About FreelancerForge

Why this exists

I build software and business tools, and I work on digitalisation and sales at a German measurement-technology company. That work is where this site started: watching how much of a small business's margin quietly disappears into decisions nobody ever writes down.

Freelancers have the same problem in a sharper form. Almost everyone I have asked how they set their rate gave the same answer — some version of "it felt about right", or "that's what the last client paid". Nobody had done the arithmetic, because the arithmetic is boring and no one hands you the formula when you go independent.

So I wrote the formulas down and put a calculator in front of each one. Every tool here runs in your browser, needs no signup, and shows its working — if a number surprises you, you can see exactly which assumption produced it and change it.

How the numbers are worked out

Every calculator here starts from a formula written out in plain language on the page itself, so you can see which assumption produced which number. Where a tool implements a published rule — a tax rate, a statutory interest entitlement, a contribution ceiling — the page links the authority that sets it, and the figures that change annually are editable inputs rather than constants buried in the code, so the tool still works when you are filing for a different year.

The deeper pages carry a fully worked example: a realistic scenario with real figures carried through every step, so you can check the arithmetic instead of trusting it. When a rule is genuinely uncertain or varies by country, the page says so rather than picking a number and sounding confident.

Found a mistake? That is the most useful message you can send me — tell me which page and which figure and I will fix it. Get in touch.

How the site is funded

All 24 calculators are free, run entirely in your browser, and need no signup. Your numbers are never sent to a server — there is no server to send them to.

The site is funded by display advertising and by affiliate partnerships with tools this audience already uses. When a link earns a commission it is marked as a partner link and costs you nothing extra, and partner tools only appear where they are relevant to the calculator you are on. Nothing on this site is ranked, recommended, or worded differently because of what it pays.

What this is not

I am not an accountant, a tax adviser, or a lawyer, and nothing here is advice in any of those senses. The tax tools implement published, simplified rules and show the formula they use, so you can check them against your own situation or take the numbers to someone qualified.

Tax rules in particular vary by country and change from year to year. The calculators are for planning and orientation — for a decision that matters, take the numbers to someone qualified in your jurisdiction.