Pricing your freelance work is one of the most challenging parts of freelancing. It can feel weird to put a price tag on your work, especially when you’re just getting started and don’t even know what a “fair” price would be, how much others are charging, and what a client’s budget is.
Fortunately, as more people make the leap to freelance, the conversation around pricing has become more transparent. There are several common ways to structure your pricing that many freelancers have found success with that you can follow.
There's also a newer question you've probably heard by now: "Since you're using AI, can we lower the price?" AI tools have made a lot of freelance work faster to produce, and some clients assume faster should mean cheaper. It doesn't have to.
Let's go over a few elements to consider when determining how much to charge, the common ways to price your work, how to price AI-assisted work, and the best practices to follow around freelance pricing.
Why Hourly Rates Work Against You When You Use AI
Hourly pricing has always had a catch: the better you get at your work, the less you earn for it. If a logo took you ten hours when you started and takes you two now, an hourly rate pays you less for a better logo.
AI makes that catch a lot bigger. Say a client's monthly performance report used to take you four hours: pulling numbers from three platforms, cleaning them up, and writing up what changed. With AI handling the data pulls and a rough summary, it might take you 45 minutes, plus your review. Your client gets the same report. If you bill hourly, you just took an 80% pay cut for doing the job faster.
So if you use AI to work faster, stop pricing most deliverables by the hour. The rest of this guide covers what to do instead.
What Goes Into Freelance Pricing: 3 Factors to Consider
Freelance pricing is nuanced. There are so many factors that can go into what you ultimately charge for your services, but here are a few primary things to consider when putting together your rates.
Your experience
How much experience do you have with the freelance service you’re offering? You don’t need to be an expert in your industry to charge fair prices, but you do need to have some work examples to show potential clients the value you bring.
Set up a portfolio of past projects you’ve worked on to help boost your credibility and showcase your skillset. Having projects to display helps you better pitch yourself and can give you the confidence to charge more.
How much time you spend on projects
While you don’t necessarily need to charge an hourly rate (more on that below), you should have an idea of how long most projects take you to complete. When considering the price you want to charge, make sure the price is worth the time you spend.
If you know that a website redesign typically takes you anywhere from 30-90 days to complete, then that helps you figure out how many projects you can take on. From there, you can determine how much you need to charge to cover your expenses for that time period.
If AI has sped up parts of your process, update those estimates, but use them to plan your capacity, not to set your price. Saving two hours on a first draft means you can take on more work. The client's project isn't worth any less.
What other freelancers are charging
One of the best ways to figure out your pricing is to see what other freelancers are charging. Getting an idea of what people are charging and how much clients are willing to pay can help you realize that you’ve been undercharging and empower you to start charging more.
At Wethos, we always hear from freelancers that they didn’t realize how much they were undercharging until they saw what other freelancers charged for similar services. We provide this insight through our Pricing Recommendations which are crowdsourced from over 100,000 other freelancers like you. See what your peers are charging through our library of 400+ scope of work templates and thousands of pre-built services.
4 Ways to Price Your Work
Knowing what goes into freelance pricing is just half of it. Once you have a general idea of how much you want to charge, the next step is figuring out how to structure your pricing. Here are four common freelance pricing models, starting with the one that holds up best now that AI is part of how so many freelancers work.
1. Value-based
One of the best ways to price your freelance work is through value-based pricing. Value-based pricing is simply charging a price that makes sense based on how much work is involved on your end and how much value the project is bringing to the client. This pricing structure puts an emphasis on the work involved and the results the final project will generate, rather than the hours on the clock.
It's also the model AI can't undercut, because it was never tied to your speed. If a project used to take you 20 hours and now takes five, the result is worth exactly the same to your client. Value-based pricing keeps you getting paid for that result. Our value-based pricing guide walks through how to land on a number by scoring a project on expertise, complexity, time, and uncertainty, including what changes when AI is part of your process.
Explaining value-based pricing to a client who's expecting an hourly quote is easier if you lead with the outcome. Instead of "That's $75 an hour, so about 40 hours," try "This project is $3,200. That covers the strategy, the work itself, and the result you're after." If they push back, ask what that result is worth to their business. That's the number you're really pricing against.
Value-based pricing can be tricky to figure out when you’re first starting out, but with each project you complete, you’ll get a better feel for how much work is involved and the value you bring to the table.
2. Project-based
Another common pricing structure for freelancers is a project-based rate. A project-based price, also called a flat rate, means that you charge a flat fee based on a clear set of deliverables outlined in the scope of work.
