What are billable hours?

Billable hours are the hours you can actually invoice a client for, as opposed to admin, marketing, or learning time. Most freelancers find only 50–70% of their working hours are billable.

Should I use 6-minute or 15-minute billing increments?

Legal and consulting work typically rounds to 0.1 hour (6-minute) increments. Marketing and creative freelancers often use 15-minute (0.25 hour) increments. Pick one, document it in your contract, and apply it consistently.

Freelance Calculators

Set rates, track billable hours, and build invoices for freelance work.

Freelancers and consultants need a different toolkit than W-2 hourly employees. These calculators help set sustainable rates, track billable time, and produce invoice totals.

Calculators

Freelance Rate

Suggest an hourly rate based on income goal and expenses.

Billable Hours

Calculate billable hours and invoice amount from one shift.

Invoice Hours

Add multiple time entries and an hourly rate for an invoice.

Six Minute Rule

Round clock times to the nearest 6-minute (one tenth hour) increment.

Hourly to Salary

Convert an hourly rate into an annual salary estimate.

Gross Pay

Calculate total gross pay from regular, overtime, and bonus.

Why freelance pay math is different

An employee with a $60,000 salary takes home roughly $4,200 a month after taxes. A freelancer charging the equivalent hourly rate keeps far less because they also pay self-employment tax, their own health insurance, retirement contributions, software, and unbilled admin time. These tools help you back into a real hourly rate that supports the income you actually want.

From hours to invoice

The typical freelance workflow is: track time in billing increments (usually 6 or 15 minute), apply your rate, add any fixed-fee line items, and total. The invoice hours and billable hours calculators here let you sanity check those totals before sending a client invoice.

Not tax or legal advice

Self-employment tax, deductible expenses, retirement contribution limits, and entity choice (sole prop vs LLC vs S-corp) are decisions for a qualified CPA or tax attorney. These calculators are planning tools only; they do not produce numbers suitable for filing.

Related guides

Freelance Rate Guide

Set a freelance hourly rate from income goals, billable hours per week, business expenses, and self-employment tax estimates.

Billable Hours Guide

What billable hours are, how to track them, six minute rule basics, and how to translate tracked hours into clean client invoices.

Hourly vs Salary

Compare hourly pay and salary: overtime eligibility, paycheck math, pros and cons, and how to convert between the two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start with the annual income you want, add self-employment tax (about 15%), health insurance, time off, and business overhead, then divide by realistic billable hours (typically 1,000–1,400 per year for a full-time freelancer). The freelance hourly rate calculator does this math for you.

Before you use the result

Our calculators give quick payroll-time and pay estimates. Your final paycheck depends on factors this tool does not see, including employer policy, state and local rules, time clock rounding, paid versus unpaid breaks, premium pay, deductions, and how your payroll provider applies them.

Confirm pay rules with your employer, payroll provider, or HR team.
Overtime, breaks, and rounding rules can change by state.

For how each calculation is built, see our methodology and disclaimer.