Free calculator · No signup # Utilization rate calculator > A free utilization rate calculator: turn billable and worked hours into your billable share, effective rate, and the yearly cost of untracked time. This utilization rate calculator turns your billable and worked hours into the share you actually bill and the effective rate you keep once the leak is counted. Drag the slider to watch what the untracked hours cost across a year, then let BillNotch catch them automatically. Your numbers Hourly rate $ Billable hours / week Untracked hours / week 5 hrs Quick calls, scope creep, context-switching: the work that never makes the invoice. Weeks worked / year I run a team Multiply the leak across freelancers. You're leaking $20,400 / year in billable work that never lands on an invoice, ~18% of what you bill. Per week $425 Per month $1,700 Per year $20,400 Billable share (utilization) 85% Effective rate $72/hr 28 of 33 worked hours bill, so your $85/hr rate really pays $72/hr. [BillNotch catches this: start your 14-day trial](https://app.billnotch.com/register) Passive tracking. No credit card. Cancel anytime. Shareable result Download the card and post your number. Misery loves an audience. ‖ BillNotch I'm leaking $20,400/year in unbilled work I never invoiced. Found my leak with BillNotch billnotch.com ## How to calculate your utilization rate Your utilization rate is billable hours divided by total hours worked, times 100. If you work 33 hours in a week and bill 28, that is 28 / 33, or 85%. The effective rate is your billed revenue divided by every hour worked, which is always lower than your nominal rate. ## The utilization rate formula utilization = billable hours / hours worked × 100 effective rate = billable revenue / hours worked example: 28 billable of 33 worked = 85% utilization example: 28 × $85 = $2,380, over 33 h = $72/hr effective ## What a good utilization rate is There is no universal target, and no study measures freelancers on their own. Most solo service work lands in a 60 to 75% band once sales, admin, and learning are counted, and a number near 100% almost always means the non-billable hours simply are not being tracked. The [billable utilization rate guide](https://billnotch.com/blog/billable-utilization-rate) has the firm benchmarks and the full method. ## Where the unbilled hours go The gap between worked and billed is rarely one big block. It is the quick call taken between two tasks, the two-minute fix, the context switch back into a client file, the scope creep nobody re-quoted. Each one feels too small to log, and reconstructed on invoice day they vanish entirely, always in the client’s favour. That is the difference between the rate you quote and the rate you keep. [Passive time tracking](https://billnotch.com/automatic-time-tracker) records the whole day so the leak is on the record before you invoice, and BillNotch’s Revenue Leak Finder flags billable work that was tracked but never billed. A periodic [time audit](https://billnotch.com/blog/time-audit) on those records shows exactly where the hours went. ## Related tools - [Billable hours calculator](https://billnotch.com/tools/billable-hours-calculator) totals a week of entries and prices them at your rate. - [Consulting rate calculator](https://billnotch.com/tools/consulting-rate-calculator) works the rate to charge from a target income and utilization. - [Hours to decimal converter](https://billnotch.com/tools/hours-to-decimal) turns 7:30 into 7.5 for billing math. - [Timecard calculator](https://billnotch.com/timecard-calculator) adds clock-in and clock-out times into a weekly total. ## Frequently asked questions What is a good utilization rate? There is no universal target, and no study measures freelancers on their own. Most solo service work sits in a 60 to 75% band once sales, admin, and learning are counted. A number near 100% usually means non-billable time is not being tracked, not that it does not exist. How do I calculate my utilization rate? Divide the hours you can bill by the total hours you worked, then multiply by 100. If you worked 33 hours and 28 were billable, that is 28 / 33, or 85%. Use hours actually worked, not a nominal 40-hour week, so the number reflects the real day. What is the difference between utilization rate and effective rate? Utilization is the share of your hours that are billable. Your effective rate is billable revenue divided by every hour worked, billable and non-billable. At $85 an hour with 85% utilization, the effective rate is about $72, because the unpaid hours still take real time. Why is my utilization lower than I expected? Because the non-billable hours are easy to undercount and the billable ones are easy to forget. Admin, sales, invoicing, and email rarely get logged, and short client tasks slip past on busy days. Tracking the whole day, not just billable time, is the only way to get an honest number. How do I improve my utilization rate? Raise it by capturing every billable minute and cutting or batching the biggest non-billable buckets. Automate invoicing and status updates, qualify leads faster, and reconcile tracked time before you invoice so nothing billable leaks. Improving utilization lifts income without a single rate conversation. Everything runs in your browser. No numbers are sent anywhere, no account required. Canonical: https://billnotch.com/revenue-leak-calculator