Free tool, no account needed
Consulting rate calculator: the hourly rate that covers your income, your costs and the hours you can't bill
Put in the income you want, your costs and the hours you can really bill. You get an hourly and a day rate, with the sum shown.
The year you want, then the rate
There are no averages built in. Every number is yours.
- 01Put in the income you want before tax, and what the business costs a year: software, your phone, travel, your accountant.
- 02Put in the weeks you'll work and the hours a week you can bill. Leave out admin, selling and holidays.
- 03Add how long a client stays and the hours they take, to see the clients and the discovery calls it needs.
How the sum works
The sum sits under the result, filled in with your numbers.
Hourly rate = (income you want + costs) divided by (weeks you work x hours you bill a week).
S$110,000 plus S$10,000 of costs, over 48 weeks of 25 billable hours, is S$120,000 over 1,200 hours: S$100 an hour.
Day rate = hourly rate x 8 hours, so S$800.
At 10 hours a client a month and 6 months each, that's 10 clients at a time and 20 new ones a year. At 4 discovery calls a client, 80 calls, about 2 a week.
The hours most people get wrong
The rate goes wrong when the billable hours are too high.
Count only hours a client pays for. Proposals, billing, travel and learning aren't billable.
Plan for weeks off: public holidays, leave, a slow December. 48 weeks is a starting point, not a rule.
Look at last month. If you billed 15 hours a week, don't plan on 30.
Put every cost in. A rate that only covers your income leaves nothing for the business.
When to work it out again
Run it whenever one of the inputs moves.
- 01Before you send your next proposal
- 02When a client asks for a discount
- 03At the start of each year
- 04When your costs go up
Keep the proposals and the follow-ups
Palby CRM, which we make, keeps each client with their stage, what they've paid and the next step.
- A pipeline from enquiry to discovery call, proposal sent and won
- A follow-up date on every proposal, and today's list of everyone due
- What each client has paid, totalled by month against your goal
- Notes and WhatsApp chats on each client's record
Questions
Add the income you want to your yearly costs, then divide by the hours you can really bill in a year. The calculator does it with your numbers and shows the sum.
Fewer than you work. Selling, admin and travel take time no client pays for, so count only the hours you'd put on an invoice, from a recent month.
It's your hourly rate times 8 hours. If your days are shorter or longer, work it out from the hourly rate.
Either works. Work out the hourly rate first, then price a project as the hours you expect times that rate, with room for changes.
Yes. The sum is the same for a freelancer: the income you want, your costs and the hours you can bill.
Count how many calls it takes to win one client, then multiply by the new clients a year. The calculator spreads that over the weeks you work.
No. The rate comes from your own income, costs and hours, not from what others charge.
Yes, the tool is free. There's no account, and the Copy link button saves your numbers in the link.
Know your rate, then keep the pipeline full
See a consultant's pipeline, from enquiry to won, in a 30-minute walkthrough.
30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.