A complete guide to calculating your rates, understanding your expenses, and confidently charging what your work is worth.
Introduction: Why Pricing Your Design Work Feels So Hard
One of the most common questions I hear from designers — whether beginners or seasoned freelancers — is:
“How much should I charge for my design services?”
If you’ve ever hesitated when sending a proposal…
If you've ever wondered whether your prices are too high or too low…
If you’ve ever felt unsure about what your time is actually worth…
You're not alone. Pricing is one of the most confusing (and emotional) parts of running a creative business.
The good news?
You can calculate your rate logically, transparently, and confidently — without guessing or comparing yourself to others.
In this article, I’ll walk you through a simple, step-by-step method to calculate:
Your minimum hourly rate
The true cost of your time
Your profit margin
A risk buffer
Taxes
And finally, the exact price you should charge for services like landing pages, websites, logos, or brand identity work
This system works for any design service — whether you’re designing websites, building components in Framer, creating branding, or offering weekly consultancy.
Why Designers Undercharge (and How to Fix It)
Most designers undercharge for one simple reason:
👉 They don’t know their real expenses.
Your pricing should not be a random number.
It should not be based on what someone else charges.
And it definitely should not be based on what you feel the client can afford.
Your pricing should be based on your monthly expenses, the number of hours you actually work, your desired margin, and your risk buffer.
Once you understand these numbers, everything becomes clear.
Let’s break it down.
Step 1: List All Your Monthly Expenses
To calculate your rate, you must first understand what your life costs every month.
This includes personal and professional expenses such as:
Rent or mortgage
Utilities
Food
Services (Figma, Cursor, ChatGPT, Adobe, Notion, etc.)
Coffee
Accounting or bookkeeping
Pet food
Transportation or petrol
These might look like small everyday items, but they add up. And they matter.
For example, your total monthly expenses might come to:
➡️ $7,500 per month
That means:
Unless you earn at least $7,500/mo, you are losing money.
Step 2: Calculate Your Actual Working Hours
Many designers dramatically overestimate how many hours they work.
You may think you work 8 hours a day…
But between emails, calls, revisions, time off, admin, and procrastination — your actual productive hours are much fewer.
Let’s use a realistic example:
5 working days per week
8 hours per day
4 weeks per month
That gives you:
➡️ 160 workable hours per month
Now divide your monthly expenses by those hours:
This is your flat hourly cost.
This means:
If you charge clients $46/hour, you’re not earning profit — you’re only covering expenses.
This is your minimum just to break even.
Step 3: Add Your Margin (Your Profit)
This is where most freelancers struggle.
But it’s actually simple.
Your margin is the percentage you add on top of your base cost so you actually earn a living.
Typical margin:
➡️ 20%–50%
Let’s say you choose 20%:
Now your hourly rate is $56.
If you want more profit, choose 40–60%.
This is YOUR business — you decide.
Step 4: Add Your Risk Buffer
Projects don’t always go as planned.
There are unexpected costs such as:
Extra revisions
Buying a third-party component
Needing additional tools
Underestimating the number of hours
A risk buffer of 10–30% protects you.
Example with a 10% buffer:
Now your rate becomes roughly:
➡️ $62/hour
Step 5: Include Your Income Tax
Finally, don’t forget taxes.
Depending on your country, your income tax might be around:
➡️ 10%–30%
Let’s assume 16%:
Now your final hourly rate is:
⭐ $72/hour (rounded)
This is the hour price your client should pay before any service calculation.
Step 6: Calculate the Price of Each Service
Now that we have your hourly rate, we can calculate the price of anything.
Here are examples:
Landing Page
Estimated 24 hours
Logo Design
Estimated 10 hours
Brand Book
Estimated 50 hours
Multi-Page Website
Estimated 80 hours
You can customize these based on your process and experience.
Examples of Realistic Design Pricing
Designers often ask:
“Is it okay to charge $2,000 for a landing page?”
Yes.
If your numbers support it — absolutely.
“Is $5,000 too much for a website?”
Not at all.
Depending on complexity, $5k–$25k is normal in the professional market.
Most designers undercharge because they pick numbers emotionally, not logically.
This method removes emotion.
It gives you clarity and confidence.
Why This Pricing Method Works
This system is powerful because it’s:
Transparent — you always know why you charge what you charge
Flexible — you can update inputs anytime
Scalable — as your expenses grow, your rate grows
Client-friendly — you can explain it easily if needed
Fair — it protects your time and prevents burnout
You’re no longer guessing.
You’re running your design business like a professional.
A Tool to Make Pricing Easier
In my video, I introduce a custom-built Framer Pricing Calculator — an interactive component that allows you to:
Input expenses
Set working hours
Calculate your hourly rate
Add margin, buffer, and taxes
Instantly see the prices for your services
The tool works 100% on the frontend and does not save your data.
I highly recommend using it to streamline your pricing workflow.
👉 Watch the video tutorial to see how it works.
Conclusion: Charge Based on Logic, Not Emotion
Pricing doesn’t have to be stressful.
Once you understand your numbers — your expenses, working hours, margins, and risks — everything becomes clear.
You deserve to get paid fairly for your creativity, skill, and experience.
Stop guessing.
Stop undercharging.
Start pricing your design services with confidence.
👉 Watch the full video tutorial to learn the method and use the calculator.
👉 Calculate your hourly price here.
