Hourly Rate for Freelancers
How much do you need to charge per hour to cover expenses, taxes, insurance and reach your target net income?
Enter your requirements
Your hourly rate
494 CZK/h
to take home 50 000 CZK per month
How to set your hourly rate
From net income to revenue
You don't set your hourly rate by looking at peers' rates. Start from how much you want to take home each month. Add income tax and the social and health insurance (sociální pojištění, zdravotní pojištění) you pay as a self-employed person. The resulting revenue is what you must actually invoice.
net income + tax & insurance = revenue
Unpaid time
Part of each month goes to finding new clients, administration, invoicing or professional development, and part of the year you don't work due to holidays or illness. So you divide annual revenue not by total hours worked, but only by the hours you actually bill to clients.
revenue ÷ billable hours = rate
How many hours per month can you realistically bill?
There is often a large gap between hours worked and hours billed. Even if you spend a full-time equivalent at your desk (roughly 160 hours per month), you typically invoice clients for only 100 to 130 hours. The rest is consumed by running your business, which no client directly pays for. If you calculated your rate using all 160 hours, you would undercharge — so use a conservative estimate in the calculator to make sure your rate really covers your costs and taxes.
160 hours worked ≈ 100–130 billable
Frequently asked questions
How do I set my hourly rate as a Czech freelancer (OSVČ)?+
Start from the net income you want to take home each month. Add income tax, social and health insurance contributions and account for unpaid time (business development, administration, holidays). Divide the resulting annual revenue by the number of realistically billable hours to get your minimum hourly rate. This calculator does the calculation for you.
How many hours per month is it realistic to bill?+
Out of roughly 160 hours worked per month, typically only 100 to 130 can be billed. The rest is consumed by acquiring new clients, administration, invoicing, professional development, holidays and illness. When setting your rate, count billable hours, not hours worked.
Why must a freelancer's hourly rate be higher than an employee's hourly wage?+
As a self-employed person (OSVČ) you pay the full social and health insurance contributions yourself (employees have most of it covered by their employer), you have no paid holiday or sick leave, and part of the year you are not billing. Your hourly rate therefore needs to be significantly higher than an equivalent employee's hourly wage to maintain the same net income.
Should I charge by the hour or by the project?+
An hourly rate is a useful baseline even when you ultimately invoice per project — it serves as an internal check on whether the job is worthwhile. For projects with a clearly defined scope, a fixed-price model can make more sense, but always verify it by estimating the number of hours needed so you don't end up working at a loss.
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Find out your monthly social and health insurance advance payments based on your profit. Minimum advances for 2026, main and secondary activity.
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Invoicing, expenses and income tax return in one app. Free plan forever.
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