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Pricing

Raise your rate, lose a client, still come out ahead. Usually.

The fear: charge more, clients leave, income drops. The math: you can lose a surprising amount of work before a raise stops paying. Run your numbers.

Break-even math, no wishful thinking
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Tax data last updated: July 2026. Sources & methodology

The raise

$/hr
%

10–20% is a normal annual bump; long-underpriced freelancers go higher.

hrs
%

Some clients walk when rates go up. Usually fewer than you fear.

Change in annual revenue
−$1,125

At 10% lost work this raise costs you money — break-even is 9% loss.

Current revenue
$112,500
New rate
$83/hr
New revenue (1,350 hrs)
$111,375
Break-even client loss
9%

The quiet upside this math can't show: losing your lowest-paying clients frees hours for better ones. Raise rates with new clients first, then move existing ones at renewal with 30–60 days' notice.

How this is calculated

We compare your current annual revenue (rate × hours) against the post-raise version, where the rate goes up and the hours go down by whatever client loss you expect. The break-even figure is the interesting output: how much work you could lose before the raise costs you money.

The formula behind it: a raise of R% lets you lose up to 1 − 1/(1+R) of your hours and break even. A 25% raise survives a 20% loss of work. And that's before counting the hours you get back — hours you can sell to better clients or simply not work.

Formula
Break-even loss = 1 − 1 ÷ (1 + raise%)

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Common questions

Fewer than freelancers fear. Switching vendors costs clients time and risk, and a 10–15% increase rarely justifies it. The clients who do leave over a modest raise are usually the ones who were paying least and demanding most — check whether losing them is a loss.
Short, factual, with notice: “Starting March 1, my rate is $X. Current projects finish at the old rate.” No apology, no three-paragraph justification — you're a business updating prices, which businesses do. 30–60 days' notice is standard courtesy.
New clients first, always — they have no anchor, so the new rate is just your rate. Once a few new clients are paying it, you know the market accepts it, and moving existing clients at their next renewal feels routine instead of risky.
Once a year is a defensible rhythm — even 5% keeps pace with your growing skill and rising costs. The freelancers in trouble are the ones still charging their 2019 rate because no single moment ever felt like the right time.