Website design and development is a good example of when to use a project-based rate. Let’s say your client wants a website refresh that includes creating a new CMS theme, updating five pages, and reformatting images. With a set of clear deliverables outlined, you can come up with a flat rate that accounts for all of the work involved on your end; this would be your project rate.
Project-based rates are typically based on an internal hourly rate — as in, you don’t give the client your hourly rate, but you know how much time tasks take you and what your target hourly rate is. If you work backward from how much you want your yearly income to be, you can figure out how many projects you’d need and how long it takes you to complete a standard project to determine how much you’d need to charge per project to reach that number.
A benefit of fixed rates is that you know exactly how much you’re going to be paid for the project, and your client knows how much it’s going to cost them. This makes it easier to pitch your services to clients and get to “yes” faster.
Flat rates also work in your favor when AI speeds up your process. Your client pays for the deliverables in the scope, so if you finish faster, you keep the difference instead of handing it back as a smaller invoice.
A potential downside to a project rate is scope creep. Scope creep is what happens when the project starts to change and your price doesn’t account for these changes. For instance, in the website refresh example, scope creep could happen if the client needs additional pages and expects them to be included with the original price you proposed.
3. Retainer
A great way to receive consistent and predictable income is by using retainers to price your work. A freelance retainer contract guarantees an agreed-upon set of deliverables for a set price, usually on a monthly basis. Retainers can be a beneficial way to price freelance work if you’re a social media manager, virtual assistant, email marketer, blog writer, or any other role where you work with a client on an ongoing basis.
Retainers are similar to a project-based rate in that you receive a fixed price for your work which is beneficial if you’re seeking consistent income. But they’re also similar in that they can lead to scope creep. If you want to use retainers for your freelance business, you need to make sure there’s a clear proposal in place that outlines exactly what services and deliverables the retainer includes.
One thing to watch: a retainer written as a list of deliverables (say, ten social posts and two blog articles a month) makes it easy for a client to divide your fee by the number of items and compare each one to what an AI tool costs. Retainers hold up better when they cover ongoing ownership of something, like running a client's content program, with the monthly volume listed as an estimate. Our guide to freelance retainer contracts covers how to set one up.
4. Hourly
When you’re getting started, one way to price your work is with an hourly rate. It’s common for new freelancers to use their previous annual salary as a baseline for pricing their services. For instance, if your annual salary was $100,000, your hourly rate would be about $50 per hour.
Using an hourly rate might make sense depending on the type of service you provide — virtual assistance work may be well-suited for an hourly rate, for example — but it can also be easy to undervalue your work with this pricing structure. At a certain experience level, you may be able to write a blog post or design a logo in under two hours. But the value you’re providing with your service is worth over two hours of work.
Another downside of using an hourly rate is that it’s not a sustainable way to price your work as you scale your freelance business. Not only can it be messy and confusing to track your hours for every project, but hourly rates also put a price tag on your time rather than putting a price on the value you’re providing.
Hourly still has a place for early discovery work, projects where the scope can't be estimated up front, and ongoing support or troubleshooting. But if you use AI to work faster, hourly is the model working hardest against you, since every hour you save comes straight off your invoice.
How to Price AI-Assisted Work
Price the result, not the tool
What it costs you to produce something and what it's worth to your client are two different numbers. Your client is paying for a result: a website that converts, a launch that goes out on time, an inbox that's finally under control. Price that. If you've found a faster way to deliver it, your price doesn't need to change, because the result is worth just as much to your client as it was before.
Offer three options
Instead of one price, give clients a good, better, and best option. A client who wants faster turnaround can pay for the top tier, and nobody walks in assuming speed comes with a discount.
Count your AI skills as expertise
Knowing what to ask an AI tool for, how to edit what it gives you, and when to throw it out and start over takes real skill.
Upwork's 2026 Future Workforce Index shows where that skill pays off. Freelancers on its marketplace doing more complex work with AI saw their earnings rise 45% over the past year. In generative AI and creative production work, per-contract earnings fell 13%. Clients are paying less for raw output and more for someone who knows what to do with it.
Put it in your contract
If AI is part of how you work, it belongs in your contract terms too, so you and your client agree on it before the project starts. See our guide to freelance contract terms for what to include.
Tell clients upfront
A 2026 study of freelancers and their clients found that the most common approach among freelancers was to mention AI only if a client asked. Clients saw it differently: about a quarter of the clients surveyed expected freelancers to disclose AI use upfront, compared with fewer than one in ten freelancers who said they would.
