DJ Gig Profit Calculator — profit per hour worked and price floor by package

Your packages

Package, price, event hours, cost per gig, gigs per month (one per line)

Your business

Monthly overhead: gear set-aside, insurance, music pool, software ($)

Hours you can work per week

Weeks worked per year

Setup, travel and teardown hours per gig

Planning and consultation hours per gig

Card fee (%)

Take-home target per hour worked ($)

Average tip (% of price)

Lead marketplace fee (% of price)

Agency: share of price you keep (%)

Agency: share of overhead you still cover (%)

Gigs kept after a raise (%)

Event hours are the hours you play; setup, travel, teardown and planning hours are added to every gig. Overhead is spread over the hours you can work, not the hours you fill. Gigs per month are converted to a weekly mix using your weeks per year.

Add your packages, then click Calculate.

Build a quote

Price one gig from the bottom up: base package, add-ons, every unpaid hour, gear wear, mileage, fees and a second operator. You get your effective hourly, the break-even price, the price that hits your target, a deposit schedule, a good / better / best ladder and the price per gig that reaches an annual income goal with a peak and off-season split. Guide: how much should a wedding DJ charge.

Add-ons: name, client price, your cost, extra hours, tier (good, better or best), one per line

Base package: hours you play

Base package price ($)

Load-in, setup, teardown and load-out hours

Consultation, planning and music prep hours

Round-trip driving hours

Round-trip miles

Vehicle cost per mile ($)

Gear that goes on every gig: purchase price ($)

Gigs that gear should last

Insurance per year ($)

Software and music pool per year ($)

Gigs per year (spreads insurance and software)

Card fee (%)

Marketplace lead fee on this booking (%, 0 if direct)

Second operator hours

Second operator pay per hour ($)

Overtime hours you expect

Overtime rate you charge per hour ($)

Take-home target per hour worked ($)

Deposit (%)

Balance due this many days before

Annual take-home goal ($)

Peak-season gigs per year

Off-season gigs per year

Peak-season price premium (%)

The add-ons ticked below are included in the quote price; the ladder prices each tier from its own hours and costs.

Enter your numbers, then click Build the quote.

Where the hours and money go

Line	Amount

Payment schedule

Payment	Amount

Good, better, best (price floors at your hourly target)

Tier	Includes	Hours worked	Price	Profit	Per hour

Reaching your annual goal

Result

Profit per hour worked by package

Package	Price	Slot (hours)	Profit / hour	Price for target	Vs target

Direct clients, lead marketplace or agency

Model	Per week	Per hour worked	Per year

Raise break-even: what a price raise can cost

Raise	Extra per week	Gigs you can lose first	Weekly change at your retention

How it is calculated

Slot: event hours plus setup and planning hours. Overhead per hour: monthly overhead × 12 ÷ (hours per week × weeks per year). Contribution: price × (1 − card fee) − gig costs. Profit per hour: contribution ÷ slot hours − overhead per hour. Price for target: ((target + overhead per hour) × slot hours + gig costs) ÷ (1 − card fee). Lead marketplace: price × (1 − lead fee), then the same costs and overhead. Agency: your share of price plus tips, less gig costs and the share of overhead you still carry.

Not modelled: payroll and self-employment tax, sales tax, deposits and cancellations, overtime clauses, the extra bookings a marketplace or agency may bring, seasonality, and local market prices. Unverified: tested on hand-calculated examples, not against a real DJ's books.

Common questions

How much should a DJ charge for a wedding?

Work backwards from the hours. Add the event hours to setup, travel and consultation time, multiply by the hourly take-home you want plus your overhead per working hour, add the gig's own costs such as fuel, a helper and lighting rental, then divide by one minus your card fee. That is the price floor. This tool does the arithmetic from your own figures; it does not know what weddings cost in your town.

Why does setup and travel time matter so much?

A five-hour reception is rarely five hours of work. Load-in, soundcheck, travel, teardown and planning calls often double the time, so an hourly rate quoted on event hours alone overstates what you earn per hour worked. Enter your real setup and prep hours and the table shows profit per hour worked.

What should go in monthly overhead?

Gear replacement set-aside, insurance, music pool and software subscriptions, website, vehicle costs not tied to one gig, storage and marketing. Overhead is spread over the hours you can work each week, not the hours you happen to fill.

Is a lead marketplace or an agency worth it?

The tool replays your monthly mix three ways: direct clients, a lead marketplace that takes a percentage of each booked gig, and subcontracting for an agency that keeps part of the price. It compares weekly income and income per hour worked. It does not value the extra bookings a marketplace or agency might send you, so compare the result with how many more gigs you expect.

Is a price raise worth the clients I might lose?

The raise table shows the share of gigs you could lose before a price rise costs you money. Overhead does not shrink when clients leave, so the break-even loss is the extra revenue divided by the new total contribution.

Does it include tips?

Enter a tip percentage and it adds tips to the model comparison. Tips are not included in the price floor.

Is my information uploaded?

No. The calculation runs in your browser from figures you type, nothing is sent to a server, there are no accounts, and it works offline after the page loads. No client or event details are needed or accepted.