Rates, retainers, invoices, late payments, cash-flow cushions, contracts — type your question and get a straight answer in seconds. The full detailed report costs less than a cup of coffee: $2.95.
Freelance platforms are a gift and a tax in one: they bring you clients you would never have found, handle payments, and take a percentage of everything you earn while doing it. That percentage — commonly ten to twenty percent, sometimes more with buyer fees and proposal subscriptions — comes straight off your top line, which means on a twenty-percent platform you work the first hour of every five for the platform itself. The number that actually matters is your effective hourly rate after fees: gross earnings divided by every hour the platform work takes, minus the cut. Comparing that figure across platforms — and against direct clients — turns a vague sense of being underpaid into a decision you can make on evidence. This calculator does the arithmetic for you.
Freelance platforms take a cut of everything you earn — 10% here, 20% there — and the effective hourly rate is what actually pays your rent. Compare the real take-home.
Fees change constantly and vary by tier, country and service — always check the current schedule rather than trusting a remembered figure. As a rough guide, many general platforms charge around 10-20% of each payment.
Absolutely — it is the most skipped number. The hours spent writing proposals, messaging and doing unpaid discovery calls are real work, and they are exactly why your effective rate can be far lower than your headline rate.
Only when the relationship is proven and the rules allow it. The platform's fee buys leads and payment protection; once a client is recurring and trusted, many freelancers transition to direct billing and keep the difference.
Every tool answers instantly from our own knowledge and calculators — no AI wait, no account. Want the deeper, personalised version? Each has a $2.95 full report.