Easily work out how much you should be charging per hour as a freelancer with our freelance rate calculator.
With this hourly rate calculator you can work out the rate you need to charge to achieve your freelancer goals and cover your expenses.
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A freelance hourly rate is how much you charge your clients per hour of work. A lot of freelancers, contractors, and small businesses charge per hour for the services they perform.
Examples of freelancers that use hourly rates are consultants, accountants, virtual assistants, graphic designers, software developers, marketers, content creators and more.
Figure out your rate with the hourly rate calculator.
Many freelancers use hourly rates. It’s a good idea if you’re not sure how long it’s going to take to provide a service, for example consulting on a project.
Other pricing strategies include charging per project—usually you’d charge an hourly rate for any additional work—or charging a fixed price per service. For example, if you’re an accountant, you could charge a fixed price per tax return you submit for your clients.
Read more about how to set the selling price of a service.
Of course, in fact, it’s expected that your hourly rate will change as time goes on. That’s because your costs will increase naturally over time. However, make sure to inform clients about planned pricing increases well in advance. That’ll allow you to field any questions or concerns they may have, and help you build stronger client relationships.
Additionally, other factors can influence your rates: Oversaturation in the market or the appearance of a new competitor can force you to lower your prices. Similarly, if you do courses or get certification in your chosen field, it could justify increasing your rates at a faster rate than normal.
How much you can charge depends on what country you’re operating in, and what industry you’re operating in. It’s a good idea to ask people that you know, do some online research—for example in statistics databases—or even ask on Reddit forums.
How much you charge also depends on what kind of pricing strategy you’re going for.
See also: The ultimate guide to pricing strategies
Conta is a completely free invoicing software made for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses. With Conta, it takes 2 minutes to make an invoice with your hourly rate.
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Yes! Conta was made for freelancers and contractors. It’s free to use, which is great for freelancers that want to limit their costs. This means that you can send an unlimited amount of invoice for frees. The invoices include everything you need to get paid and look professional.
Yes, market demand will impact your rates, so will the rates of your competitors. If there is a lot of demand for your services, you can probably get away with increasing your rates.
If, on the other hand, there are many freelancers providing this service, you might need to try other pricing strategies to get paid.
See also: The ultimate guide to pricing strategies
Good question. The best way to figure out if you’re charging enough is to set up a budget to figure out your costs, then add your profit margin on top of that. If you know how much you ideally want to earn per year, you can use an hourly rate calculator to figure out the right rates for you.
See also: How to set your hourly rate as a freelancer
Once you’ve figured out your hourly rate, you can make an invoice in 2 minutes using the free invoicing software from Conta. Sign up with Google or enter your email and create a password. Once you log in, you’ll see the invoice creator, which guides you through the steps and lets you preview your invoice.
You can download the invoice as PDF or send to clients via email.
This is always a tough situation, but usually it works to have a call or meeting with the client to explain how you’ve arrived at your current rates. It’s a good idea to mention your years of experience, and to refer to previous successful work, ideally with testimonials from other clients. If you want to secure the client, you can consider offering a discount.
At the end of the day, it’s up to your client if they want to hire you or not. You have to make sure that you charge a price your comfortable with, and that reflects the value of your work.
Most clients won’t expect you to take on extra work for free, but once in a while you might find yourself in a situation where the client wants further adjustments or consultant hours without paying for it.
In such cases, it’s always a great idea to keep a professional tone. You can refer to your previous work history with the client, as well as your experience. Here’s an example of what you can say: “I really appreciate our working relationship. However I have to adhere to the terms in the contract/agreement, and out of respect to my other paying clients, I won’t be able to take on this additional work free of charge. I would love to discuss this further, so we can arrive at a solution that we’re both happy with.”
What are you waiting for?
Conta is a user-friendly billing solution tailored to the needs of freelancers. Spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on the work that matters.
This information has been provided for information purposes and should not be taken as legal advice. You should consult a professional advisor for advice directly related to your business.