Free tool
Freelance rate calculator
Stop pricing off a forum number. Work backwards from the life you want: your target take-home, your real costs, the days you can actually bill, and tax. Out comes the day rate that funds it.
How this works (and why it's higher than a salary)
The number most freelancers pick is too low because it ignores the gap between revenue and take-home. As a solo you carry the full tax and social load, you have no paid holiday or sick leave, and a real share of your week goes to admin, sales and marketing that no client pays for. This calculator reverses that: it grosses your target income up for tax, adds your costs, and divides only by the days you can actually bill.
It's the same backwards logic as the wider economics of a one-person business — work out the number you need, then price to it. The full method, including how few customers you actually need, is in the mathematics of a solo business.
One EU note: the rate is what you charge; whether you add VAT on top depends on your country and threshold — see EU VAT & OSS explained, and keep the money clean with a proper invoicing setup and a business account.
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