Software Developer Hourly Rate Calculator
Calculate your target freelance developer hourly billing rate and standard day rate based on desired net salary, self-employment taxes, healthcare benefits, and billable utilization.
Engineer Salary, Overhead & Billable Utilization
Recommended Billing Rate$166.67 / hr$1,333.36 / day (8-hr day)
Break-Even Cost Rate$125.00 / hrZero-margin fully loaded employment cost
Annual Total Revenue$233,338.00Gross billings generated at 1,400 hrs
Step-by-Step Worked Example
Scenario:
Calculation Steps:
Result:
How to Use This Calculator
Assumptions & Limitations
- Billable utilization is realistically 60%–70% to account for code reviews, admin, sales, and client meetings.
- Standard year assumes 48 working weeks (4 weeks PTO and sick time).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a contractor hourly rate so much higher than a salary hourly equivalent?
Contractors pay self-employment FICA taxes (15.3%), purchase private health insurance, fund their own retirement, buy hardware, and spend unbillable time finding clients.
Related Cost Calculators
Software Development & SaaSInteractive
Development Team Cost Calculator
Calculate multi-role software engineering squad payroll costs: senior/mid/junior devs, QA, PM, DevOps, and blended team rates.
Software Development & SaaSInteractive
Software Project Budget Calculator
Allocate software project capital across engineering labor, UI/UX design, cloud infrastructure, licenses, and risk contingency.
Software Development & SaaSInteractive
Agile Sprint Cost Calculator
Calculate the total cost of a two-week Scrum agile sprint, productive capacity hours, and cost per delivered story point.