The free calculator
- The rate for one income goal, calculated once
- You build the proposal and chase each payment yourself
- No record of whether the rate actually held up per client
Consulting rate calculator for independent consultants.
A consulting rate is your income goal plus overhead and profit, divided by the hours you can actually bill. Enter those numbers to get the hourly rate, day rate, and minimum project fee you need to charge. Free, instant, no signup.
No signup Instant results Hourly, day, and project rates
Your numbers
C
Consulting rate calculator$120,000.00 goal · 25h/week billable
SUMMARY| Rate breakdown | Value |
|---|---|
| Income goal + 15% overhead | $138,000.00 |
| Revenue target after 20% margin | $172,500.00 |
| Billable hours per year (25h × 46 weeks) | 1,150h |
| Day rate (8 hours) | $1,200.00 |
| Minimum project fee (10-hour block) | $1,500.00 |
Required hourly rate$150.00
Billable utilization is the lever most consultants underestimate.
The connected version
- Proposals go out priced from the rate you just set
- Invoices collect online with payment links
- Payment reminders and profitability reporting run themselves
14-day free trial. Card required. After the trial: from $29/month. Renews automatically every month until you cancel. Cancel anytime in Settings → Billing.
01
Set income and capacity
Your annual income goal, billable hours per week, and weeks worked per year.
02
Load overhead and margin
Overhead covers the cost of running the practice; margin is the profit on top.
03
Read the rates
The hourly rate, day rate, and minimum project fee update live as you type.
This number works once. Workspace369 makes it a workflow.
Workspace369 — the connected version
- Proposals priced from your rate send from the client record
- Approved proposals convert to invoices in one click
- Payment links collect online and reminders run on a schedule
- Profitability reporting shows what each client really pays
14-day free trial. Card required. After the trial: from $29/month. Renews automatically every month until you cancel. Cancel anytime in Settings → Billing.
Free done-for-you setup until December 31, 2026. After signup, claim free setup in your workspace. See free setup
If you bill clients for your time, Workspace369 turns tracked hours into invoices with a payment link on each one. Invoicing software for consultants
How this calculator works out your rate
The calculator adds your overhead to the income goal, then grosses that up so your profit margin is a share of the final revenue rather than a markup on cost. It divides that revenue by your billable hours for the year to get the hourly rate. The day rate is eight billable hours and the minimum project fee is a ten-hour block.
With the starting numbers, a $120,000 income goal plus 15% overhead is $138,000. A 20% margin on revenue makes the target $172,500. At 25 billable hours a week for 46 weeks, that is 1,150 hours, so the rate is $150.00 an hour, $1,200.00 a day and $1,500.00 as a minimum project fee.
Why billable hours move the rate most
Billable hours are the divisor, so a small change there moves every rate. Keep the same goal, overhead and margin, drop to 20 billable hours a week, and the rate rises from $150.00 to $187.50 an hour, with a day rate of $1,500.00.
Count only the hours a client pays for. Proposals, discovery calls, admin, travel, learning and the gaps between engagements are real work, but they are paid for by your rate, not billed on their own. If you are not sure of your number, track a few normal weeks before you settle on it.
Hourly, day rate or project fee: which to quote
The three numbers come from the same target, so pick the one that fits how the client buys.
- Hourly: open-ended advice and small follow-ups, where the scope is hard to fix in advance.
- Day rate: workshops, audits and on-site days, where the client books a block of your time.
- Project fee: defined deliverables. Work out the hours you expect, price them at your hourly rate, add room for revisions, then quote one figure.
- Minimum fee: the smallest engagement worth taking on, so short requests still cover the time around them.
- Retainer: ongoing advice billed monthly for a set number of hours or an agreed scope.
Three worked examples
Each of these can be reproduced by typing the same numbers above.
- $90,000 goal, 20 hours a week, 44 weeks, 10% overhead, 15% margin: $132.35 an hour, $1,058.82 a day, $1,323.53 minimum project fee.
- $120,000 goal, 25 hours a week, 46 weeks, 15% overhead, 20% margin: $150.00 an hour, $1,200.00 a day, $1,500.00 minimum project fee.
- $200,000 goal, 30 hours a week, 46 weeks, 20% overhead, 25% margin: $231.88 an hour, $1,855.07 a day, $2,318.84 minimum project fee.
How this differs from the hourly rate calculator
The hourly rate calculator takes business costs as a monthly dollar amount. This one takes overhead as a percentage of your income goal and adds a minimum project fee, which suits consultants who quote engagements more often than hours. Use whichever matches how you already track costs; the rates will be close if the inputs agree.
Using your rate in Workspace369
On every plan you can price proposals from your services catalog, track billable time against a client, run retainers with an hour bank, and put recurring invoices on card autopay. Project and customer profitability reports, which show whether the rate held up once the work was done, start on Specialist.
How to invoice for consulting servicesConsulting proposal templateProposals and quotes
Consulting rate questions
How do I calculate a consulting rate?
Add your overhead to your annual income goal, divide by one minus your profit margin, then divide by the hours you expect to bill in a year. With a $120,000 goal, 15% overhead, a 20% margin and 1,150 billable hours, the rate is $150 an hour.
How do I turn an hourly rate into a day rate?
Multiply the hourly rate by the billable hours in the day you are selling. This calculator uses eight. If your client day includes travel or fewer working hours, agree what the day covers and price it from the hours you will actually bill.
What should overhead include?
Everything the business pays for that is not your own income: software, equipment, insurance, accounting, workspace, travel you cannot bill, and training. Enter it as a percentage of your income goal; if you know it as a monthly amount, the hourly rate calculator takes it that way.
Should I show my rate on proposals?
That is your choice. Many consultants quote a fixed project fee worked out from the rate, so the client compares outcomes rather than hours. If you bill hourly, show the rate and the expected hours so the total is easy to follow.