Freelance
Project Profitability Calculator
A £3,000 project sounds good until you find it took 60 hours. This calculator shows what a job actually paid per hour, once you've taken off expenses and counted every hour, including the ones you never invoiced.
Add your target hourly rate to see whether the project was above or below it, and what you should have quoted. It's the fastest way to learn which kinds of work are worth your time.
Calculator
Fill in the boxes above and your answer appears here.
Worked examples
Real numbers, worked out by the same calculator. Press “Use these numbers” to try one above.
£3,000 fee, 60 hours, £200 expenses, target £50/hour
- Effective hourly rate
- £46.67
- Earned after expenses
- £2,800.00
- Below your target rate by
- £3.33 an hour
- Shortfall versus target
- £200.00
- Fee that would have hit your target
- £3,200.00
A fee of £3,000.00 less £200.00 of expenses over 60 hours paid you £46.67 an hour. Against a target of £50.00 an hour, that's below target by £3.33 an hour.
£4,000 fee, 40 hours, target £50/hour
- Effective hourly rate
- £100.00
- Earned after expenses
- £4,000.00
- Above your target rate by
- £50.00 an hour
- Extra earned versus target
- £2,000.00
- Fee that would have hit your target
- £2,000.00
A fee of £4,000.00 over 40 hours paid you £100.00 an hour. Against a target of £50.00 an hour, that's above target by £50.00 an hour.
£1,500 fixed price, 45 hours
- Effective hourly rate
- £33.33
- Earned after expenses
- £1,500.00
A fee of £1,500.00 over 45 hours paid you £33.33 an hour.
How it's worked out
Effective hourly rate = (fee − expenses) ÷ hours. £3,000 less £200 of expenses, over 60 hours, is £2,800 ÷ 60 = £46.67 an hour.
Fee needed to hit your target = hours × target rate + expenses. 60 hours at £50 plus £200 of expenses is £3,200, so this job was £200 short.
Why fixed-price jobs run over
With a fixed fee, every extra hour comes off your hourly rate. The usual culprits are extra revisions, slow feedback, meetings and small requests that weren't in the brief. Tracking your time on every project, even roughly, is the only way to see it happening.
Using the result to quote the next job
Estimate the hours, multiply by your target rate, add expected expenses, and then consider adding a buffer for the things you can't foresee. If your estimates keep coming in under the real hours, use this calculator on finished projects to see how much your buffer should be. The day rate calculator can help set the target rate itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is an effective hourly rate?
What a project really paid per hour worked: the fee, minus expenses, divided by all the hours you spent, including unbilled ones.
Should expenses come off before I calculate the rate?
Yes. Money you spent on the job isn't income, so subtract it. Use the fee you'd have kept if there had been no expenses to pay.
What hours should I count?
Everything the project needed: meetings, emails, revisions, admin and travel as well as the main work. Leaving hours out flatters the result.
How do I stop a project running over?
Agree the scope in writing, limit rounds of revisions, and charge extra for changes. Tracking hours as you go shows problems while you can still do something.
Does this include tax?
No. All figures are before tax.
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Formulas tested against hand-worked answers. Last reviewed 29 September 2026. These calculators do arithmetic only; they are not financial, tax or legal advice.