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Project profitability calculator

Enter a project fee, hours spent, and expenses. See your real effective hourly rate and profit margin, not just the quoted number.

What the client is paying, before expenses
Actual hours, including revisions and calls
Subcontractors, stock assets, tools bought for this project
How this is calculated
1
Subtract expenses from fee
Gets you the real profit on this project.
2
Divide profit by real hours
Not the hours you originally estimated.
3
See your true margin
Compare it against your target rate.
Nothing is saved unless you choose to create an account.
This calculator covers
Real profit after expenses
Profit margin percentage
True effective hourly rate
Per-project, not overall

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate if a freelance project was actually profitable?

Subtract project-specific expenses from the total fee to get real profit, then divide that profit by the hours you actually spent to get your effective hourly rate. A project can look profitable from the fee alone and still pay far below your target rate once the real hours and expenses are counted.

What counts as a project expense for this calculation?

Anything spent specifically to deliver this project: subcontractor payments, stock assets or licenses bought for it, software purchased just for this client, or travel tied to the project. General business overhead like your monthly software subscriptions or coworking rent is a separate cost that belongs in your overall rate, not a single project's profitability.

What is a good profit margin for a freelance project?

Above 50% is a healthy margin for most solo freelance work, since expenses are usually low relative to the fee. Between 25 and 50% is workable but worth watching. Below 25% means the project is barely covering its own costs once expenses are counted, and is worth reviewing before taking on similar work again.

Why is my effective hourly rate lower than the rate I quoted?

Quoted rates are usually based on estimated hours. If a project runs over on revisions, client calls, or scope creep, the same fee gets divided across more actual hours, lowering your effective rate. Tracking real hours against the fee is the only way to see this gap, rather than assuming the quoted rate held.

Should I track profitability per project or just overall?

Per project. Overall numbers can hide a genuinely unprofitable client or project type behind a few strong ones. Tracking each project separately shows you which kinds of work, or which clients, are actually worth repeating at your current rate.