Enter what you want to take home — see exactly what to charge after any payment processor's fees.
Most fee calculators run the math forward: enter what a client pays, see what the processor takes. That's useful after the fact — but useless when you're writing an invoice. To set a price that nets you a specific amount, you need the calculation in reverse.
This calculator works backwards from your desired take-home. Enter what you want to keep, choose a fee structure (or use the default 2.9% + $0.30 that matches Stripe, PayPal, and Square), and get the exact invoice total. The math is simple but error-prone: Invoice = (Take-Home + Flat Fee) ÷ (1 − Percentage). Adding the percentage manually doesn't work because the fee then applies to the markup too.
| Processor | Standard Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 | Online card payments, no monthly fees |
| PayPal | 2.9% + $0.30 | Commercial invoices, US domestic |
| Square | 2.6% + $0.10 | Online (in-person is 2.6% + $0.10 too) |
| Stripe ACH | 0.8% (capped at $5) | Bank transfer, much cheaper for large invoices |
| Wise Business | ~0.4–1% + small flat | International transfers, varies by currency |
| Fiverr | 20% | Use Fiverr calculator |
| Upwork | 5–20% sliding | Use Upwork calculator |
A reverse fee calculator works backwards from your desired take-home. Instead of taking a percentage off a charge to show what's left, it tells you exactly what to invoice so that after the processor's fee, the amount remaining matches what you want to keep. It's the math freelancers actually need when quoting clients.
Because the fee applies to the full invoice, not just your take-home. If you simply add 2.9% to $500, you get $514.50 — but the processor then fees that whole amount ($514.50 × 2.9% + $0.30 = $15.22), leaving you with $499.28. Close, but short. The correct formula is Invoice = (Take-Home + Flat) ÷ (1 − Percentage), which gives $515.24 for the same target. This calculator runs that math instantly.
The default 2.9% + $0.30 matches the standard rate for Stripe, PayPal (US domestic commercial), and Square — covering the vast majority of online card payments for freelancers in the US. Use the preset buttons to switch to Square (2.6% + $0.10) or ACH (0.8% capped at $5), or enter custom values for any other processor. For platforms with fundamentally different structures — Fiverr's flat 20% or Upwork's sliding scale — use the dedicated calculators in the nav.
You can enter any percentage and any flat fee, so yes — it works for international rates too. Stripe and PayPal both add roughly 1.5% for international cards plus another 1% for currency conversion, so you'd set the percentage to about 5.4% with the same $0.30 flat fee. For a cleaner solution to international invoicing entirely, consider Wise Business or Payoneer.
No. All calculations happen entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, stored, or shared. We use Google Analytics for anonymised usage insights only.
3 habits that turn this tool into a pricing advantage
Your hourly rate or project quote should represent what you take home, not what the client pays. Every time you send an invoice, run it through this calculator first. The 30-second habit prevents the slow erosion of margin that happens when you eyeball the markup. Over 12 months and 100 invoices, the difference adds up to thousands.
The flat fee becomes negligible on large invoices, but the percentage is the killer. On a $5,000 card payment, the processor keeps roughly $145. The same invoice paid by ACH costs $5. Switch your default for invoices over a threshold (typically $500–$1,000) and you'll keep an extra few hundred dollars per month.
Many freelancers feel awkward about building fees into their price. Don't. Use a single rate that already covers it, and if asked, explain it clearly: "Card payment processing adds 3% to my net rate." Clients respect this more than discovering later that you're absorbing the fee yourself and quietly resenting it.