, with buffer
per day. Below this you miss your take-home.
billable hours a year
Fix the marked field to update the rates.
Where each hour you bill goes
Show as a table
| Part | Per hour | Per year | Share |
|---|
The math, with your numbers
These are the exact steps the calculator runs. Change a number above and they update.
Turn your rate into a quote
List the work in hours or days. Leave a rate empty to use your recommended rate. The preview is what your client sees.
Saved quotes, your logo and more currencies come with Pro, $5.99 a month. Opens Q1 2027.
How it works
Start from the money you want to keep and work back to a rate.
Say what you want to keep
Enter your yearly take-home and your tax rate. Ratecard adds the tax back to find the profit you need.
Add your costs and time
List what the business pays for in a year. Set your weeks off, hours and how much of your time you can bill.
Quote the work
Put hours or days next to each task. Download the quote as a file you can send or print.
Pricing
The calculator and the quote builder are free. Pro adds what you need when you send many quotes.
Free
Everything on this page
- Minimum and recommended hourly and day rates
- Monthly target and the breakdown chart
- Quote builder with HTML download, in English or Spanish
- Runs in your browser, no account
Pro
For freelancers who quote often
- Saved quotes you can reopen and copy
- Your logo on every quote
- Multiple currencies, one per client
Questions
Short answers.
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. Ratecard does arithmetic with the numbers you enter. It does not know the tax rules in your country. Check your tax rate with a local accountant.
How do I pick a tax rate?
Take the total income tax and social charges you paid last year and divide by your profit for that year. If this is your first year, ask an accountant for an estimate.
Why is billable time less than 100%?
You spend part of each week finding clients, sending invoices and answering email. Nobody pays for those hours, so the billed hours have to cover them.
What is the buffer for?
The minimum rate only works if every week goes to plan. The buffer is extra profit on top, before tax, for slow months, late payers and saving.
Why is the recommended rate a round number?
It is rounded up to the next whole unit of your currency, so it is easy to quote and never below your target. The day rate is that hourly rate times your hours a day.
Does my data leave my computer?
No. All the math runs in this page. Ratecard stores only your theme and language choice in this browser.
Can I use any currency?
Yes. Type a 3-letter code such as USD, EUR, MXN or CRC. One quote uses one currency. Separate currencies per client come with Pro.
How do I send the quote?
Download it as an HTML file. Open it in any browser to print it or save it as a PDF, then send it to your client. You can also copy it as text into an email.