Pricing calculator
What Should I Charge?
Stop guessing on pricing. Get a clear, research-backed hourly and project rate based on your income goals, business costs, and experience level.
1. Income Lever
⚡ Monthly Billable Capacity
Most freelance and consulting professionals overestimate billable time. Administrative overhead, networking, and business development take up ~30% of your workweek. Adjust this slider to find your realistic weekly billing capacity.
🎯 Take-Home Allocator:
Your desired monthly take-home salary ($4,500) requires $45.00/hr solely for personal savings.
💼 Cost Cover Allocator:
Your business expenses ($1,000/mo) require charging an additional $10.00/hr from clients just to break even.
Configure parameters
Hourly & Project Price Vectors
⚙️ Base Targets
This adjusts your base target rate modifier
📈 Margins & Overhead
Grounds baseline benchmarks in standard market documentation
Itemized Business Expenditures
💼 Cost of Doing Business (CODB) Profile
Adjust your custom professional and operating outlays. Hitting your take-home goals requires billing clients for these overheads.
Self-employment taxes, state/federal income estimates, local business license.
Adobe, Figma, Workspace, GitHub, Zoom, CRM, Slack, ChatGPT, hosting templates.
Health insurance premium, general liability, professional indemnity/legal buffers.
Pension, Roth IRA or Solo 401(k), paid vacation cushion, rainy day reserves.
Coworking lease, home office deduction utility share, fiber lines, mailing address.
Professional accountant, domain names, cold ads, course updates, networking events.
Recommended hourly rate
$63/hr
Factoring and compounding taxes, loaded software tools, benefits buffers, and target operating margin.
Target flat project price
$2,525
Perfect flat price to pitch for this scope of work, protecting you against efficiency penalties.
Safety threshold floor
$55/hr
Absolute operating floor. Bidding any client offers below this threshold introduces net deficit risk.
Yield Profile based on Estimated Capacity
How it works
- 1. Income goal: How much do you want to take home monthly?
- 2. Overhead: Account for taxes, software, and business costs.
- 3. Project scope: How many hours per typical project?
- 4. Experience: Let your level guide your multiplier.
💡 Rate Optimization & Tip
Default values: Pre-loaded configurations target a sustainable monthly take-home income of $5,000, factoring in a standard 20% operational overhead, a gross 20% profit margin, and a baseline project scope of 50 billable hours.
Value-Based Project Anchoring: Do not pitch base hourly rates to high-ticket clients. Instead, present three premium fixed options anchored around business outcomes (metrics like *time saved*, *system efficiency*, or *direct revenue potential*). This shifts the buyer conversation from "buying your time" to "investing in results."
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