Project Hourly Rate
Calculate effective hourly rate for any project from total fee and hours worked.
See how scope creep or extra revisions erode earnings.
Rate = Total Fee / Hours Worked
This calculator divides your total project fee by the number of hours you spent working on it. The result is your effective hourly rate – what you actually earned per hour of effort.
What the variables mean:
- Project Fee – the total amount the client pays you for the project
- Hours Worked – every hour you spent, including meetings, revisions, research, and admin time
Why use this calculator? Freelancers and consultants often quote flat-rate project fees. But without tracking hours, you may not realize your effective rate dropped below minimum wage on a complex project. This tool helps you evaluate whether a project was profitable and set better prices for future work.
Practical example: You accept a website redesign for $3,000. You estimate 30 hours, expecting $100/hour. But revisions push it to 60 hours – your effective rate drops to $50/hour. Tracking this helps you quote more accurately next time or add revision limits to contracts.
Tips:
- Track ALL hours, not just “productive” ones. Admin, emails, and research count.
- Compare your effective rate against your target rate to see which projects are actually worth taking.
- If your rate consistently falls below your target, raise your project fees or tighten scope definitions.
- The calculator also shows your equivalent daily rate based on an 8-hour workday.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.