Enter your take-home goal, expenses and real billable hours to get a minimum hourly rate, a day rate and fixed project quotes. Everything runs in your browser.
Your numbers
| Gross to bill / yr | – |
| Gross to bill / mo | – |
| Business expenses | – |
| Tax set-aside | – |
| Take-home + buffer | – |
Project quote estimator
Hourly is your floor. Clients buy fixed outcomes — hours × specialist rate × rush + extra revisions.
Know your floor before you quote. Take-home goal, real expenses, tax and actual billable hours — then a fixed project price with rush fees. No account, nothing uploaded.
Hourly floor + day rate
Grossed up for tax, expenses, profit buffer and platform fees — divided by the hours you actually bill, not 40.
Fixed quotes that hold
Logo, brand identity, landing page, full website, social pack, packaging, pitch deck — hours × specialist rate, sanity-checked.
Rush fees, stated up front
Same-week +15%, 72-hour +30%, 48-hour +50%, same-day +100%. Quoted as a separate line, never absorbed.
2026 benchmarks by level
Entry $25–$50 through Expert $135–$225, with Brand 1.1×, Packaging 1.25×, UI/UX 1.35×, Motion 1.45× multipliers.
The trade-off, stated plainly. Inputs save in your own browser so a reload keeps them — but switching devices starts fresh, so copy your rate first. These are planning benchmarks from 2026 surveys, not tax or legal advice; confirm your tax rate with an accountant.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?
(Take-home goal + annual expenses) ÷ (1 − tax rate) × (1 + buffer) ÷ billable hours ÷ (1 − platform fee). Example: ($60,000 + $6,000) ÷ 0.75 × 1.1 ÷ 1,152 ≈ $84/hr.
Should I charge hourly or per project?
Use hourly internally as your floor and quote fixed externally. Fixed rewards speed and reads better to clients; hourly fits open-ended production work. Check every fixed quote: fee ÷ max hours must stay above your floor.
How many billable hours is realistic?
60% is the standard — 40h of work is roughly 24h billable. The rest is pitching, admin, invoicing and learning. Retainer designers reach 70%; new freelancers often sit at 40–50%.
How do platform or marketplace fees work?
Marketplaces typically take 0–20% per contract. Set platform fee to 10% to be safe if you use them; direct clients are 0%. Always gross up: list rate = needed rate ÷ (1 − fee).
How much does a logo cost in 2026?
Mid-level simple logo $500–$1,500 with 2 revisions; senior $1,500–$5,000. Full identity $2,500–$8,000 mid-level. Use the project estimator above with your own rate.
Is anything uploaded or saved?
No. Everything runs in your browser, and inputs persist only in your own browser storage so the form survives a reload. Nothing is sent to our servers.
Related tools
Turn the quote into cash with the invoice generator — same philosophy, no sign-up. Systematise the type with the design system generator, or browse cross-discipline workflow tools.