Freelance Rate Calculator
Going freelance in Canada? Your old salary is not your hourly rate. This turns the pay you want into the minimum you must charge — after covering the employer CPP match, unbillable time, vacation, and unpaid gaps that a paycheque used to hide.
Your rate depends on how much you can bill
The fewer hours you can invoice each week, the higher every hour has to be. Your current setting is highlighted.
Rate vs weeks off
More time off means the same income is earned over fewer weeks — so your rate rises. Highlighted row is your current setting.
| Weeks off / yr | Billable hrs / yr | Required rate | Rounded rate |
|---|
How this is calculated
The employer burden employees never see
A salary is only part of what an employee costs. Their employer also pays the matching half of CPP, EI at 1.4× the employee rate, plus vacation, statutory holidays, sick days and benefits — together worth roughly 12–18% on top of base pay. As a freelancer you shoulder all of it. That's why dividing a salary by 2,080 hours (52 × 40) badly underprices your work.
The extra CPP you pay
Self-employed Canadians pay both halves of the Canada Pension Plan. We compute your self-employed contribution as cppContribution(income, {selfEmployed:true}) — base + CPP2 — using 2026 figures (5.95% on earnings from the $3,500 exemption up to the $74,600 YMPE, then 4% up to the $85,000 CPP2 ceiling). The extra employer half versus an employee is total ÷ 2, and it's added straight into your required revenue.
No EI (usually)
Self-employed workers don't pay regular EI and can't claim regular EI benefits. You may opt in to EI special benefits (parental, sickness, caregiving) via a voluntary CRA agreement, which then charges the employee EI rate. Because most freelancers don't, EI isn't added here — but budget for it if you plan to opt in.
The formula
Required revenue = (target income + expenses + employer-half CPP) × (1 + buffer%). The buffer covers unpaid gaps between contracts and clients who pay late or not at all. Billable hours per year = hours/week × (52 − weeks off). Your minimum rate = required revenue ÷ billable hours, shown rounded up to the nearest $5 (round numbers quote better), with the exact figure beneath. Day rate uses a 7.5-hour day; the monthly retainer is required revenue ÷ 12.
GST/HST registration at $30k
Once your taxable revenue crosses $30,000 over four consecutive quarters you must register for GST/HST and charge it on top of your rate. It doesn't change the rate you need to earn, but it's real cash flow and paperwork — use the HST/GST Quick Method vs Regular calculator to choose how to remit it and keep more of it.
Sole prop vs incorporation
Below roughly $100k of profit that you fully spend, a sole proprietorship is usually simplest and cheapest; incorporation starts to pay off mainly when you can leave profit in the company to defer tax or need liability protection — talk to an accountant before deciding.
What this doesn't model
Income tax itself (your target is pre-tax — see the income tax calculator), GST/HST cash flow, RRSP/retirement saving beyond CPP, or the value of benefits you may want to self-fund. Rules and CPP figures verified as of July 2026.