The short answer
- The right time is between projects, not during one. A rate change announced mid-project reads as a renegotiation; between projects it reads as a price list update.
- Pick the new number from your real numbers: what the last quarter actually earned per hour, plus what the market pays for what you now do that you didn't a year ago.
- Give existing clients notice - one full cycle is the courteous standard. New clients pay the new rate from the next email.
- Frame it as a schedule, not a request: 'from March 1 my rate is X' not 'would X be okay with you'.
- Expect to lose some clients. That is not the failure mode - working more hours for the old money is.
Picking the number
- Compute your effective hourly rate for the last three months: money received divided by all hours worked, including the unbilled ones. Most freelancers discover this number is 20-40% below what they think they earn.
- List what you can do now that you couldn't a year ago - new skills, faster delivery, fewer mistakes, things you handle that the client used to handle.
- Look at what comparable specialists charge, not what your cheapest client pays. The cheapest client's number is a floor, not a market.
- Choose the new rate, and decide your walk-away rate - the number below which the work is not worth the calendar space. The gap between them is your negotiation room.
- Write both numbers down. A rate you haven't written down is a rate you'll abandon in the first awkward conversation.
The email, in full
Subject: my rate from March 1. Hi - a quick heads-up before your next project. From March 1 my rate is [X]/hour. Projects we've already scoped stay at the current rate, so nothing changes for the work underway. It's been good working with you, and that's exactly why I wanted you to hear it from me early rather than find it on an invoice. If the new number doesn't fit the next budget, tell me - I'd rather know now.
What makes it work: notice, a grandfather rule for current work, no apology, and an explicit invitation to say no. Clients respect all four because each one respects them.
What breaks it: 'unfortunately', 'I hate to do this', explanations of your rent or your bills. Your costs set your floor, not your price - and clients buy outcomes, not overheads.
The reactions, decoded
- 'Fine, noted' - most good clients. They priced you as a professional already.
- 'Can we talk about it' - a negotiation opening. You have walk-away rate written down; this is what it's for.
- Silence, then a project at the old scope - they're hoping it blows over. Send the next invoice at the new rate, cheerfully.
- They leave - the honest outcome. Clients who only worked with you because you were cheap were never going to fund the good work.
The free tool for this
What an hour has to cost to pay you - What an hour has to cost to pay you. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.
If you would rather not build it yourself
Freelance OS prices by conversation: /price works the number from your real ledgers, and /update keeps the rate in every quote and invoice after it. One place the rate lives, everywhere it applies. Freelance OS is $29. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.
Questions people actually ask
How much of an increase is defensible?
10-25% is a normal, defensible step for the same work; more when the work itself has changed. Doubles usually need a new service, not just a new number.
Should I raise rates for everyone at once?
Notice periods make staggering natural: new clients immediately, existing clients at their next project boundary. One policy, two timelines, no one ambushed.