Educational product · Hourly rate

Hourly rate calculator

Reach an honest minimum hourly rate: enter the salary you want, your tool costs, taxes and reserves, and how your time splits between billable and non-billable hours. It computes instantly, in your browser.

The monthly pay you want to take home — still before taxes, costs or reserve.

Software, subscriptions and other costs. Annual items are divided by 12 into the monthly total. Use “Other” for study, travel, electricity, etc.

Total costs / month: R$ 0

Hours per week (absolute values, can exceed 40h). Only billable hours divide the revenue — that's why the rate is higher than salary ÷ 160.

Total hours / week: 40

Billable hours / month: 86

Billable share: 50%

R$ 0 Required revenue / month
0 Billable hours / month
R$ 0 Minimum hourly rate
R$ 0 Bare hourly rate (salary only)
R$ 0 Real hourly rate (with costs + taxes + reserve)

The gap between the bare and the real hourly rate shows the weight of costs, taxes and non-billable time.

Why calculate your hourly rate

Dividing your desired salary by 160 hours is the wrong math. It seems intuitive — a month has about 160 working hours — but much of your time isn't billable: prospecting, sales meetings, client management, admin and study don't go on the invoice. If you only charge for truly productive hours, the divisor is far smaller than 160, and the rate must be higher to close the month.

Net salary is not revenue. What you want to take home is only part of what you need to bill. Before it come fixed costs (software, subscriptions, study), a reserve for vacation, year-end bonus and surprises, and taxes — which fall on revenue, not on the net. That's why required revenue is higher than the salary, and tax is computed as a fraction of the total billed.

This number is a floor, not a ceiling. The minimum hourly rate is the point where you cover costs, taxes, reserve and the salary you want — working the billable hours you entered. Specific projects can (and should) charge more, depending on perceived value, urgency and complexity. Take this value to the Project pricing tool and see how it translates into a price per delivery.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't dividing salary by 160 hours enough?

Because not every working hour is billable. Prospecting, sales, client management, admin and study take time and don't go on the invoice. If your month has, say, 86 truly billable hours, revenue must be divided by 86 (not 160) — which raises the rate.

How do taxes and the reserve fit in?

The reserve is a percentage over salary + costs, covering vacation, year-end bonus and surprises, added up front. Taxes fall on revenue, not on the net: that's why the base is divided by (1 − rate), so the resulting tax is exactly the rate applied to the total billed.

Can I use this value directly in a quote?

Use it as a starting point (a floor). It ensures you don't charge below cost. For a specific project, take the value to the Project pricing tool, which estimates hours per delivery and applies volume discounts and third-party costs.

Is the tool free?

Yes. It's part of the EduBuilders Toolbox, a collection of free tools for instructional designers, L&D professionals and educators. No sign-up, no login.

What is EduBuilders?

EduBuilders is an educational-product studio working at the intersection of education, technology and AI. Besides building digital learning products, it maintains the EduBuilders Toolbox: free tools made by someone who actually works in Instructional Design.

Who is Ivan Chagas?

Ivan Chagas is an instructional designer, educational-product builder and founder of EduBuilders. He has worked in education since 2012, at the intersection of instructional design, artificial intelligence and learning technology, and built these tools to solve real problems for course builders.