Why this exists

The problem with freelance pricing

Freelancers undercharge. Not because they lack confidence — but because they lack data. The market rates that corporations and large agencies use to benchmark compensation are buried in government databases, behind expensive research subscriptions, or scattered across forums with anecdotal sample sizes.

The result: freelancers guess. They anchor to what their last client paid, what a friend charges, or what feels right. None of those are defensible. None of them account for overhead, taxes, regional costs, or market positioning.

Who built this

WhatShouldICharge was built by Smith Shah, a builder and SEO growth leader. The goal was simple: give independent professionals access to the same market intelligence that hiring managers use when setting salaries.

The formula is transparent, the data sources are cited, and the methodology is published. If you disagree with something, the formula is right there to challenge.

The data sources

The AI stance

It is 2026. Pretending AI does not affect freelance work would be dishonest. This tool accounts for AI tool subscription costs as a business expense — because they are.

It also gives you an AI efficiency multiplier that shows how AI affects your effective hourly rate when you produce the same output in less time. The position of this tool: AI tools increase your margin. They are not a reason to lower your rates. The client pays for the output, not the hours.