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Agency Hourly Rate Calculator

What does your agency need to charge per hour to stay profitable? Enter your payroll, overhead, utilization, and target margin, and see the rate update as you type.

Team & Payroll

Count part-timers proportionally (e.g. 2 half-time = 1 FTE)

Employee gross salary; employer contributions are calculated separately

Typical: 20–22% on gross salary (health ~7.3%, pension ~9.3%, care ~1.8%, unemployment ~1.3%, plus levies)

Total payroll costs / month:
Total payroll costs / year:

Overhead

Rent, software, hardware, marketing, insurance etc., Pistacio benchmark: 30–60% of payroll for small agencies

Utilization & Working Hours

Share of working time billed directly to clients. Pistacio benchmark: 65–75% for agencies.

30% Pistacio benchmark: 65–75% 100%

260 working days minus ~30 days holiday/public holidays/sick leave = ~230 days typical

Target Margin

Pistacio benchmark for agencies: 15–25%. Below 10%: critical.

My Current Hourly Rate

Optional: compare against your current rate

Minimum Rate (Break-Even)

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Recommended Rate

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Cost Breakdown

/ Month / Year
Payroll
Overhead
Total costs
Target revenue

Available Hours

Available hours:
Billable ():

Sensitivity

If utilization drops by 5% ():

→ Break-even rate rises to:

You now know your agency's rate. But is your team actually hitting it?

Pistacio shows you real-time utilization and project margin for every team member.

Try Pistacio for free →

Related Tools

Project Profitability Calculator

Calculate the real result of your fixed-price project: quoted vs. actual hours, gross margin, and the effective hourly rate you actually earned.

Utilization Rate Calculator

Measure your team's real utilization rate, compare it against the Pistacio benchmark, and see how much revenue you're leaving on the table.

This calculator is for guidance purposes only and does not replace professional financial advice.

All benchmarks and calculations are based on data available in 2026 and are not legally binding.