Telling clients early saves you an awkward conversation later. It also lets you describe AI as one part of a process you're responsible for. Something like: "I use AI tools to pull and organize data. I check the numbers, decide what matters, and make the recommendations myself."
What to Say When a Client Thinks AI Made It Easy
Sooner or later, a client will say some version of "Since you're using AI, can we lower the price?"
Don't get defensive or start negotiating the number. Bring the conversation back to the outcome: "My price is based on the result and the judgment behind it, rather than how long it takes me. The faster part benefits you, because you get the work sooner."
It helps to have a comparison ready. Nobody expected photographers to charge less once cameras had autofocus. Clients were paying for knowing what to shoot and how to shoot it, and that's still true. The same goes for your work.
If a current client pushes back when you raise your rates, we've written exact replies, including one that moves the client from an hourly rate to a project fee or retainer. See our email templates for raising your rates.
Freelance Pricing Best Practices
No matter which structure you use to price your work, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to freelance pricing. Whether you’re new to freelancing or have been at it for a few years now, here are a few best practices to follow to make sure you’re getting paid for the value you provide and keeping up with demand.
Track your spending and earnings
As a freelancer, you're also a business owner. And unlike being an employee, your earnings don't just go directly into your pocket. Everything that you earn goes towards paying yourself, paying taxes and expenses (including any AI tools you subscribe to), and paying collaborators or vendors (like an accountant).
Your price directly impacts the rest of your business. That means if you want to earn $60,000 a year for your personal salary, you actually need to earn anywhere from 20-30% more than $60,000 after you factor in taxes and expenses for running your business.
This is why it’s important to track how much you need to earn to cover your personal and business expenses. After seeing exactly how much you’re earning, setting aside for taxes, and spending on expenses, you may just realize that it’s time to raise your rates, which leads to our next best practice…
Raise your freelance rates
Raising your rates is the only way to sustainably grow your freelance business. How often you raise your rates depends on a few factors. For instance, if there’s a ton of demand for your service, you can reasonably raise your rates to accommodate more work. Or, maybe you realize that you’re undercharging based on what other freelancers are charging (more on that below). Some freelancers also choose to raise their rates with every new project that comes their way until they get to a price that feels right. Pro tip: If every client says yes to your rates without question, you’re probably undercharging.
Raising your rates sounds intimidating if you’ve never done it before. There are a couple of ways to increase your pricing: Propose a higher rate for the next project inquiry that comes your way and communicate to your current clients that you’re raising your rates. If you’re raising your rates with current clients, be sure to emphasize the reason for the increase, the value you bring, and options for them if the increase doesn’t work for them.
Create a reliable invoicing process
After you’ve set up your freelance pricing, the next step is getting paid. To make sure you’re getting paid on time and ensuring steady cash flow for your business, review your invoicing and payment process to see how you can improve.
For example, if you find that cash is tight between projects and you’re waiting for your next paid invoice to come through in order to get started with another project, consider adding deposits to your process. Getting an upfront payment can help maintain a steady cash flow so you can continue running your business with peace of mind.
You can also set up a consistent invoicing cadence to make sure you’re getting paid on time, every time. Use an invoicing tool to schedule invoices to automatically send to your client according to your preferred cadence, whether that’s monthly or bi-weekly.
Be aware of what other freelancers charge
As we all know, the economy ebbs and flows, and with it so does the demand for freelancers. Always stay tapped into what other freelancers are charging for their services. You may realize you're significantly undercharging or you may get ideas for services you can offer to make your pricing even more valuable.
AI has pushed earnings down for some freelance work and up for others, so compare yourself with freelancers offering the same service you do.
To get instant insight into what other freelancers charge, refer to the crowdsourced pricing recommendations in our proposal scope of work template library, or by comparing your rates with our proposal pricing calculcator.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Start with what you need to earn (including taxes and business expenses), what freelancers with similar services charge, and the value of the project to your client. Our free Proposal Pricing Calculator shows how your rates compare.
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No. The result is worth the same to your client. Price the outcome, not your hours.
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If every client says yes to your rates without question, you're probably undercharging. Our email templates for raising your rates include what to say when a client pushes back.
Pricing your freelance work can be tricky if you don't know where to start, and AI has added a new question to the mix. But with insights into what others are charging, a few business-minded principles in mind, and a strong understanding of what you bring to the table, you can confidently price your freelance work in a way that makes the most sense for your business.
Wethos analyzes hundreds of thousands of data points to generate proposal and service pricing recommendations for freelancers and studios. See how your rates compare to others with Wethos Proposal Pricing Calculator for free today.