Calculate defensible hourly and retainer pricing for fractional work based on real costs, risk, and what you actually take home.
This calculator helps you estimate what to charge for fractional work by accounting for:
It shows both your take home reality and the client’s cost comparison so you can price work sustainably and confidently.
The goal is to understand whether a rate is sustainable, not to optimize for the highest number.
Define the economics of your overall business.
Apply your rates to a specific opportunity.
For 10 hours/week of focused engagement.
*Includes premium for fractional availability and expertise.
How this engagement fits your business goals.
Break-Even Rate
$147 /hr
Minimum to cover costs
Contribution to Goal
72%
of monthly revenue target
Total Monthly Revenue Target: $17,683
To take home $12,000, your practice needs to invoice $17,683 total.
Why this is a deal for them.
*This is an estimate of what a full-time hire would typically cost including salary and overhead. It is used for comparison only.
This engagement costs approximately 52% of a comparable full-time hire.
This calculator shows the difference between what a client pays and what you actually take home after accounting for non-billable time, overhead, and risk.
If the recommended pricing feels higher than expected, that’s usually because fractional work absorbs costs that full-time roles do not.
The goal is not to maximize your rate; it’s to make sure your pricing is sustainable.
Export a clean breakdown you can send to a client or use in negotiations.
Turn this into a client-ready rate cardEverything you need to know about fractional pricing and rate calculation.
This calculator helps you estimate a sustainable rate for fractional or part-time work by accounting for income goals, non-billable time, and business overhead. It shows both what you need to earn and how that compares to the cost of a full-time hire.
This tool is designed for fractional executives and operators, senior ICs doing part-time or retained work, and founders offering advisory or embedded roles. It is not meant for hourly freelancers or project-based consulting.
Most people underprice fractional work by ignoring non-billable time, underestimating risk and downtime, and comparing themselves to salaried employees. This calculator shows what your pricing needs to be to stay sustainable.
A fractional role is an ongoing, part-time engagement where you take responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks. Typical commitments range from 5 to 20 hours per week.
Hourly consulting is transactional, whereas fractional work is retained, ongoing, and responsibility-based. Fractional pricing reflects ongoing availability, context ownership, decision-making responsibility, and business risk.
Because fractional professionals do not receive benefits, absorb downtime between clients, carry delivery risk, and spend unpaid time on admin and business development. Higher rates make the model sustainable.
It works backward from your desired monthly take-home, business expenses, non-billable time, and available weekly capacity. From that, it calculates a sustainable hourly rate, a monthly retainer for a given engagement, and whether the work meets your income goals.
Non-billable time includes sales and admin, context switching, learning and prep, and gaps between clients. Ignoring this is the most common pricing mistake.
FTE stands for Full-Time Equivalent. The calculator estimates what a comparable full-time hire would cost, including salary and overhead, and compares that to your fractional cost to provide context, not justification. It is not a recommendation to price yourself like a full-time employee.
Most fractional engagements fall between 5 and 20 hours per week. Beyond that, clients often expect full-time availability.
Monthly retainers are usually better for fractional work because they align expectations, reduce time tracking, and reflect responsibility, not tasks.
In most cases, yes. A full-time hire includes salary, benefits, payroll taxes, ramp time, and management overhead. Fractional work avoids those costs while providing senior-level impact.
If you are fully booked but under-earning, feel pressure to justify your time, or cannot take time off without income loss, your rate is likely too low.
This tool is not designed for hourly freelancers, project-only consultants, agencies, or entry-level roles.