Guide · 10 min
How to Price Freelance Projects Without Guessing
A practical, worked framework for turning income goals, real capacity, costs and risk into a sustainable freelance project price.
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Start with the annual requirement
Add your desired pre-tax owner pay and annual business overhead. Then divide by one minus your target profit percentage and payment-fee percentage. Example: €45,000 pay + €8,000 costs, with 10% profit and 3% fees, requires roughly €60,920 in annual revenue.
Use billable capacity, not total working hours
Administrative work, sales, learning, holidays and gaps between projects reduce the hours you can invoice. At 46 working weeks, 35 hours a week and 60% billable time, only 966 hours are billable—not 1,610.
Calculate a sustainable baseline
Divide the annual revenue requirement by realistic billable hours. In the example above, €60,920 ÷ 966 gives a baseline of about €63 per billable hour before project-specific risk.
Convert the rate into a project price
Estimate delivery, communication, revisions, quality assurance and handover. A 30-hour project at the €63 baseline starts near €1,890; a defined risk allowance may increase that figure.
Stress-test the quote
Compare conservative, target and premium scenarios. If one extra revision or a slower month makes the project unprofitable, change the price, scope or process before sending the proposal.
Use the result responsibly
This is commercial planning, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Check local obligations and judge the final price against expertise, value, demand and scope—not arithmetic alone.