Quick answer
How much should you charge per hour as a freelancer?
Billable hours in a year
1,128
235 workdays × 8 hours × 60% billable, not 2,080
₱40,000 a month take-home
₱578.17
About $9.18 an hour, on Upwork with 8% tax and ₱5,000 costs
$5,000 a month take-home
$85.11
On Upwork, with 25% tax and $400 costs
Divide what you need in a year (take-home, costs, tax and fees) by the hours you can actually bill, not by 2,080. These tables assume 60% billable time, 235 workdays of 8 hours, and a 10% platform fee.
| Take-home a month | Charge per hour |
|---|---|
| ₱25,000 | ₱385.45 ($6.12) |
| ₱40,000 | ₱578.17 ($9.18) |
| ₱60,000 | ₱835.13 ($13.26) |
| ₱80,000 | ₱1,092.10 ($17.33) |
| ₱100,000 | ₱1,349.06 ($21.41) |
| Take-home a month | Charge per hour |
|---|---|
| $3,000 | $53.59 |
| $5,000 | $85.11 |
| $7,000 | $116.63 |
| $10,000 | $163.91 |
Dollar amounts in the Philippine table use ₱63 per $1, close to the rate in early November 2026.
Why your rate has to be higher than your old salary per hour
When you leave a job to freelance, the first rate most people pick is their old monthly pay divided by the hours in a month. It feels fair. It's also how freelancers end up working every day and still coming up short.
Your employer paid for things that are now yours to cover: your laptop and internet, your SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG or your health insurance, your paid holidays and leave. And not every hour you work gets billed. Finding clients, writing proposals, answering emails, sending invoices and waiting between projects all take time that nobody pays for. Then the platform takes its cut, and the tax office takes its share.
This calculator starts from the money you want to keep and works backwards through all of that. The result is the least you can charge per hour and still reach your goal.
How to use the calculator
Step 1
Set your goal and costs
Choose pesos or dollars and enter the take-home pay you want. If you're in the Philippines and clients pay in dollars, tick the box and enter the rate you actually get. Add what you spend each month to work.
Step 2
Add fees, tax and time
Pick where you get clients and how much to set aside for tax. Then enter your hours, days off and how much of your time is billable. If you don't know, start with 60%.
Step 3
Check your rate
Read your hourly and day rate and where each hour's money goes. Enter your current rate to see what it really pays you, or a project's hours to get a quote.
How the rate is worked out
The calculator runs four steps, from your goal back to the client's invoice:
- Money you need to keep: take-home for the year plus business costs for the year.
- Add tax: divide by (1 − your tax set-aside). If you set aside 8%, divide by 0.92.
- Add the platform fee: divide by (1 − the fee). Upwork's 10% means dividing by 0.90. That's what clients must pay you.
- Divide by billable hours: (workdays a week × 52 − days off) × hours a day × billable share.
Here's the default: a Filipino virtual assistant who wants ₱40,000 a month, spends ₱5,000 a month on internet, electricity, software and contributions, sets aside 8% for tax and finds clients on Upwork.
(₱40,000 + ₱5,000) × 12 = ₱540,000 a year to keep
₱540,000 ÷ 0.92 = ₱586,956.52 after tax · ÷ 0.90 = ₱652,173.91 billed
(5 × 52 − 25 days off) × 8 hours × 60% = 1,128 billable hours
₱652,173.91 ÷ 1,128 = ₱578.17 an hour, or $9.18 at ₱63 per $1
Now compare that to the shortcut: ₱40,000 × 12 ÷ 2,080 hours is ₱230.77, or about $3.66. That's 2.5 times too low. Charge that and you'd take home about a third of what you planned.
Whenever you want your hours turned into a timesheet or invoice, the Billable Hours Calculator rounds your tasks to 6 or 15-minute blocks.
The four things that eat your rate
1. Hours you can't bill
This one matters most. Freelancer surveys keep landing on about 60% billable time, with the rest going to admin, sales and messages. Writers, designers and new freelancers often bill less. Someone on one long contract can bill 80% or more. Go from 60% to 50% and your rate has to go up by a fifth. The table in the result shows your rate at each level.
2. Days off
You don't get paid holidays or leave anymore, but you'll still take them. The default 25 days is about 10 holidays, 10 vacation days and 5 sick days. Filipino freelancers who follow the national holidays may want 30. If you plan to work every day, look at your last three months honestly before you lower this.
3. Platform fees
Fiverr keeps 20% of every order, tips included. Since May 1, 2025, Upwork charges a variable fee of 0 to 15% per contract, shown before you send a proposal, and many freelancers see about 10%. Direct clients cost nothing in fees, but you'll spend more time finding them. Count the currency conversion too: PayPal and some banks pay you below the market rate, so enter the peso amount you actually receive per dollar.
