For consultants setting their fees
Consulting Rate Calculator With Project Fees
Type your income goal, billable days and costs, or paste a project. Get your day rate, a project fee, three options and a retainer.
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Your rates · 3 days a week, 44 weeks
- Revenue needed$150,000 income + $30,000 costs = $180,000
- Billable days44 weeks × 3 days = 132
- Day rate$180,000 ÷ 132 = $1,364, rounded up to $1,400
- Project fee18 days × $1,400 = $25,200
What you'll get
Your day rate and project fees, with every step of the math
- Your day and hourly rate from income, costs and billable days, every step shown
- A project fee built from days per phase, with three priced options and a retainer
- A check on your billable days, and a floor rate never to go below
Before and after
Your numbers in. Rates and fees you can explain.
I want $150,000 a year before tax and need at least $100,000. I can bill 3 days a week for 44 weeks, and my costs are about $30,000. Pricing an 8-week churn study for a gym chain: kickoff, 12 interviews, data analysis, a workshop and a report. The client says cutting churn by a quarter is worth about $300,000 a year.
Day rate: $180,000 ÷ 132 billable days = $1,364, rounded up to $1,400. Hourly: $175 over 8 hours. Project fee: 18 days × $1,400 = $25,200. Kickoff, 2 days. Interviews, 6 days. Analysis, 5 days. Workshop, 3 days. Report, 2 days. Options: 1. Diagnostic, 13 days, $18,200. 2. Diagnostic, workshop and report, 18 days, $25,200 (recommended). 3. Option 2 plus three months of support, 24 days, $33,600. Retainer: 2 days a month, $2,800. Checks: 88 days a year left for selling and admin, 2 a week. Floor rate: $985 a day. Option 2 returns 11.9 times its fee on the client's $300,000, so there is room to charge more.
Every step is written out, so you can check it, change one input and ask River to rerun the rest.
Why it works
How much should you charge for consulting?
A consulting rate calculator works out the day rate you need from your target income, your yearly business costs and the days you can actually bill. River's version writes out every step of that math, so you can defend the number and change any input. Paste a project as well, and River prices the work from estimated days per phase. You also get three options and a monthly retainer, all built on the same rate. Tap day rate, project fee or retainer to choose which one leads.
Time-based math gives you a floor, not the whole answer. Alan Weiss, author of Value-Based Fees, describes a value-based fee as one based on your contribution to the value the client says it will receive. Consulting Success advises that a value-based price should give the client a 3 to 10 times return. So when your notes say what solving the problem is worth, River shows each option's fee as a multiple of that value, and flags fees that look too low.
Use it when you set or raise your rates, or before you quote a new client. River never presents market rates as facts; if it mentions what others charge, it links the source and its date. When the fee is set, the consulting proposal generator writes the proposal around your three options, and the SOW generator turns the agreed option into a statement of work. With several past projects behind you, the consulting pricing model template checks your day estimates against what they actually took.
What lands in your doc
What's in your consulting fee calculation
- Your day and hourly rate from target income, yearly costs and billable days, every step shown
- A project fee built from estimated days per phase, each estimate marked for you to check
- Three priced options, from the essential scope to the most support, each with days and fee
- A monthly retainer worked out from the same day rate, with the days it includes
- A utilization check showing what your billable days leave for selling, admin and time off
- A floor rate: the lowest day rate that still covers your costs and the income you need
How it works
From your numbers to your fees
Tell River your numbers
Type your target income, billable days and yearly costs, or paste or drop the project to price.
Pick how to price
Tap day rate, project fee or retainer to choose what leads, or skip it and get all three.
Get the math
Your rates, project fee, options, retainer and checks land in your doc, with every step shown.
Adjust and reuse
Change any number and ask River to rerun it, or carry the three options into a proposal.
How to calculate a consulting day rate by hand
Start with the money you need. Add your target income before tax to your yearly business costs: insurance, software, equipment, unbilled travel, accounting, and the health cover and retirement savings an employer used to pay. Set the income figure high enough to cover tax too. In the US, the IRS sets the self-employment tax rate at 15.3% for Social Security and Medicare, and income tax is separate. With a $150,000 income goal and $30,000 of costs (example), you need $180,000 of revenue a year.
Next, count the days you can really bill. A year has about 260 weekdays. Take off holidays, vacation and sick days, then the time spent selling, doing admin and learning, which no client pays for. Consulting Success suggests converting to an hourly figure using realistic billable hours, not a full 40-hour week. Billing three days a week for 44 weeks gives 132 days (example). $180,000 divided by 132 is $1,364, so round up to $1,400 a day, or $175 an hour over eight hours.
Then price the project. Break the scope into phases, estimate the days in each, and multiply by your day rate. HM Treasury's guidance on optimism bias warns that project appraisers tend to be over-optimistic, so check each estimate against similar past work. Offer three options, from the essential scope to the most support. A retainer is the same rate by the month: two days a month at $1,400 is $2,800. Finally, set a floor: your costs plus the income you need, divided by your billable days.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is a consulting day rate, and how do you calculate it?
A consulting day rate is the fee for one day of your time, set so the days you can bill cover your income and costs. Add your target income before tax to your yearly business costs, then divide by your billable days. For example, $180,000 over 132 days is $1,364, rounded up to $1,400 (example). River shows each step so you can change any input.
How much should I charge for consulting?
Enough to clear your floor rate, and as much as the value you create supports. The floor comes from your costs, the income you need and your billable days. The upper end comes from what the result is worth to the client. River works out both from your numbers, and it doesn't quote what other consultants charge unless it can link a dated source.
What is value-based pricing for consultants?
Value-based pricing sets your fee from the result the client gets rather than the time you spend. If a project is worth $300,000 a year to a client (example), a $30,000 fee returns ten times its cost. Consulting Success suggests aiming for a return of 3 to 10 times. River shows that multiple for each option whenever your notes say what the result is worth.
How many days a year can a consultant bill?
Fewer than most people first plan for. Start from 260 weekdays, take off holidays, vacation and sick days, then the time spent finding work, doing admin and learning. River's utilization check shows what your billable days leave for that unpaid work each week, and it flags the plan as tight if less than one day a week remains.
Should I charge a day rate, a project fee or a retainer?
A day rate suits work whose scope is likely to change. A project fee suits a clear scope: the client knows the cost up front, and you keep the gain if you work efficiently. A retainer suits ongoing advice over several months. Tap the one you want to lead with, and River still shows how the others compare at the same rate. Our consulting rates guide compares all five models.
Can it price a project from a client brief or RFP?
Yes. Paste the scope or drop up to ten files, such as the client's brief, an RFP or your call notes. River splits the work into phases, estimates the days for each with its reasoning, and marks every estimate for you to check. Anything the material doesn't settle, such as travel costs or the start date, goes on a list to confirm.
Are my rates and client files private?
Your rates, costs and client files stay in your own River space unless you choose to share them. Under River's privacy policy, nothing you upload trains AI models, and River's AI providers are bound by their agreements with River not to train on it either. Check your client agreement too if the brief is confidential.
Your next step
More for your project
Quote your next fee with the math behind it
Type your income goal, billable days and costs, or paste the project. Every rate and fee shows the steps that produced it.