It isn’t easy to put a number on your value. But that’s exactly what we’ll do today. Your experience level affects many parts of the calculation, so be honest here. Still a junior? It’s ok, you’ll get there. Learn, then earn!

Not sure about your hourly rate? Use this table to eyeball it:

Layout is king. It defines how much effort, manual work and creative thinking you’ll need to exercise. It’s what makes projects unique... and hard to price.

For quick and easy layouts, construction is pretty fast: just a few hours per page. More advanced (editorial-style) layouts, with uneven or no grid, advanced storytelling and Jackson Pollock-level messiness will need up to a few days to set up.

Here’s a few examples for each layout category:

Simple: expo.dev - fueled.io - dona.ai
Middling: vectary.com - pitch.com - lance.app
Complex: meridiancapital.fund - zoox.com - chirpley.ai

Unique page layouts are UX-heavy pages that you build out one at a time, Cmd + Tab’ing manically between Webflow and design files. The usual suspects include homepage, about, how-it-works, and unique marketing pages.

Template-based page layouts are structured the same, but you’ll need to load up content and assets manually. For example: service pages, SEO-heavy pages, reusable LPs, custom product categories. List the actual number: the calculator already accounts for the initial effort needed to build the template.

Got pages that load exclusively from CMS? Say, product pages, blog articles, or team member profiles? List them as template-based layouts.

Unique page layouts are UX-heavy pages that you build out one at a time, Cmd + Tab’ing manically between Webflow and design files. The usual suspects include homepage, about, how-it-works, and unique marketing pages.

Template-based page layouts are structured the same, but you’ll need to load up content and assets manually. For example: service pages, SEO-heavy pages, reusable LPs, custom product categories. List the actual number: the calculator already accounts for the initial effort needed to build the template.

Got pages that load exclusively from CMS? Say, product pages, blog articles, or team member profiles? List them as template-based layouts.

Developing interactions is one of the sneakiest time sinks on Webflow. Even easy ones take time and manual work, so make sure you pick the right answer here. Your after-hours life will thank you.

Static websites are just that: no animations, no transitions, no nothing. Or, well, at least the bare minimum, e.g. a few simple hover effects here & there.

Sprinkled animations include fade-ins, parallax effects, onscroll effects, fancy hovers and simple interactions throughout the whole UI.

Advanced interactions include custom JSON or Lottie animations, crazy transitions and advanced scrollytelling. Now THAT is where all the fun’s at!

Setting up a simple CMS (content management system) in Webflow is easy, but takes a few extra hours to do right. Training noob clients to update their blog though? That’ll take a lot of extra zen...

On the other hand, building a dynamic CMS that lets users sort and filter content will require much more time and effort. Especially if you’re new to the game (which is why we’ve asked about your experience level).

Learn more about advanced filtering on Webflow University.

One of my biggest early mistakes was giving all projects the same weight in my heart. “Work’s work,” I would think. Wrong, Stefan! 🚨

You should totally factor in how you feel about the job. You might like it because it’s an intellectual challenge, builds you a neat portfolio, or lets you try new things (e.g. making your first Lottie animations). In that case, it’s ok to charge a bit less so you’re sure you close the deal and start hacking.

The way this works is, each step after the first adds an incremental 15% discount. So the middle option shaves 15%, and the third shaves 30% off your final quote. You can adjust these increments, but in my experience 15% works really well as a golden middle.

Don’t forget that as a Webflow developer you’re running a business, which bears risks, costs, learning, and non-billable admin work on top of the development itself. Therefore it’s a good idea to charge a bit more to keep the boat afloat and sustain your business going forward.

The Profit rate is that extra charge on top of your bilable hours. 20% is usually a good average. Say you work 10 hours at $100/hour. That brings your billable “salary” to $1,000, but you charge your client $1,200 to account for the cost and risk of doing business.

Rush jobs can be surrounded by stress and anxiety, often leading to late nights and hard work. If you accept a rush job that will impact you and your business, a reasonable rush fee shows your client that your time is important and that you have quality standards to uphold.

