UK freelance pricing

Freelance hourly rate calculator UK

Calculate a sustainable freelance hourly rate from income goals, expenses and realistic billable hours. No signup or spreadsheet needed.

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Quick example

Target income: £45,000. Expenses: £4,800. Billable hours: 1,050. Required hourly rate: about £47 before tax planning.

Best for smaller pieces of work.
Hourly pricing fits support, advisory calls, maintenance, and open-ended tasks.
Billable hours are not working hours.
Admin, sales, marketing, accounts, and learning time still need to be paid for somewhere.
Use day rates for full-day bookings.
If clients buy your attention for a day, a day-rate model is usually cleaner.

The hourly rate formula

Start with the annual income you want to take from the business, add business costs, then divide by realistic billable hours. If you work 37.5 hours per week, that does not mean you can bill 1,950 hours per year. A freelancer with admin, sales calls, proposals, holidays, sick days, and quiet weeks may have 900 to 1,250 billable hours. The smaller that number is, the higher the hourly rate needs to be.

For example, £45,000 target income plus £4,800 expenses equals £49,800 before tax planning. Divided by 1,050 billable hours, that is around £47 per hour. If you can only bill 800 hours, the same target rises to about £62 per hour.

When hourly pricing works

Hourly rates are useful when scope is uncertain, when the client needs small blocks of help, or when you are providing support that changes week by week. They are weaker for outcome-based consulting, fixed-scope builds, and urgent work where the client value is much higher than the time involved. In those cases, use the hourly rate as an internal floor, then quote the project or day rate that matches the risk.

Use this with the main calculator

The homepage calculator lets you test different utilisation levels quickly. If the hourly rate looks too high, do not just cut the quote. First check whether your billable-hours assumption is too pessimistic, whether your costs are unusually high, or whether you need higher-value clients. For full-day consulting, compare with the UK freelance day rate calculator.

Main rate calculatorContractor day rateDay rate vs hourly rate

FAQ

Should I show clients my hourly rate? Sometimes. It is fine for support or advisory work, but fixed-fee projects often sell better when priced around the outcome.

Is a lower hourly rate okay for retainers? Only if the retainer gives predictable work, low admin, and clear boundaries.

Should I include VAT? Be clear whether your quote is plus VAT or inclusive of VAT. The calculator is for commercial planning, not tax advice.