How do I price my freelance design work?
Start from a day rate, not an hourly one: take the annual salary the work would pay in-house, divide by 100, and that's roughly your day rate including the overhead of running yourself. Quote projects as a fixed price built from days, and never send a number before you've heard the scope.
New freelancers underprice because they compare themselves to an hourly wage. Clients aren't buying hours, they're buying an outcome and the risk you take on. A fixed price for a defined scope is easier for them to approve and better for you when you get faster.
Warm leads that don't convert usually die on scope, not price. Write back with three options at three prices and let the client pick. Hop mentors who freelance run this exact conversation with mentees, with their own numbers.
From Hop mentors who've been there
“Laid off and got a job less than 4 months! I can share my journey if you need a help from layoff!”
Chuck Shin · Senior Product Designer at Microsoft AI · on their Hop profile
“At an early stage healthtech startup, I coached a visual designer to transition into product design. She already had strong craft and visual instincts, so our work focused on building product judgment. The shift was not just about learning new UX methods. It was about helping her move beyond visual polish into product thinking: understanding user problems, mapping flows, considering constraints, and explaining the “why” behind her decisions. The result was a more confident designer who could own the problem, not just the pixels. She's now the lead product designer at the company.”
Kasey Randall · Product Design Lead at Posh AI · on their Hop profile
“Got passed over for a promotion and actively listened and reframed my passion into success.”
Ashley Logan Brenner · Creative Director at Imprint · on their Hop profile
Want a specific answer for your situation?
Describe what you're stuck on and Hop matches you to vetted design mentors who can actually help, with a reason why.
Find your mentor