Freelance Rate Calculator

Knowledge Base

Why "Billable Days" Is the Number That Matters

Most new freelancers price based on 260 working days a year and end up dramatically underpriced, in reality, admin, marketing, client-finding, revisions, and gaps between bookings eat a large share of the calendar. Pricing against your realistic billable days (often 100-150) rather than total working days is the single biggest fix for freelance underpricing.

Overhead Isn't Optional

Software subscriptions, hardware replacement, insurance, and tax set-asides are real costs of running a freelance business, folding them into your day rate (rather than treating your day rate as pure take-home pay) is what separates a sustainable freelance rate from one that quietly loses money.

When to Apply Rush and Usage Multipliers

Rush rates compensate for disrupted schedules and lost opportunity cost from short-notice work: apply them consistently rather than case-by-case, so clients learn to expect and plan around them. Usage/licensing uplift applies when a client wants broader rights than a single standard use (e.g. paid ads vs. organic social).

FAQ

Q: Should I always quote a day rate instead of an hourly rate?
A: Day rates are generally better for editing/videography work. They don't penalise you for working efficiently, and they match how most client budgets are structured.

Q: How do I know if my rate is competitive?
A: This calculator gives you the rate you need to hit your income goals, cross-check it against local market rates for your experience level and region before finalising, since "sustainable for you" and "competitive in your market" are two different checks.

Worked examples: day rates from target income

What you have to charge to reach a given income, at 20 percent overhead. Overhead covers the costs of operating that a salary would have hidden: equipment, software, insurance, accounting, pension.

Billable days is the number people get wrong. A year holds about 250 working days, but selling, invoicing, admin, training and unpaid gaps consume a large share. Assuming 180 billable days when you actually deliver 120 leaves you a third short at the end of the year, with no way to recover it.

Vocabulary

Day rate. What you charge for one working day. Derived from the income you need and the days you can realistically sell, not from what competitors advertise.

Billable days. Days you can actually invoice. Everything else, including quoting, invoicing, marketing, learning and gaps between jobs, is unpaid and has to be covered by the days you do sell.

Overhead. The running costs of the business, expressed here as a percentage added to your target income. Equipment, software subscriptions, insurance, accountancy and pension all sit here, and a salaried job would have absorbed them for you.

Usage or licence fee. A charge for how the client uses the work rather than for the time spent making it. A film used in a national campaign for three years is worth more than the same film shown once internally, regardless of shoot length.