Working as a freelancer has its cons and pros. Setting the right cost of freelance service offered is very important. Setting the price too low and you’ll end working for free. On the other hand if set the price too high will struggle to get customers.
Freelancers usually set their price on hourly rate or per project. While hourly rates for freelance services highly depends of the country and average salary there, fixed price may not differ so much especially on smaller tasks like photo editing, virtual assistance, SEO tasks and so on.
In general average hourly rates for freelancers and consultants vary depending on factors like industry, skill level and experience ranging between $20 to $45 per hour in areas like marketing, multimedia production, IT, project management, virtual assistance, SEO. This is the estimated price for mid-career freelancers with 3-5 years experience.
On the other hand freelancers from countries with cheap labor are offering the same services at half the price! See Fiverr.
Speaking of quality, price plays a great role when choosing the right candidate to work on a project. Cheaper service isn’t always as good as the service provided by a x5 more expensive seasoned professional. But it is not always the case.
Consider this when hiring a freelancer
The path to hire or get hired is bumpy road
When selecting a freelancer to work on a project, always check their rating and reviews first. If worked on many projects similar to yours and previous customers were very satisfied, should consider hiring this freelancer even if the service is more expensive. Check and compare several service providers and pick the freelancer who was most engaging in terms of communicating with you, asking for more details about the project and even providing concepts and samples.
Go on several freelance marketplaces and compare what you’ll get for the same price. This will give you insights what you’ll get for your money.
Getting back on a freelancer side
Freelancer, the person offering a freelance service, have to make sure that their service price cover all the costs: freelance marketplace fees, money transfer, software and subscriptions costs, taxes, insurance and still get a decent net amount at least 30% higher then your average salary. Consider going a bit lower when setting price for your services to stay competitive as competition is fierce and countless people do the same what you are doing.
If you are just starting to freelance set the price lower. If have years of experience you can monetize that. If offering a unique valuable gig, price it at top dollar.
As said, average hourly rates for freelancers and consultants vary between $20 to $45 per hour depending of the level of expertise and complexity of the project, but consultants charges are at the top end, while the hard work is not that well paid after all. Same as in real life (IRL).
For a task based projects prices vary a lot starting from couple of dollars up to several thousands for large complex projects like application and game development.
After a thorough research, here it is a nonconfirmed but worth to consider list:
Price of a freelance service
Making this list of prices for different freelance services took almost a week to gather comparing services from different providers on many freelance marketplaces and job boards, separated by categories to navigate easier.
- Writing services
- Graphics
- Video and animation
- VA, HR, SEO, sales, marketing and support
- Coding and development
- Accounting, consulting and specialized services
Writing services
Written content is always on demand whether it is an article, blog post, a book, technical writing or anything text related like copywriting, text editing, converting into to audio, transcribing audio and translation to other language. Price for writing services is usually set per written word or per a whole and goes like this:
- 0.01$ – 0.05$ per word. Simplified, it is 10-25$ for a 1000 words article or blog post on average.
- 25-50$ for technical writings per page.
- starting from 50$ and above for low content textbooks or complete 50+ pages book (written by AI).
- transcription service usually cost 10-25 per hour of audio converted into text (some 5-10 pages). May found even cheaper now days.
- translation usually starts from 15-25$ a page or per 1000-1500 words. Some languages cost a lot more then others.
Graphics services
A wide variety of services are offered in this category including small per task pricing, hourly rate or per project price projection. On average graphic design related hourly range is about 20 – 45$ or more per hour, but may find cheaper service, hire new talents or established graphics professionals like the one of our team members.
- AI image generation cost about 5$-10$ per AI image generation per image (at least for the first image).
Isn’t it overpriced?
The task include defining a text prompt to be used, generating few samples in different styles, refining the prompt, test again and tweak few more times. When have the best image generated it is upscaled, enhanced, edited and cropped before delivered to the customer. The whole process takes half an hour for just one prompt generation. Check this gig if need professional AI image generation service .
- Prices for AI image processing tasks like the listed bellow are quite cheaper but result may be far from perfect.
- Retouch is a quick photo editing in order to improve the photo. This include color corrections, removing blemishes, removing and replacing parts of the image etc. Usually done manually in Photoshop or a specialized app. Quick job. Price goes 0.5 – 1$ per image processed.
- Resizing and cropping in order to upscale or downsize an image. Took a minute or 2 to be done. 0.1 – 0.25$ for that.
