Should you go freelance? And if you already are: is it still worth it? The question tends to surface at a concrete moment. A job offer, a client who balks at your rate, a quiet quarter. That's when you want to know what your hourly rate is worth as a salary.
€85 an hour as a freelancer (ZZP) in the Netherlands is worth about €6,545 gross a month in a full-time job in 2026 (€84,827 a year, including holiday pay). Worth the same means: the same net income to spend on both sides, and the same pension building up. The other way round: to match a salary of €4,500 a month, you need at least €60.36 per billable hour.
The freelancer in this worked example works 36 hours a week, 46 weeks a year: 24 hours on the invoice and 12 on sales, admin and learning. That's 1,656 hours a year, well under the 1,880 of a full-time Dutch job. Per hour worked, €85 is worth even more: as much as a full-time salary of €7,808 a month (per year or per hour worked).
A rate of €85 sounds a lot higher than that monthly salary. But the employee who earns it gets €45 gross per hour worked: roughly half your rate. Putting a freelance rate next to a Dutch salary is comparing apples and oranges, because they don't measure the same thing. A Dutch salary includes holiday pay (vakantiegeld, 8%), pension accrual and paid holidays. As a freelancer you pay for those yourself, along with your business costs, your disability insurance (AOV) and your health-insurance contribution (Zvw).
The tables below work it out, with the 2026 rates and the same engine as the calculator and the Peil app. So the real question isn't whether freelancing pays better than a job. It's whether your rate is high enough to pay for what a job gives you automatically. On a low rate that's hard, on a higher rate steadily easier. Here's why.
From hourly rate to salary
The gross salary worth the same as your hourly rate, at 24 billable hours a week. The line gets slightly steeper as it climbs: at €40 an hour each euro of rate is worth €71 of monthly salary, at €150 already €84.
Hourly rate · Use the arrow keys to move along the rates.
The rates as a table:
| Hourly rate | Gross per month | Per year, incl. holiday pay | Employer pays per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| €40 | €2,834 | €36,734 | €45,917 |
| €50 | €3,648 | €47,275 | €59,093 |
| €60 | €4,470 | €57,932 | €72,416 |
| €70 | €5,293 | €68,599 | €85,749 |
| €80 | €6,116 | €79,267 | €99,083 |
| €85 | €6,545 | €84,827 | €104,950 |
| €90 | €7,017 | €90,946 | €111,375 |
| €100 | €8,007 | €103,774 | €124,845 |
| €110 | €8,922 | €115,624 | €137,287 |
| €125 | €10,294 | €133,404 | €155,956 |
| €150 | €12,633 | €163,722 | €187,790 |
Gross per month excludes the 8% holiday pay, as a Dutch salary offer states it.
Why a higher rate pays off more than proportionally
Part of what freelancing costs doesn't grow with your rate. Your AOV, your laptop, your software and your bookkeeping cost roughly the same at €50 an hour as at €100. In the worked example that's €7,080 a year: at €50 an hour it eats 12.8% of your revenue, at €100 only 6.4%.
So every extra euro of rate yields more the higher your rate already is. Double your rate from €50 to €100, and the matching salary doesn't double: it grows 2.2 times, from €3,648 to €8,007 gross a month.
The client side shows the same. At a salary of €2,500 a month, a freelancer who keeps the same net costs a client almost exactly what an employer would pay: 1% less. At that level there's no room to charge for the risk you carry, such as having no unemployment benefit or sick pay.
At a salary of €6,000 a month, a client is €10,439 a year cheaper off with a freelancer than with an employee (11%). That gap is the room to cover your risk, and it's worth negotiating on. A rate that sounds high can still cost a client less, all in, than someone on the payroll.
This isn't down to experience alone. A higher rate doesn't make your risk smaller; it spreads the same risk over more revenue. And a high rate isn't always worth its weight in gold: in some fields it's high because the costs are high, or because the work is irregular and you invoice fewer hours. Then work it out with your own costs and hours, in the calculator below.
Why a low rate looks cheaper than it is
On a low rate it often feels the other way round, especially in the first years. Take a courier who charges €20 an hour, invoices 36 hours a week and has €150 a month in costs. In the first years the starter's deduction (startersaftrek) pushes the tax down to €1,401 on €33,120 of revenue. That leaves €2,493 a month, and the VAT sitting in the account feels like welcome extra room until the quarterly return.
