How to calculate project profit
Project profit = project fee − team & subcontractor costs − tools & other costs − platform & payment fees − tax. Divide the profit by the fee for your profit margin. For example, a $5,000 project with a $600 developer, a $150 copywriter, $250 of tools and assets and $150 in payment fees leaves $3,850 before tax — a 77% margin before tax.
Your real hourly rate
Fixed-price projects hide a trap: if the work takes longer than planned, your hourly rate falls. The calculator compares the hours you estimated with the hours you actually spent. If you planned 60 hours but worked 75, your effective rate drops by 20% — that is the real cost of scope creep.
What is a good project profit margin?
Many agencies aim for 20–30% net margin after paying everyone, including themselves. Solo freelancers who do not pay themselves a separate wage often see 60–80% because their own time is the main cost. Enter your own hourly cost to see the margin a business would see.
How to protect your margin
- Track hours on every fixed-price project, even if the client never sees them.
- Write a clear scope and price change requests separately.
- Add a buffer to estimates based on how far over you usually run.
- Check the break-even fee before you accept a low budget.
Did this project really make money?
A project fee is not profit. Enter what the client paid and everything it cost to find your real profit and your real hourly rate.
Example with the defaults
| Project fee | $5,000 |
| Team: developer 20 h × $30, copywriter 6 h × $25 | −$750 |
| Software, tools, stock assets | −$250 |
| Payment fees (3%) | −$150 |
| Tax set aside (20%) | −$770 |
| Profit | $3,080 — margin 61.6% |
Scope creep, in numbers
You estimated 60 hours but spent 75. The calculator shows the hourly rate you planned ($64.17) and the one you got ($51.33). That gap is the cost of extra requests you didn’t charge for.
Use it to price the next project better
- Track hours as you go and update “hours actually spent”.
- If the real hourly rate keeps falling below your target, raise prices or limit revisions.
- Add your own hourly cost to see profit after paying yourself, not only before.
Quote the next one with the project quote calculator.