Salary & income · 2 min
Freelancers price forwards — a number that sounds fair — and go broke backwards. This instrument works the other way: start from the net income you actually want, add tax, overheads and a buffer, divide by the days clients will genuinely buy, and the rate falls out. It is nearly always higher than the fair-sounding number.
After tax, after the business — what lands in your personal account across the year.
Your effective all-in rate as a freelancer, wherever you're registered. Include everything a euro of revenue loses on the way to you.
Software, hardware, insurance, accounting, co-working, the conference. What running you costs.
The calendar minus weekends, holidays and honest leave.
Sales, admin, proposals, the empty weeks between projects. Seasoned solo operators bill 50–65% of available days; almost nobody bills 80.
For the client who pays late and the quarter that doesn't come. A business without a buffer is a job without security.
Everything is calculated in your browser as you type. Nothing you enter is sent or stored, and no account is needed.
Priced like a business.
$1,985 / day
the rate your target income actually requires
| Revenue the year must produce | — |
| Billable days at your utilisation | — |
| The day rate | — |
| The hourly equivalent (8 h day) | — |
| What a fair-sounding rate would leave you | — |
| If clients buy | Billable days | Required day rate |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
| — | — | — |
| — | — | — |
Utilisation is where freelance pricing dies. Every unsold day raises the required rate on the sold ones — and the first year's utilisation is always worse than the plan.
The tax line must include everything: income tax, social charges, the local business levy nobody mentions. A five-point miss here is a five-point pay cut you gave yourself.
This is your floor, not your price. If the market pays more for your work, charge the market; the instrument only tells you the number below which you are subsidising your clients.
Everything below is calculated from your inputs. Nothing is fetched, nothing is looked up.
revenue = (net_target + overheads) / (1 − tax) × (1 + buffer)
billable = available_days × utilisation
day_rate = revenue / billable
The gauge reads your utilisation assumption against the house planning line of 60% — the level a well-run solo practice sustains. Assume more and the instrument warns you: the rate looks pleasingly low because the plan is quietly optimistic.
Limitations. Tax as a flat effective rate is a simplification — progressive systems and deductible overheads interact; a real accountant sharpens the figure. Team practices with subcontractors need margin math this instrument doesn't do.