Freelance Rate Calculator for Different Currencies
General information, not advice. This guide explains how things usually work. Fees, rules and products change and depend on your country and situation, so check the provider's or authority's own page before you act. See our disclaimer.
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Freelance rate calculator
Start from what you want to keep, add tax, costs and payment fees, and get the hourly and day rate you need in each currency you quote in.
| Client currency | 1 unit = ? of your currency | Hourly rate | Day rate (8h) | Monthly at full load |
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Hourly rate = (net income ÷ (1 − tax rate) + business costs) ÷ billable hours ÷ (1 − fees). Prices in other currencies add the buffer. Example exchange rates are illustrative; use the current mid-market rate.
Pricing work for clients abroad by copying what other freelancers charge, or by converting your local rate at today’s exchange rate, often leaves money on the table. A sustainable rate starts from what you need to keep, adds tax and the cost of running your business, divides by the hours you can really bill and then accounts for payment fees and currency risk. The calculator above does that in every currency you quote in.
How this calculator works
A freelance rate is not a guess. It starts from the money you want to keep, adds the tax you will owe and the costs of running your business, and divides by the hours you can realistically bill. This tool then adds an allowance for payment and conversion fees and converts the result into the currencies your clients pay in, with a small buffer for exchange rate moves. It runs entirely in your browser and does not store or send what you enter.
- Enter your net income goal, tax estimate and business costs.
- Enter the hours you can bill each week and the weeks you work.
- Add the currencies you quote in and their exchange rates.
- Read the hourly rate, the day rate and the monthly equivalent for each currency.
If you want to protect what you earn from exchange rate swings, read how to protect your savings from currency swings.
Worked example: a designer who wants to keep 40,000 euros a year
- Net income goal: 40,000 EUR. With an estimated 30% for tax and contributions, gross income before costs must be 40,000 ÷ 0.70 = about 57,143 EUR.
- Business costs of 4,000 EUR bring the total to about 61,143 EUR.
- 25 billable hours a week for 44 weeks gives 1,100 billable hours a year.
- 61,143 ÷ 1,100 = 55.58 EUR an hour, and a 2% allowance for payment and conversion fees raises it to about 56.70 EUR an hour.
- Quoting a US client with 1 USD = 0.92 EUR and a 3% buffer: 56.70 ÷ 0.92 × 1.03 = about 63.50 USD an hour, or roughly 508 USD a day.
The tax rate here is a placeholder. Use an estimate for the country where you are tax resident and check it with an advisor.
Frequently asked questions
Why divide by billable hours and not total hours?
Admin, sales, emails and learning are unpaid time. Using only the hours you can really bill gives a more realistic rate.
What tax rate should I use?
Your own estimate of tax and social contributions in the country where you are tax resident. The default is a placeholder.
What does the exchange rate buffer do?
It raises the price in other currencies slightly, so a small fall in their value against your currency does not cut your income.
Are the results exact?
No. They depend on the numbers you enter and are meant as a starting point. Check them against what clients will pay and what the market allows. This tool is for education, not financial or tax advice.
Next steps
Learn how to set your freelance rate for international clients, check whether digital nomads pay taxes, avoid hidden currency conversion fees or see the real cost of a transfer with our international transfer fee calculator.
Sources and further reading
Official pages and primary sources where you can check the rules, fees and rates discussed in this guide. They are updated by their publishers, so check them for the current figures before you decide.
- Euro foreign exchange reference rates (European Central Bank)
- Exchange rates database (Bank of England)
- Income taxes abroad (Your Europe (European Union))