4. Tax and business costs
In the Philippines, most freelancers who earn under ₱3 million a year can choose an 8% tax on gross receipts above ₱250,000 instead of graduated rates and the 3% percentage tax. Because of the ₱250,000 exemption, 8% is a safe set-aside, a little more than you'll owe. For your exact tax, use Tax Calculator Philippines. In the US, self-employment tax alone is 15.3% on 92.35% of your profit, before income tax, which is why many US freelancers set aside 25 to 30%.
Your costs are anything you need to work: internet, a power backup, software, a laptop fund, and the contributions or health insurance an employer used to cover.
Example: a US freelancer on Fiverr
Let's say you want to take home $5,000 a month, spend $400 a month on software and equipment, set aside 25% for tax and sell on Fiverr. You work 8-hour days, 5 days a week, with 25 days off and 60% billable time.
($5,000 + $400) × 12 = $64,800 · ÷ 0.75 = $86,400 · ÷ 0.80 = $108,000 billed
$108,000 ÷ 1,128 hours = $95.74 an hour
The shortcut, $60,000 ÷ 2,080, says $28.85. The real number is more than three times that. Fiverr's 20% alone adds about $19 to every hour. If your market won't pay $95, the calculator tells you which levers move it most: more billable hours, a cheaper platform, or a smaller goal for now.
Tips for setting your rate
- Treat the result as your floor. It's the least you need, not what you're worth. Price above it when your skills and results let you.
- Quote projects, not just hours. Estimate the hours, add a 10 to 20% buffer for revisions and calls, and give one price. Clients like a fixed number, and you get paid for working fast.
- Raise rates for new clients first. Keep your old rate for current clients for a while and move them up with notice.
- Track your real billable time. Log every hour for a month, billable or not. The share you get is the number to enter here.
- Get paid what you planned. Late or missing payments count as unbilled time. Ask for a deposit on big projects.
Questions about freelance rates
How do I calculate my freelance hourly rate?
Add the take-home pay you want for the year and your yearly business costs. Divide by (1 − your tax set-aside), then by (1 − your platform fee). Divide the result by the hours you can actually bill in a year: workdays × hours a day × your billable share.
How many billable hours does a freelancer have in a year?
Far fewer than 2,080. With 5-day weeks, 25 days off and 8-hour days, you work 1,880 hours. At 60% billable, that is 1,128 billable hours, about 22 a week.
How much should a Filipino virtual assistant charge per hour?
To take home ₱40,000 a month on Upwork, with 8% tax, ₱5,000 monthly costs and 60% billable time, charge at least ₱578.17 an hour, about $9.18 at ₱63 per dollar. To take home ₱25,000, charge at least ₱385.45.
Should I divide my old salary by 160 hours to get my rate?
No. That treats every working hour as billable and ignores fees, tax, costs and the paid leave you no longer get. For most freelancers it gives a rate about 2.5 times too low.
How much does Upwork or Fiverr take?
Fiverr keeps 20% of each order, including tips. Upwork charges a variable 0 to 15% per contract since May 2025, shown before you send a proposal; many freelancers see about 10%. To keep the same take-home, divide your rate by (1 − the fee): at 20%, that is 25% more.
What is a day rate and how do I set one?
A day rate is one price for a full day of client work. Multiply your hourly rate by the hours in your working day. At ₱578.17 an hour and 8 hours, that is ₱4,625.36.
How much tax should a freelancer set aside?
In the Philippines, freelancers with gross receipts up to ₱3 million can choose 8% on gross receipts above ₱250,000, so setting aside 8% is enough. In the US, self-employment tax is 15.3% on 92.35% of profit before income tax, and many freelancers set aside 25 to 30%.
Related calculators
- Billable Hours Calculator
Round your task times and get the invoice total.
- Salary Calculator
Turn an hourly rate into daily, monthly and yearly pay.
- Work Hours in a Year Calculator
Workdays and hours in any year, with holidays.
- Hours Needed Calculator
How many hours to reach a target or an earnings goal.
Sources
- Upwork Help Center, Freelancer Service Fee: variable fee of 0% to 15% per contract since May 1, 2025
- Fiverr Terms of Service: 20% commission on each order, including tips
- National Internal Revenue Code Sec. 24(A)(2)(b) and BIR Revenue Regulations 8-2018: optional 8% income tax for self-employed individuals with gross receipts up to ₱3,000,000
- IRS, Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare): 15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings
- Freelancer time surveys (Clockify, freelancermap, Knab 2025): billable time of roughly 60% of working hours