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Creators & Freelancers

Freelance project quote calculator

Turn your hourly rate and an honest hours estimate into a fixed-price quote you can send. It adds the things that quietly erode a freelance project, the revision rounds, the direct expenses, and the marketplace fee, so the number you quote is the number you keep.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

Your honest estimate of the work, before the revisions. Round up: projects run long more often than short.
What you have decided your time is worth. The freelance rate calculator works this out if you are not sure.
Stock assets, fonts, a plugin, contractor help, anything you buy specifically for this job.
The rounds of changes that always come. Fifteen percent of the labor is a conservative cushion; scope-heavy clients need more.
The cut a platform like Upwork or Fiverr takes. Zero if the client pays you directly. This grosses up the quote so the fee comes out of their side, not yours.
Estimated cost
$4,210

Typical range $3,789 – $5,473

  • Labor (hours × rate)$3,400
  • Revision buffer$510
  • Direct expenses$300
  • Marketplace fee$0
  • Total$4,210
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$1,000 to $10,000 is a real project. Use a proper contract, a deposit, and milestone billing.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

THIS PRICES ONE JOB FROM YOUR NUMBERS.
It does not tell you what your rate should be; that is a separate question with a sourced answer on the freelance rate page. Here you bring the rate and the hours, and the calculator adds the lines a fixed bid usually loses money on: the revision rounds, the direct expenses, and the platform's cut. The defaults are ours and every one is editable

Estimate the hours honestly and then round up. Freelance projects overrun far more often than they come in early, which is why the high end of the range sits well above your estimate and the low end barely below it.

The revision buffer is the line that saves fixed-bid work. Without it, every round of changes comes straight out of your effective rate. Fifteen percent of the labor is a conservative starting cushion; a client who cannot describe what they want needs more.

The marketplace fee grosses the quote up rather than shrinking your pay. If a platform takes 15% and you need to net the subtotal, the quote has to be higher so the fee comes off the client's payment, not your margin.

This is the price of the work, not a payment schedule. Most freelancers take a deposit up front (commonly a third to a half) and bill the balance on delivery or across milestones.

Frequently asked questions

How do I price a freelance project?
Estimate the hours honestly, multiply by your hourly rate, then add direct expenses, a buffer for revisions, and a gross-up for any marketplace fee. The calculator above does exactly that. The result is a fixed bid where the number you quote is the number you actually keep.
Should I charge hourly or a fixed price?
Fixed price rewards you for being fast and protects the client from surprises, but only if you have built in a revision buffer and a clear scope. Hourly is safer when the scope is genuinely unknown. Many freelancers quote fixed with a written cap on rounds of revisions.
How much deposit should I take?
A third to a half of the quote up front is standard, with the balance on delivery or split across milestones for a longer project. A deposit filters out clients who were never going to pay and funds the expenses you incur before you are paid.
How do I account for Upwork or Fiverr fees?
Set the marketplace fee to the platform's percentage and the calculator grosses the quote up so the fee comes out of the client's payment. If you absorb it instead, your effective rate drops by that percentage on every job.

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