Free calculator

Hourly rate calculator

Your hourly rate is not a market price you look up — it is arithmetic. What you need to earn, plus what the business costs to run, divided by the hours you can actually bill, plus the margin you want on top.

Target income per yearYour own gross salary or drawings, including employer contributions.€Overheads per yearOffice, software, insurance, accountant, admin time — everything not billable.€Billable hours per weekHonestly. For most agencies and freelancers it is between 20 and 28.hWorking weeks per year52 minus holiday, public holidays and the weeks you are ill.Target marginWhat the business keeps on top of covering its costs.%

Required hourly rate

€100.00 / hour

Billable hours per year: 1,150 h
Costs to cover: €100,000
Break-even rate: €86.96 / hour
Rate with target margin: €100.00 / hour
Revenue at full utilisation: €115,000

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The number

The hours you cannot bill are the whole problem

A 40-hour week is not 40 billable hours. Pitching, admin, invoicing, internal meetings and the work you redo for free take a third to a half of it. Dividing your costs by 40 hours instead of 25 undercharges you by roughly 60%.

Rate = (target income + overheads) × (1 + margin) ÷ (billable hours × weeks)

Getting it right

Measure your billable hours for four weeks before you trust the number you assumed.
For a team, run this per person and take the weighted average, not one blended rate.
A daily rate is this number × the hours in your day, not × eight out of habit.

Utilisation calculator Hiring cost calculator Price increase calculator

Templates that go further

Project profitability

Booked hours against fixed payroll, project by project, without exporting the time tracker every Monday.

Project costing & marginWhat you quoted, what it cost, and the hourly rate you actually got.Retainer vs project revenueHow much of your payroll the recurring revenue covers — and how much rides on the next pitch.Profit & loss planRevenue down to net profit, month by month, in the order your accountant reads it.

Project profitability All Excel templates

Questions

Hourly rate calculator — What people ask about it

Why is my calculated rate higher than the market rate?

Usually because the market rate you have in mind comes from people who are either busier than you, cheaper to run, or quietly not covering their costs. The calculation tells you what you need; the market tells you what you can get. Where they differ, one of your inputs has to move.

Should I put my own salary in as gross or as drawings?

Whatever actually leaves the business for you, including social security. Understating your own cost is the most common reason an agency is busy and broke.

One number is an average. Your cash moves day by day.

Connect your accounting data and Foreqast keeps this calculation live — with every committed cost on the date it actually lands.

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