See what you actually take home from a freelance project after fees, expenses, and time.
$0.00
$0.00/hr
Disclaimer: This calculator provides estimates only and does not constitute tax or financial advice. Estimated tax is calculated as a simple percentage of taxable income (gross revenue minus deductible expenses) for estimation purposes only.
When quoting a project, the top-line number often looks great. But as a freelancer, you aren't an employee - you are a business. This means you absorb costs that quickly eat into your profit. Our calculator breaks it down in six simple steps:
To understand the difference between gross revenue and actual profit, let's look at a realistic scenario. Imagine a freelancer lands a $1,500 website design project on a popular freelance platform. They estimate the project will take them 25 hours to complete.
After subtracting the $150 platform fee, the $27 payment fee, the $80 in expenses, and the $310.75 in taxes, the actual take-home profit is $932.25.
While the project was sold for $1,500 at an assumed rate of $60/hour ($1,500 / 25 hours), the effective hourly rate-the amount the freelancer actually gets to keep-is only $37.29 per hour ($932.25 / 25 hours).
This is why calculating project profit is critical. If your minimum living expenses require you to earn $50 an hour, a $1,500 project might look sufficient at first glance, but you would actually be operating at a loss once the hidden costs are factored in.
Freelancers notoriously underestimate how much time a project actually takes. While you might only spend 15 hours designing, writing, or coding, you must also account for emails, client calls, writing proposals, onboarding, project management, and final handoffs. These administrative tasks are non-billable hours that still consume your time.
For example, if you add just 5 hours of admin and communication time to a 20-hour project, your total time investment becomes 25 hours. This mathematically reduces your effective hourly rate by 20%, even though the core deliverables haven't changed. Always estimate and include administrative time in your project quotes.
To ensure you hit your target income, you must quote with a "buffer" that absorbs platform fees, payment processing, taxes, and unexpected minor expenses. You can use this calculator to reverse-engineer your quotes.
For instance, if your goal is to take home $1,000 for a project, quoting exactly $1,000 means you will likely only keep around $650 after a 20% platform fee and a 15% estimated tax deduction. Instead, you need to quote closer to $1,475. This allows the platform and taxes to take their cut, leaving you with your desired $1,000. (Note: Your exact buffer will depend on your specific overhead, local tax laws, and business structure.)
Scope creep happens when a client asks for "just one more small change" outside the original agreement. Doing unpaid extra work is mathematically disastrous for your profit margins.
If your take-home profit is $900 on a 20-hour project, your effective rate is $45/hr. If you spend 5 unpaid hours doing extra revisions, your project time jumps to 25 hours. Your profit is still $900, but your effective rate instantly drops to $36/hr. To protect your profitability, use the Project Profit Calculator to determine your true rate, track your hours carefully, and always charge appropriately for work that falls outside the agreed scope.
