Freelance business
Freelance rate increase break-even
See the percentage raise and the share of work you could lose before a higher rate earns you less than the old one.
Break-even loss = 1 - old rate / new rate. Raising $80 to $90 is a 12.5% increase, and you still break even if you lose 11.1% of your billable hours. Lose only 5% of 1,000 hours and revenue rises from $80,000 to $85,500.
Your numbers
Result
Worked example
$80 to $90 is a 12.5% raise. Break-even: 1 - 80/90 = 11.1% of hours lost. If you lose 5% of your 1,000 hours you bill 950 hours at $90 = $85,500, up $5,500 from $80,000, and you free 50 hours to spend on new work or rest.
How it works
A raise pays off if the extra rate on the work you keep outweighs the work you lose. The break-even is 1 - old/new. Because losing hours also frees your time, the real break-even is more forgiving if you can fill those hours with other clients; the tool does not assume you can.
How many clients you will lose is your estimate. Raising rates only for new clients, or giving existing clients notice, lowers the risk.
Sources and basis (checked 2026-10-08): arithmetic on the numbers you enter. No published rates, tax rules or benchmarks are built in; any figure described as a rule of thumb is labelled as one. This is a planning estimate, not financial, tax or legal advice.
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FAQ
How much work can I lose before a rate increase hurts?
Divide old rate by new rate and subtract from 1. From $80 to $90 you can lose 11.1% of hours and still earn the same.
How much should I raise my rates?
That is your call. Test a few values here; the break-even shows how much risk each size of raise carries.
Does a higher rate mean more profit?
Not automatically. Profit rises only if revenue rises by more than any cost change; this tool compares revenue only.
What if I can replace the lost hours?
Then the real result is better than shown. Set the loss to 0 to see the gain with full hours.