This calculator vs. Bonsai
Two different shapes: Bonsai runs your whole freelance business — proposals, contracts, time tracking, invoicing — as an ongoing subscription account. This page is a free, private worksheet for one question — what does this quote actually pay per hour, once every task is counted — before you send it.
What each tool is for
Bonsai is client-management software, sold under an ongoing subscription account to freelancers and small agencies running a full client roster. It builds and sends proposals and contracts with e-signatures, tracks billable and non-billable time across every project, generates and chases invoices, tracks expenses, and estimates quarterly taxes in supported regions, all synced across every client you run. Setting it up means creating an account and configuring your proposal, contract, and invoice templates — not a one-off calculation. Bonsai's own site is not reachable from this session to confirm today's specific plan names, feature tiers, or pricing, so only its well-documented category and identity are stated here: nothing about it is invented, and no dollar figure for it appears on this page.
This calculator does none of that. It does not send proposals, collect e-signatures, track time across a roster, or chase invoices. It takes one proposed quote — price, delivery hours, admin and revision time, overhead, and subcontractor cost — and works out the effective hourly rate you are really being paid once every hidden task is counted, the price that hits your target rate, what a requested discount or a scope change actually costs, and what a mid-project cancellation is worth compared with finishing. It runs free in any browser, keeps no account, and nothing you type is uploaded.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| I run a full client roster and need proposals, e-signed contracts, time tracking, and invoicing handled for me. | Bonsai, or a comparable client-management platform. |
| I have one quote in front of me and want to know my real effective hourly rate before I send it. | This calculator — free, instant, private, no account. |
| A client is asking for a discount, or costs went up before the project starts — what does that do to my rate? | This calculator's discount, cost-rise, and change-order tables. |
| I need e-signatures, a client CRM, and automatic tax estimates across my whole business. | Bonsai, or a comparable platform — this calculator has no proposal, signature, or tax feature at all. |
| How do I calculate my effective hourly rate on a fixed-price quote? | This calculator's worked walkthrough. |
| Do I need an account or a template setup to use the tool? | This calculator: no. Bonsai and comparable client-management platforms are sold through an ongoing account. |
Most freelancers get different value from each: Bonsai (or a comparable client-management platform) for running proposals, contracts, and invoicing across a full roster day to day under an ongoing account, and a private calculator like this one for an instant, no-login check on one quote's effective hourly rate before it is sent. This page's own figures are an arithmetic comparison built from what you typed in, not a contract, an invoice, or a guarantee of profit.
This tool needs no account and no sign-in: it is a static page, the arithmetic runs in your browser, and once it has loaded it keeps working with the connection off. Nothing you type is uploaded.
Common questions
Should I use this calculator or Bonsai?
They do different jobs, and a freelancer running a full client roster will likely end up touching both eventually. Bonsai is client-management software, sold under an ongoing subscription account: it builds and sends proposals and contracts with e-signatures, tracks time across projects, generates and chases invoices, tracks expenses, and estimates quarterly taxes, all synced across every client you run. Setting it up means an account and configuring your proposal, contract, and invoice templates, not a one-off calculation. Bonsai's own site is not reachable from this session to confirm today's specific plan names, feature tiers, or pricing, so only its well-documented category and identity are stated here: nothing about it is invented, and no dollar figure for it appears on this page. This calculator does none of that. It takes one proposed quote — price, delivery hours, admin and revision time, overhead, and subcontractor cost — and works out the effective hourly rate you are really being paid, the price that hits your target rate, and what a client's requested discount or a mid-project cancellation actually costs you, instantly in the browser, with no account and nothing uploaded. A freelancer running proposals, contracts, and invoicing across a full client roster day to day is better served by Bonsai or a comparable client-management platform; a freelancer checking whether one quote in front of them actually pays what they think it does is in the right place here.
Is this page affiliated with Bonsai?
No. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Bonsai (HelloBonsai). Bonsai is a trademark of its owner, named here only to describe what this calculator is and is not.
Open the Quote Margin Check calculator to price your own quote, or read how to calculate your effective hourly rate.