Freelance Capacity Calculator
Estimate how many client hours, projects, and revenue your freelance schedule can realistically support each month.
Overview
The Freelance Capacity Calculator helps you estimate how much client work your schedule can realistically support each month. By combining your working days, hours, billable time percentage, average project size, and hourly rate, you can get a clearer picture of your workload and earning capacity.
How it works
The calculator first estimates your total monthly working hours by multiplying your working days, daily hours, and average weeks per month. It then applies your billable time percentage to find the hours you can realistically sell to clients. Those billable hours are divided by your average project hours to estimate how many projects you can handle, and multiplied by your hourly rate to estimate monthly revenue capacity.
How to use this calculator
- 1Enter how many days per week you usually work.
- 2Add your average working hours per day.
- 3Estimate the percentage of your time that is truly billable.
- 4Enter the typical billable hours needed for one project.
- 5Add your average hourly rate.
- 6Review your monthly billable hours, project capacity, and revenue estimate.
Example Calculation
Working days per week
5
Working hours per day
8
Billable time
60%
Average hours per project
20
Hourly rate
$75
Average weeks per month
4.33
Monthly billable hours
103.9 hours
With a 5-day week, 8 working hours per day, and 60% billable time, you would have about 103.9 billable hours per month. That could support around 5.2 average 20-hour projects and about 7794 in monthly revenue if those hours are fully booked.
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator estimate?
It estimates your monthly billable hours, how many average projects you can take on, and your potential revenue based on your schedule and rate.
What is billable time?
Billable time is the portion of your working hours that you can charge to clients. It usually excludes admin, marketing, proposals, meetings, and other unpaid work.
Why is project capacity shown as a decimal?
A decimal shows your estimated capacity more precisely. For example, 2.5 projects means you likely have time for two full projects and part of another.
How do I choose a good billable percentage?
Many freelancers use a billable range of roughly 50% to 70%, but the right figure depends on how much time you spend on sales, admin, revisions, and communication.
Does this include taxes and business expenses?
No. The revenue estimate is based on billable hours multiplied by your hourly rate and does not subtract taxes, software costs, contractors, or other expenses.
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Assumptions and warnings
Assumptions
- Your billable percentage stays fairly consistent from week to week.
- Each project requires about the same number of billable hours on average.
- Your hourly rate is consistent across your billable work.
- This is a planning estimate and does not include late payments, unpaid revisions, taxes, or business expenses.
Warnings
- This calculator provides an estimate only and is not financial advice.
- Actual freelance capacity can vary due to scope changes, client delays, and unplanned admin work.