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Agency Pricing Calculator

Calculate your minimum profitable hourly and project rate based on real costs, utilization, and target margin.
Built for agencies, consultants, and freelancers who want to calculate profitable hourly, project, and retainer pricing based on real business costs.

Agency Pricing Calculator

Calculate a profit-based rate using your real costs, utilization, and targets.

Costs

Tip: Include everything you must pay even if you have zero clients this month.

Capacity

Monthly capacity hours —
Billable hours / month —

Profit & Buffer

Revenue breakdown
Base (salary + costs)
Profit
Buffer

Results

Required monthly revenue
—
Minimum hourly rate
—
Day rate (8 hours)
—

Scenarios

Estimated project price —
Estimated monthly retainer —

This calculator gives a minimum profitable baseline. Market positioning and scope control can justify higher pricing.

How This Agency Pricing Calculator Works

Overhead + salary = your baseline. Your business must cover monthly overhead (tools, rent, contractors) plus the salary you want to pay yourself.
Utilization converts time into billable time. Even if you work 160 hours/month, you rarely bill all of it. Sales, meetings, admin, and delivery planning reduce billable hours.
Profit margin protects your business. Profit is what keeps you stable and allows reinvestment.
Buffer accounts for reality. Late payments, taxes, and unexpected costs happen — a small buffer prevents underpricing.

Can Freelancers Use This Pricing Calculator?

Yes. Even if you’re a solo freelancer, the same logic applies.
You still have overhead, taxes, non-billable time, and required income.
Set contractor costs to zero and adjust utilization based on your workload.

The pricing formula (simplified)

  • Monthly Target Revenue = (Overhead + Tools + Contractors + Salary) × Profit adjustment × Buffer

  • Hourly Rate = Monthly Target Revenue ÷ Billable Hours

Example Calculation

Let’s say your monthly numbers are:

  • Overhead: $3,000

  • Tools: $300

  • Salary: $6,000

  • Profit margin: 20%

  • Buffer: 10%

  • Utilization: 60%

The calculator estimates your required monthly revenue, then divides it by your billable hours to produce a minimum profitable hourly rate.
If you estimate a project will take 40 hours, the project price is simply your hourly rate × 40.

What Is a Good Profit Margin for an Agency?

A healthy agency typically targets 15%–30% profit margin, depending on specialization, demand, and delivery model.
If your margin is below 15%, small surprises can wipe out profit quickly. If you’re highly specialized, 25%–35% can be realistic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Rent, tools, subscriptions, insurance, taxes/fees, marketing, admin costs, and contractor costs.

Many agencies use 50–70%. If you do lots of sales/admin, start at 50–60%.

Because billable hours are usually far lower than “working hours,” and profit/buffer must be included for sustainability.

Projects are usually better when scope is clear. Hourly can work for ongoing or uncertain scope work.

Yes — enter retainer hours/month to estimate a baseline monthly retainer.

Add your monthly expenses and desired salary, adjust utilization to reflect billable time, and include profit and buffer. The calculator will estimate your minimum profitable hourly rate.

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