Check a project’s profit
Change any number and the result updates as you type.
Contractors, stock, tools
Effective hourly rate
$118.55 /hr
Below your $120.00 target. Re-scope, raise the quote, or spend fewer hours next time.
Net revenue (fee − costs)$7,350.00
Profit vs target labor−$90.00
Margin−1%
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How to use the project profitability calculator
- Enter the project fee you quoted, before any sales tax.
- Add the hours you worked on it, from your timesheet or your most honest count.
- Set your target rate: the hourly rate you need to earn.
- Add the pass-through costs, like contractors, stock images, fonts and plugins.
- Read the effective hourly rate and see whether it clears your target.
How the project profitability calculator works
The calculator takes the costs off the fee, then divides what’s left by the hours you worked. That’s the hourly rate the project actually paid, which you can set against the rate you meant to earn.
Net revenueproject fee − pass-through costs
Effective ratenet revenue ÷ hours worked
Profit vs targetnet revenue − hours × target rate
Marginprofit vs target ÷ project fee
A fixed price that looked generous can still come up short once the calls, revisions and extra rounds are counted. Run it at the end of every project, and at each milestone on long ones, while there’s still time to change course.
- Fee − costs
- $8,000 − $650 = $7,350
- Effective rate
- $7,350 ÷ 62 hours = $118.55 / hr
- Target labor
- 62 hours × $120 = $7,440
- Profit vs target
- −$90 (a −1% margin)
Close to the $120 target, but under it. Two fewer hours, or $100 less in costs, would have tipped it over. Most projects that lose money lose it this quietly.
Project profitability calculator FAQ
What is a good effective hourly rate?
One at or above the rate you need to earn. If you haven’t worked that out yet, the freelance rate calculator starts from your income goal and costs. Anything below it means the project paid you less than your own minimum.
What counts as a pass-through cost?
Money the project spent that isn’t your time: subcontractors, stock images, fonts, plugins, printing. Leave out general overheads, like your laptop and software subscriptions, because your target rate already covers those.
Should I count hours I didn’t bill?
Yes. Every hour spent on the project belongs here: calls, revisions, admin and the fixes after launch. Leaving them out is how a fixed price looks profitable when it isn’t. The time duration calculator turns start and stop times into decimal hours.
What does a negative margin mean?
The project paid less than your target rate for the hours it took. You still earned money, just less than the rate you set. Look at where the extra hours went, then scope the next one tighter or price it higher.
How is this different from markup and margin?
This measures what your time earned. To price something you buy and resell, like printing or a license, the markup and margin calculator turns a cost into a price.
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