See which clients are actually profitable
Free, no signup. Enter revenue, hours, and costs to get instant estimates of effective hourly rate, profit, and margin. Results are estimates based on the numbers you type.
How the numbers work
Use revenue, hours, and costs from the same project or time period. Your internal hourly cost is what it costs you to deliver an hour of work, including your own time, rather than the rate you bill the client. Labor cost is hours spent × hourly internal cost.
Example: a freelance design project
A freelancer earns $3,000.00 for a project, spends 28 hours at an internal cost of $40.00 per hour, and pays $340.00 in other project costs. Labor costs $1,120.00 (28 × $40.00), so total costs are $1,460.00. Estimated profit is $1,540.00 ($3,000.00 − $1,460.00), the profit margin is 51.3%, and the effective hourly rate before costs is $107.14 ($3,000.00 ÷ 28).
That example uses the calculator's starting values. The margins are illustrations, not targets. Estimates reflect only the costs you enter. With zero revenue, the calculator displays 0% margin; with zero hours, it displays $0 per hour. Those ratios are undefined until you enter a positive denominator. Optional future hours and monthly revenue do not affect these calculations.
Questions people ask
How do I calculate client profitability?+
Take what the client paid, subtract labor (hours times your internal hourly cost) and any other costs, and you have estimated profit. Divide profit by revenue for a margin. These are estimates, not accounting.
What is an effective hourly rate?+
Revenue divided by the hours you actually spent. A $3,000 project that took 28 hours is about $107 an hour before costs. After costs, the leftover profit can be much lower.
How do I know if a client is profitable?+
Compare estimated profit and effective hourly rate to what you need to earn. A client can look large on revenue and still be weak if the hours or extra costs are high. Use the same cost rules for every client you compare.
What costs should I include?+
Include your time at a realistic internal rate, plus contractors, paid ads, stock, travel, and software bought for that client. Skip personal overhead you would pay either way unless you are allocating it on purpose.
What is a good client profit margin?+
It depends on your overhead and how you count your own time. Many freelancers aim for a healthy margin after labor, but there is no universal target. Treat the percentage as a comparison tool, not a grade.
How do I compare clients by profitability?+
Enter each client with the same cost method, then sort by profit, margin, effective hourly rate, or hours. The highest revenue client is not always the one worth repeating.
Is this client profitability calculator free?+
Yes. It is free, with no signup, and results appear instantly in your browser. Nothing is saved on this page. If you later want the client list in a workspace, you can import a spreadsheet into ClientPlot.
Outgrown the spreadsheet? Import it into ClientPlot
Bring your Excel or CSV client tracker into ClientPlot to keep clients, projects, tasks, deadlines, and follow-ups in one workspace. Preview your import, then create a free account to save it.