Project Profit Calculator
Enter your project revenue and total costs to instantly calculate your profit and profit margin percentage.
How to Use This Tool
Enter your total project revenue
The full amount the client is paying for the project.
Enter your total project costs
Subcontractors, tools, materials — every direct expense.
Add hours spent (optional)
If you want to see your effective hourly earnings too.
Click "Calculate profit"
See your profit, margin, and effective rate instantly.
About the Project Profit Calculator
Revenue alone doesn't tell you whether a project was actually worthwhile — a $5,000 project with $4,000 in subcontractor and tool costs is far less profitable than a $2,000 project with no costs at all, even though the first project brought in more total revenue.
This calculator computes your actual profit (revenue minus costs) and, more usefully, your profit margin as a percentage — a normalized figure that lets you compare profitability across projects of very different sizes on equal footing.
If you also enter the hours spent, it calculates your effective hourly earnings after costs, which is often the most honest number for deciding whether a particular type of project, or a particular client relationship, is actually worth your time going forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's a good profit margin for a freelance project?
This varies significantly by industry and project type, but many freelancers aim for at least 50-70% margin on service-based work (since their main cost is their own time, not materials), while projects with significant subcontractor or material costs may have naturally lower margins.
Should I include my own time as a "cost" in this calculator?
No — this calculator treats your own labor as what generates the profit, not as a cost to subtract. Only include actual out-of-pocket expenses (subcontractors, tools, materials) as costs; your time is reflected in the effective hourly rate figure instead.
Why is profit margin more useful than just looking at total profit dollars?
Profit margin normalizes for project size, letting you compare a small project to a large one fairly. A $10,000 project with $2,000 profit (20% margin) is actually less efficient than a $2,000 project with $1,000 profit (50% margin), even though the first has more total dollars.
What should I do if a project's profit margin is too low?
Consider whether you can increase your rate for similar future projects, reduce costs by finding more affordable tools or subcontractors, or decide whether that type of project is worth continuing to take on at all compared to more profitable alternatives.
Does this calculator account for taxes on the profit?
No — this shows pre-tax project profit. Use the Freelance Tax Calculator separately to estimate how much of your overall freelance income, including this project's profit, you'll owe in taxes.
Can I use this for a project that's still in progress?
Yes — you can run projected numbers using your quoted revenue and estimated costs before finishing, then re-run it with actual final numbers once the project wraps up to see how your estimate compared to reality.