Hourly rate calculator for freelancers - with vacation, sick days, and overhead

The hourly rate you need is set by target income, working days, overhead, a profit buffer, and your billable utilisation. For a €60,000 target at DACH-typical assumptions (220 days, 75 % utilisation, 30 % overhead), the arithmetic gives roughly €59 per hour; adding a 15 % profit buffer on top brings it to about €68. If you plan more cautiously with lower utilisation or a larger reserve, the number quickly moves closer to €85. The calculator below works in both directions: feed it a target income to solve for the rate, or feed it an existing rate to see the implied annual income.

How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?

In percent mode the tool computes target income × (1 + overhead) × (1 + profit buffer), then divides by billable annual hours. Or the other way round: you already charge €85 an hour and want to know what annual income that implies at your current utilisation. The calculator above supports both directions.

1. Set your target income. Gross owner's salary before tax. The €60,000 default is a reference point, not a ceiling.
2. Add overhead. Health insurance, pension, software, tax advisor, office, training. 25 % to 40 % of target income is a common starting heuristic for solo freelancers; the precise number comes from your own bookkeeping.
3. Add a profit buffer. 10 to 20 % for reserves and slow months, applied multiplicatively on top of target income plus overhead.
4. Compute billable hours. Working days × hours × utilisation. 220 × 8 × 75 % gives 1,320 billable hours and 440 non-billable.
5. Divide. Gross revenue target divided by billable hours is your hourly rate.

The calculator above runs the same arithmetic live, so you can test scenarios without touching a spreadsheet. Monthly figures use a planning convention of 21.67 working days (260 weekdays ÷ 12 months; the exact calendar arithmetic gives 261 weekdays). Your input above overrides this assumption whenever it matters.

What overhead costs belong in the hourly rate?

The honest list: health insurance, pension, tax advisor, accounting software, office or coworking, hardware depreciation, training, and acquisition costs like a website or LinkedIn Premium. 25 % to 40 % of target income is a typical starting range for solo freelancers; agencies run higher. The 30 % in the calculator is a rough anchor, not your precise number.

The calculator lets you switch between a percentage and a fixed euro amount per year: if you know your overhead is exactly €18,000 from last year's books, skip the percentage detour. Profit buffer works the same way.

How many working days should I plan for per year?

220 working days is a conservative planning default for a solo freelancer with a normal vacation allowance and a sick-day buffer. Public holidays, vacation patterns, and illness buffers differ meaningfully across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; 220 is a defensible starting point, not a uniform DACH standard. 365 days minus 104 weekends, public holidays, vacation, and an illness buffer lands roughly there. Higher numbers look tempting on paper and tend to collapse on contact with reality.

The 220 breaks down like this: 365 days minus 104 weekends equals 261 weekdays. Subtract public holidays, 25 vacation days as a common planning assumption, and about 6 sick days as your own cautious buffer. Official sick-leave statistics are based on employees, so they do not map cleanly to solo freelancers. Result: roughly 220. As a self-employed freelancer, you pick your own vacation, but every day off gets paid for through the hourly rate.

If you take less vacation, you climb to 225 or 230. If you have kids, a chronic condition, or side commitments, you land closer to 200. The calculator makes it easy to test: change the number and the rate updates.

What is a realistic billable utilisation rate for freelancers?

Of your 1,760 theoretical annual hours (220 × 8), 60 % to 80 % is a conservative planning range for billable utilisation. The freelancermap Freelancer-Kompass 2026 reports average non-billable share around 12 %, which would imply higher utilisation; for a cautious calculation, 60 % to 80 % stays defensible. The remaining 350-700 hours are non-billable time: acquisition, proposals, accounting, website upkeep, unbilled client calls, training. At 75 % utilisation you have 1,320 billable hours; at 60 %, only 1,056.

Typical non-billable work for a solo freelancer with roughly a year of experience:

• Acquisition and proposals: 5-10 %. First calls, scoping, proposals, follow-ups.
• Accounting and admin: 3-5 %. Invoicing, expenses, tax advisor, late-payment chasing.
• Internal work: 5-10 %. Website, LinkedIn, portfolio, tool setup.
• Training and research: 5-10 %. Conferences, courses, reading.
• Unbilled client contact: 2-5 %. Advisory calls, check-ins, feedback rounds.

Higher utilisation thins the pipeline for the next project; lower utilisation eats into the rate. The 75 % default sits in the middle.

What is a fair hourly rate for freelancers in Germany?

In the DACH B2B market, entry-level freelancers charge €45 to €65 per hour, mid-level specialists €70 to €100, experienced domain experts €100 to €150, top strategists from €150 upwards. These ranges cover IT, design, marketing, and consulting. Trades and medical advisory move on different curves.

These ranges align with market observations like the freelancermap Freelancer-Kompass 2026 and Gulp/Hays market reports, and roughly match what peers quote on the common platforms. They are not an official labour statistic. Cross-check with three peers at your level.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do vacation and sick days cost in my hourly rate?

The 220 working days in the calculator already price vacation and illness in: 365 days minus 25 vacation days and about 6 sick days, plus weekends and public holidays. Planning 30 instead of 25 vacation days adds roughly €1.60 to the hourly rate at a €60,000 target - five extra days off leave the billable base five days shorter. Ignoring illness and planning for 250 days produces a revenue gap later instead of a cash buffer.

Should I calculate my hourly rate gross or net?

Always gross. The rate you quote a client is the pre-tax, pre-VAT amount - your invoice line before VAT. What lands in your personal account after tax and social contributions depends heavily on income level, health insurance, and pension setup: at lower incomes 55 % to 65 % of revenue is realistic; at higher solo revenue closer to 44 % to 55 %. If you calculate against a net feeling ("I want €3,500 a month"), you will underestimate the rate by 30 % to 40 %. The calculator above uses gross target income, the owner's salary before income tax.

How much of my hourly rate do I actually take home?

It depends on your profile (health insurance choice, pension setup, Gewerbesteuer vs freelancer status, family allowances). Worked example: at an €85/hour rate with 1,320 billable hours, annual revenue is about €112,000. After the 30 % overhead already priced in and average income tax, roughly €55,000 to €70,000 net remains, with real outcomes scattered well above or below that band. The Germany net salary calculator in self-employed mode shows the breakdown across income tax and social contributions separately.

Am I truly self-employed or bogus self-employed?

A single-customer arrangement with fixed hours, directive authority, and no own market presence shows risk indicators that push a DRV status ruling toward "dependent employment". The DRV still decides on the overall picture of contract plus actual practice. The consequences hit the client primarily: social-insurance contributions can be reclaimed for several past years, and much longer if contributions were deliberately withheld. The German freelancer status check tests the profile against DRV criteria and shows concretely which contract clauses shift the picture.