// septim labs · free tool · freelance rate calculator

What you actually need to charge, not salary divided by 2080.

Most free calculators ignore self-employment tax, health insurance, unpaid sick days, and the fact that you won't bill 40 hours a week. This one accounts for all of it.

nothing leaves your browser  ·  no account  ·  no email

// your numbers · fill in what applies
What lands in your bank account after taxes — not gross salary.
Used for state income tax rate.
Affects your federal tax brackets.
What you pay out of pocket — not covered by an employer.
Software, equipment, internet, phone, co-working, professional fees.
Solo 401k / SEP-IRA contribution as % of gross income.
Not 40. Account for admin, sales, revisions, waiting on clients, and context-switching. Most freelancers bill 20–28 hours on a 40-hour week.
25 hrs/wk
Include holidays, sick days, slow weeks, and time between clients.
4 weeks
// minimum hourly rate to hit your target take-home
$0
// how we got there · the full math
Billable hours per year
Required gross revenuebefore taxes, before expenses
Self-employment tax15.3% on first $168,600; 2.9% above (2024 SS wage base)
Federal income tax
State income tax
Health insurance
Business expenses
Retirement set-aside
Your annual take-home
// optional · compare to your current rate
I currently charge
$ /hr
// median freelance rates by category · bonsai / toptal 2024 data
Category Low Median High
Graphic / Visual Designer$35$65$150
Web / UI Designer$50$85$200
Copywriter / Content Writer$30$60$150
Web Developer (frontend)$50$95$200
Web Developer (full-stack)$65$120$250
Virtual Assistant (general)$20$35$75
Bookkeeper / Accountant$35$65$120
Photographer$50$100$300
Video Editor$40$75$175
Marketing / Social Media$35$70$150
Project Manager$55$95$200
Consultant (strategy)$75$150$400
// why most calculators are wrong

The $27.88 trap — and how real math differs.

A $58,000 salary divided by 2,080 hours is $27.88. That number is what most free freelance calculators give you. It ignores four things that will quietly ruin you:

Self-employment tax. As a W-2 employee, your employer pays half of Social Security and Medicare. As a freelancer, you pay both halves — 15.3% on the first $168,600 of net income. That's $8,600/year on a $56k freelance income before income tax even starts.

True billable hours. You will not bill 40 hours a week. Admin, invoicing, proposals, chasing late payments, revisions, and dry spells will consume 30–50% of your working time. If you honestly bill 25 hours on a 40-hour week, your year has 1,200 billable hours — not 2,080.

Benefits you now pay yourself. Health insurance, a retirement contribution, and a buffer for sick days come out of gross revenue — not as a pre-tax deduction an employer handles for you.

Business expenses. Software, equipment, professional memberships, and a home office add up. These come out before take-home, even if they're tax-deductible.

// nothing leaves your browser

All calculations run locally in the page. No numbers are transmitted anywhere. We can't see what you enter even if we wanted to. Close the tab and it's gone.

// once you've set the rate, the next leak is the tool stack

Most freelancers paying themselves correctly are also overpaying $200–$500/month on dev/SaaS subscriptions they barely use. Septim Audit reviews your entire stack — subscriptions, recurring charges, redundant tools — and returns a written report with cancellation lines and replacements. $99 once, no monthly. Most clients recover the fee in the first month.

Septim Audit — $99 →
Built by Septim Labs — we ship pay-once software for freelancers and small businesses.