- Background removal. Done by AI it takes just a minute. Results are not perfect, so if need it done professionally (with a pen and mask tool) be prepared to spend 0.25$-1$ for product shots and 5$+ per photos that include people.
- Graphic design and image edits – include all of above + creating image compositions for various purposes, marketing materials, prints or used on web and social media. You may find the hourly price better option for this kind of freelance service starting from <15$ an hour.
- Logo design and branding costs a lot more. There are some rules to be followed in terms of visual appeal, uniqueness, color combinations, brand recognition etc. Minimum 50 dollars for the logo itself + branding materials for print and screen purposes
- UI/UX. Creating user interfaces that are intuitive and easy to use is the challenge for UI designers. UX designers go a step further creating and improving user experiences of the product design whether it is an app, website or a physical products. Barely find any bellow 25$ an hour.
Video editing
Animation, video creation and video editing are skills on high demand. Basic animation can be divided into image motion (GIF creation) and video creation.
- GIF creation. GIF is the way traditional animation is made – by a sequence of still images (frames) each slightly different from the previous one. Price for a simple GIF with 2-10 frames (1-3 seconds) starts at 10$. More complex animation with longer length and more frames cost up to 50$
- Video creation and video editing is charged per second/minute or per video made. Prices range for 25$ and above per single infomercial of 15-30 seconds or in hourly rate be prepared to spend 25$ per hour if hiring a skilled video editor. Movie professionals are much more expensive than this.
Coding, programming and software development
Coding e.g. programming refers to a software development. Well paid job you can do remotely as a freelancer. Must have the skills and experience to work in:
- Web development – includes creating websites and web based services. Requirements are usually needed in other 2 coding branches. Less paid then the other two, web designers and developers charge at least 20$ an hour.
- App developers create software of all kinds for desktops and mobile apps. Hourly rate is higher then web developers. Can charge per app also. Price varies from 500$ per a simple app with a simple interface to couple of tens of thousands for a complex app with user authentication, database integration and built in functionalities interconnected with third party providers.
- Game developers are usually part of the team that designs, code and release a game. Depending on which aspect of the game developing a freelancer is working on, salary is in the range of the average for that job which may not be so great after all. As a freelancer you may ask your name to be added in game development attribution list, use it in your portfolio or get hired on future projects.
Administrative tasks
- Virtual assistant supports your daily tasks. Consider hiring one if could not manage to do all the work and run a business single handed by your own and focus on more important stuff. Country above average salary + 50% is the cost per hour. May hire freelancers from other countries for <10$ an hour but first make sure they understand the tasks you outsource to them and can communicate fluently.
- Human resources and recruiting staff. Ideal position for extroverts charging x2 from above average salary.
- Search Engine Optimization specialist can improve your SEO by auditing a website and suggesting improvement methods before focusing on particular SEO tasks. A SEO reports itself cost 10$. Additionally you can hire somebody to do SEO outreach, contact potential links, do backlinks, fix technical on-site SEO etc. Hourly range is 10$ and above. Or per task done.
- Marketing and sales support services are usually charged on hourly basis. Hiring a social media marketing or a sales support agent will cost you same as hiring a virtual assistant.
Accounting, legal, consulting and specialized services
You don’t even to be an IT expert to do a freelance. With time you’ll sharpen your skills and become an expert and that is
Becoming an expert in your profession requires skills and years of hard work. People are even unaware of the possibility to monetize their skills and expertise by doing a freelance consulting. Lawyers, accountants, logistic experts but also medical staff and professionals of all kinds of expertise and specialization in any field can offer their services and charge per session.
Meetings are done via conferencing apps you are already using like Zoom, MS Teams or even Skype and Messenger. Price for a single session varies per industry. Charge are no less then 40$ for an hour or less. If using a consultation service be prepared to take notes.
Also there are many remote work positions available for accountants, freight dispatchers, international logistics, information brokers, teleworkers on job boards and company websites. Just have to do a bit research and know what to look.
Final thoughts about pricing a freelance service
Hope this comprehensive post give a insight what is the price of a freelance service. So if you are a freelancer or planning to offer some freelance service in near future this could be your starting point to check competitors price and price your own freelance services accordingly.
One question for you.
What is the price of a freelance service of writing this? Is it worth the time spent in research, writing 1850 words, generating several images with AI, easy navigation and edit everything at end.
What do you think?