Freelance Runway & Revenue Buffer Calculator
Estimate cash runway and an hourly revenue target using your own spending, contingency and billable hours.
Quick answer: Use savings to measure how long you can cover spending with no revenue. Use billable hours and a chosen contingency to estimate a revenue target. Neither is a probability of success. Use your own numbers below.
The target covers only entered spending and contingency. Add business expenses and tax reserves to your budget as appropriate. It is not a validated risk score or a guaranteed safe rate.
When to use this tool:
- Assess freelance viability
- Set emergency fund goals
- Price risk into contract rates
How it's Calculated
- Runway = available savings / monthly spending.
- Annual target = monthly spending × 12 × (1 + contingency / 100).
- Hourly target = annual target / expected annual billable hours.
Key Assumptions
Defaults are example inputs. See methodology and corrections for how to check results, or report an issue.
- Contingency is an extra budget allowance, not the probability of losing a contract.
- Billable hours exclude admin, unpaid leave and gaps. Do not count the same lost hours twice.
- No revenue is assumed during the runway calculation.
Actionable Insights
- At $4,000 spending and $24,000 savings, a no-revenue runway is six months.
- A 20% contingency raises a $48,000 annual spending target to $57,600; over 1,000 billable hours that is $57.60/hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
An amount you choose to add to your annual budget for uncertainty.
Hours you expect clients to pay for, after leave, sales, admin and gaps.
No universal number guarantees safety. Consider dependents, fixed bills and alternative income.
Liquid funds remaining after taxes and committed payments.
Only to the extent you include tax reserves in the entered budget.
The previous score was an arbitrary formula. It has been removed because it did not estimate a validated probability.
Separate cash reserves from pricing
A high hourly rate does not solve a bill due before the client pays. First estimate cash runway with no revenue. Then calculate how much revenue your paid hours must support.
For example, $4,000 monthly spending with a 20% contingency gives $57,600 annual revenue. At 1,200 billable hours the target is $48/hour; at 800 hours it is $72/hour. These figures cover only the budget entered, not an additional salary or taxes omitted from that budget.
Run a lower-hours scenario and check invoice due dates separately. Use the freelance rate calculator for a salary target plus overhead, or the contractor comparison to compare a specific offer.
Sources and scope
Examples use US dollars and US workplace terminology. Change the inputs to match your benefits and costs. These are comparison models, not tax-return or payroll calculations.