Price the work.
Know the margin.
A free pricing calculator and field guide for freelance designers. Build a quote from real costs and see what AI changes once you count the review and rework.
Design pricing
calculator.
Start with the five-page website example, then enter your hours, costs, and target margin to see what you could quote. All amounts are in USD.
Project estimate
USDCheck the highlighted inputs to see the estimate.
| Estimate item | Baseline | With AI |
|---|---|---|
| Target fee | ||
| Delivery hours | ||
| Delivery cost | ||
| Contingency reserve | ||
| Planned cost |
Change in delivery cost before contingency and margin.
Ready to turn your estimate into a quote?
See the worked proposalsHow the estimate works
- Baseline delivery cost
- Baseline hours × internal hourly cost, plus direct project costs.
- AI-assisted delivery cost
- Baseline hours minus hours saved plus hours added, at the same hourly cost. Add direct project costs and any extra AI tool costs.
- Planned cost
- Delivery cost plus contingency hours × internal hourly cost.
- Target fee
- Planned cost ÷ (1 − target margin as a decimal). The fee rounds up to the nearest cent.
- Break-even added hours
- Hours saved minus the extra AI tool costs divided by your hourly cost, when that rate is above zero.
The Kindle ebook
From estimate
to proposal.
Follow three client projects from the brief to the fee: a five-page website, a logo redraw versus a redesign, and a brand identity with a manual workflow.
- Three worked project quotes with cost and margin breakdowns
- An AI assessment that includes time spent reviewing output
- Reusable worksheets, proposal language, and a change order
The Kindle edition is forthcoming.
Pricing guides
Use a worked example for the decision in front of you.
Freelance design pricing FAQ
Common questions about estimating, quoting, and comparing design workflows.
How do I calculate a freelance design quote?
Estimate the hours, multiply them by your internal hourly cost, and add direct expenses and contingency. Divide that total by one minus your target margin. For example, 20 hours at $75 plus $150 in expenses and $150 in contingency gives a planned cost of $1,800. At a 25% margin, the target fee is $2,400.
How do I work out my internal hourly cost?
Divide the annual amount your design business needs to cover, including your pay and business overhead, by the project hours you realistically expect to bill. Exclude time for sales, admin, time off, and gaps between projects. Use that cost as an input when you set your client rate or project fee.
What’s the difference between a 25% margin and a 25% markup?
Margin is profit divided by the fee. Markup is profit divided by cost. On $1,800 of planned costs, a 25% markup produces a $2,250 fee and a 20% margin. A 25% margin requires a $2,400 fee.
Should I charge hourly or quote a fixed project fee?
A fixed fee works well when you can describe the deliverables, revisions, and approval process. Hourly billing can suit work whose effort is hard to estimate up front. For a project that needs both, price a small discovery phase first and use what you learn to quote the build.
Should I charge less for AI-assisted design?
Compare the cost of delivering the same scope and quality before changing the fee. Count the time AI replaces, then add prompting, review, rework, and any project-specific tool costs. Use the result alongside the client’s scope, timeline, and budget.
What should a five-page website quote cover?
Specify the pages, who supplies content, what the form or integrations need to do, the review rounds, testing, and handoff. Those decisions drive the hours and cost. Our worked example reaches a $3,200 target fee after adding contingency and a 20% margin.