How much should I charge? Models to set your price as a freelancer

Before the models: what your price has to cover

As a freelancer, taxes and contributions still come out of what you invoice, you have business expenses, and not all your hours are billable. Any model has to account for:

• Social Security: 21.4% on 70% of your services.
• Income tax: under the simplified regime, 75% of what you invoice is taxed (a 0.75 coefficient), on which income tax applies according to your bracket.
• Business expenses: software, equipment, accountant, travel.
• Non billable time and time off: holidays, sick days, public holidays, and the time to run the business.

Model 1: cost plus margin

Build from the bottom up: add all your annual costs (personal and business), add the tax and Social Security load, and add the profit margin you want. Divide by the number of truly billable hours per year. It gives you the minimum price below which you are working at a loss.

Model 2: target income

Start from the end: define the net income you need to have per year. From there, work backwards, adding taxes, Social Security, and expenses, until you reach the amount you have to invoice. Divide by billable hours to get the rate. It is useful when you have a clear target for how much you want to take home.

Model 3: market reference

Look at what professionals with similar experience charge in your sector and region. It is not to copy, it is to position yourself: knowing the market average, you decide whether to sit in the high band (more experience, more demand) or lower (starting out, building a portfolio). Combine this with the cost models, so you do not drop below your minimum just to match the market.

Model 4: value based price

Instead of charging by the hour, charge for the value you deliver. If a job saves or generates a lot of money for the client, a price per project or per package can be worth far more than the hours it takes you. This model rewards efficiency: the better and faster you are, the more you earn per effective hour, unlike hourly pricing, which penalizes you for being fast.

Which one to use?

Use the cost and target income models to set your floor (the minimum). Use the market reference and value based price to set your ceiling (how much you can really charge). Your final price lives between the two, and knowing both gives you the confidence to negotiate and to say no to what does not pay off.