I built a freelance rate calculator because I was tired of undercharging

Prose Puzzle — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 03:44:17 +0000

Most freelance rate calculators are the same: take your salary, divide by 2,080 hours, done. That number is wrong and it's why so many of us undercharge.

It ignores taxes (~30%), unpaid hours (admin, sales, invoicing), expenses (software, insurance, gear), vacation, and profit margin. When you actually account for all of that, your real rate is usually 40-60% higher than the naive calculation.

So I built Freelance Calc — a free calculator that shows you what an hour of your time actually costs.

What makes it different
Loss Calculator — This is the feature that gets people. Enter your current rate and it shows you exactly how much you're leaving on the table annually. Seeing "$52,000/year in lost revenue" hits different than "you should charge more."

1,000+ job presets — Pre-filled market rates for specific roles (Agency Designer, Backend Developer, UX Researcher, etc.) across 4 experience levels. No more googling "what do freelance developers charge."

Full breakdown — See exactly where your money goes: salary, taxes, expenses, profit margin. All visualized so you can explain your rate to clients with confidence.

Multi-currency — USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY. Not everyone freelances in dollars.

Shareable links — Generate a URL with your exact inputs pre-filled. Useful for sharing with a partner, accountant, or freelance friends.

Privacy-first
Everything runs in your browser. No accounts, no data collection, no backend. Your financial info never leaves your device.

Tech stack
React + TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS. Hosted on Vercel. It's a PWA so you can install it on your phone and use it offline. ~241 KB gzipped.

513 tests passing, WCAG 2.1 AA accessible, keyboard shortcuts for power users.

Free forever
No ads, no freemium upsell. There's an optional tip jar if you find it useful, but the full tool is free with no strings attached.

Try it: freelancecalc.tech

If you freelance or know someone who does, I'd love to hear if the numbers surprise you. They surprised me.

DEV Community: Prose Puzzle

I built a freelance rate calculator because I was tired of undercharging