Consulting rate calculator
Start from the income you want. Get the hourly rate you need to charge to earn it.
How to use it
The tool has two tabs.
What should I charge?
- Enter the take-home pay you want in a year.
- Add your yearly business costs: software, insurance, equipment, an accountant.
- Set the share you put aside for tax.
- Enter your hours a week, weeks off, and the share of hours you can bill.
- Read the rate. Press Show the math to see each step.
What did I really earn? Enter what a client paid and every hour the project took: the work, the calls, the revisions and the admin. See your real hourly rate.
Why the billable share matters most
You will not bill every hour you work. Sales calls, proposals, invoices and learning all take time. Most consultants bill 50% to 70% of their hours.
Here is the difference it makes. With a $102,000 goal and 25% tax, you need $136,000 before tax. Working 40 hours for 46 weeks:
- At 60% billable: 1,104 hours, so $123 an hour.
- At 80% billable: 1,472 hours, so $92 an hour.
Guess too high and you will charge too little.
The real-rate check
A $6,000 project sounds like $150 an hour if the work took 40 hours. Add 8 hours of calls, 10 of revisions and 4 of admin, and it is really $97 an hour. The gap shows where to tighten: fewer revision rounds, a clearer brief, a fixed number of calls.
Where M-Tracker fits
M-Tracker times every task, so the real-rate check uses real numbers. It also catches work that would come back before the client sees it, which cuts the revision hours that eat your rate. No screenshots and no activity tracking.
Try M-Tracker free14-day trial. No credit card. No employee surveillance.
Questions people ask
Should I charge hourly or by project?
Both work. Use this hourly rate as your floor, then price projects above it.
What tax rate should I use?
It depends on where you live. Ask an accountant. 25% to 30% is a common starting point in the US for self-employed people.
Is anything stored?
No. The math runs in your browser.
Work you can trust, without redoing it.
Your team gets feedback before work reaches you, or your client.
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