It depends on your relationship with the client, but a good rush-fee starting point is 25 percent on top of your usual rate. Generally, a smaller project indicates a lower fee and a more extensive project indicates a more substantial fee.

If you decide not to charge a rush fee, either as a favor to a client or because you genuinely want to help, be sure to note "rush fee" with no charge on the invoice. This will help the client understand that you did them a favor, and hopefully encourage them to plan better next time.

Not to be confused with a rush fee, the “efficiency fee” is the extra amount that experienced professionals will charge for: (a) speedy delivery and (b) lower number of billed hours (all within a reasonable deadline). This is why clients dislike being billed arbitrary hourly rates without assurances.

Say you’re building a short but fancy one-pager scrollytelling experience.
As a $100/hr expert you’ll need 8 hours total, crazy interactions and all. You bill $800.

As a less experienced $50/hour developer, you might need up to 20 hours to achieve the same result. You’ll bill $1,000.

Since the expert delivers more value (faster, less risk), it makes sense for them to Kill-Bill the extra 20% (800 is 80% of 1,000) and call it a day. And in case you’re wondering: yes, we recommend the right rate based on your experience/seniority level.

Ah, rush jobs, where today blends with yesterday in a spiral of sleepless late-night insanity. We’ve all been there.

If you accept a rush job that’ll impact your business and well-being, make sure you charge more for it. More importantly, make sure you tell your client about this, so they learn to value your time. Tell them even if you decide not to charge them extra: a “$0” or “0%” rush fee listed in your proposal will communicate clearly that you’re doing them a favor.

How to set your rush fee? 20% is usually a good start, depending on your relationship with your client. Adjust it upward for bigger jobs, as their impact on your workflow will be much deeper than a quick job.

Add your tax rate so we can calculate your actual earnings. Simple and straightforward...

... but here’s a neat bonus trick:

You can also use this field to account for non-billable hours, if significant. For instance, if you’ll be doing a lot of admin work, or Slack chats with designers you don’t feel comfy charging for, add your estimate to that % box and let the calculator work for you.

What a time to be alive, amirite?

A downpayment is the up-front initial payment you’ll ask for before you start the job. Even if you’re loaded with moolah at the moment, it’s a good idea to ask for a downpayment anyway, as this’ll make you come across as more professional and hard to get.

What’s a good downpayment %? Depends on what you’re used to, but anything between 1/3 and 50% is generally a-ok. And as a rule of thumb, the bigger the job, the less you ask in advance.

Sharing your time, attention, and passion among projects can be exhausting. And risky. That’s why your current workload should affect how you quote your next job.

Busy as heck? We’ll recommend charging more and extending your deadline. If the client rejects, no biggie. Free as a bird? It’s ok to charge a bit less to make sure you close the deal. In any case, just write down the number in and let us worry about the math.

The best indicator of availability is how many hours you can commit to the project each week. If you’re a seasoned professional, you’re likely used to tracking your time and juggling multiple jobs, so you can estimate this easily.

If you’re new to the game, don’t you worry. A rough estimate will still work really well. Just pick a realistic number of hours you’re likely to sustain for 3-8 weeks or more.

Beware of being too optimistic. The initial excitement will wane off after a few weeks, so it’s better to be safe than late-nights-sorry.

The deadline buffer adds extra time and breathing space to your workflow, making sure you complete the job on time (and maybe even impress your client with an early delivery).

In my experience, a +25% buffer works wonders. That means, if you need 4 weeks to complete the project, state 5 weeks in your proposal so you have one extra week to account for emergencies and hiccups.

⚠️ Note: this works only if you actually commit to the buffer! Write down 4 weeks in your Asana or crumpled post-it and forget the extra time. Make your very human instinct for procrastination work for you.

Setting up a simple CMS (content management system) in Webflow is easy, but takes a few extra hours to do right. Training noob clients to update their blog though? That’ll take a lot of extra zen...

On the other hand, building a dynamic CMS that lets users sort and filter content will require much more time and effort. Especially if you’re new to the game (which is why we’ve asked about your experience level).

Learn more about advanced filtering on Webflow University.