Seen that way, €20 an hour looks worth €2,731 gross a month. But that figure holds no AOV and no pension. Count them, as a job would provide them, and it's €2,137. The work isn't cheap. The risk just isn't paid for anywhere. As long as you're healthy and there's work, you don't notice. You notice it with a broken leg, or a client who suddenly stops.
It's no coincidence that a new Dutch law takes effect on 31 December 2026: at a rate of €38 an hour or less, an employment contract is then presumed (false self-employment, schijnzelfstandigheid), unless the client shows there isn't one. The €38 is the 2026 amount; it's indexed every year.
What your profession's rate is worth as a salary
These are the average hourly rates from the Dutch Freelance Rate Index (Knab, 20,000+ self-employed), converted with the same assumptions. Across all professions the average is €83, close to the €85 of the worked example.
As a table:
| Profession | Hourly rate | Gross per month | Per year, incl. holiday pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultant | €121 | €9,927 | €128,659 |
| IT / software development | €94 | €7,414 | €96,081 |
| Marketing & communications | €82 | €6,281 | €81,400 |
| Copywriter | €78 | €5,952 | €77,133 |
| Graphic design | €72 | €5,458 | €70,733 |
| Construction & technical trades | €61 | €4,552 | €58,999 |
| Freelance healthcare | €46 | €3,354 | €43,469 |
From salary to hourly rate
What hourly rate do you need to match a salary offer?
| Gross per month | Net per month | Rate needed | Revenue needed per year | Employer pays per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €2,500 | €2,352 | €36.27 | €40,039 | €40,500 |
| €3,000 | €2,659 | €41.85 | €46,201 | €48,600 |
| €3,500 | €2,959 | €47.99 | €52,978 | €56,700 |
| €4,000 | €3,231 | €54.29 | €59,935 | €64,800 |
| €4,500 | €3,485 | €60.36 | €66,641 | €72,900 |
| €5,000 | €3,739 | €66.44 | €73,348 | €81,000 |
| €5,500 | €3,993 | €72.51 | €80,054 | €89,100 |
| €6,000 | €4,247 | €78.59 | €86,761 | €97,200 |
| €7,000 | €4,719 | €89.82 | €99,166 | €111,138 |
| €8,000 | €5,171 | €99.92 | €110,312 | €124,746 |
Net per month is the year's net pay over twelve months, holiday pay included and the employee's pension contribution deducted.
Where the difference goes: €4,500 a month, line by line
Both sides keep €41,817 a year to spend and build up €5,832 of pension. But they get there differently. Pick a salary to compare the two routes:
Amounts per year. Worked example: 24 billable hours a week, 46 weeks, €420 costs and €170 AOV a month.
The same €4,500 a month as a table:
Employed
| Employer pays | €72,900 |
| − Employer charges (20%) | €11,664 |
| − Pension, employer share | €2,916 |
| Salary incl. holiday pay | €58,320 |
| − Pension, employee share | €2,916 |
| − Wage tax (loonheffing) | €13,587 |
| Net | €41,817 |
Freelance
| Revenue (€60.36 × 1,104 hours) | €66,641 |
| − Business costs | €5,040 |
| − Income tax and Zvw | €11,912 |
| − AOV | €2,040 |
| − Pension | €5,832 |
| Net | €41,817 |
What the same value costs a client, and an employer
An employer spends €72,900 a year on a salary of €4,500 a month; a client spends €66,641 on a freelancer who keeps the same net. The chart shows how that gap grows with the salary.
Gross per month · Use the arrow keys to move along the salaries.
Most of the difference is the employer charges: premiums for unemployment benefit (WW), the disability funds and health insurance. A freelancer pays the health-insurance contribution (Zvw) through their tax assessment, covers disability themselves with an AOV, and has no WW. What those premiums cover is under what the number leaves out. The amounts per salary are in the table from salary to hourly rate.
Per year or per hour worked
Everything above compares per year: the same money, however many hours it takes. On the other side there's always a full-time job of 1,880 hours a year. The freelancer in the worked example works 1,656 hours: 1,104 on the invoice, and 552 on sales, admin and learning that nobody pays for.
So at €85 an hour you earn as much as with €6,545 a month, in 224 fewer hours: about 5.5 working weeks a year that are yours. Per hour worked, €85 an hour is worth as much as a full-time salary of €7,808 a month.
The more hours it takes, the smaller that edge. At 40.9 hours a week you work as much as in a full-time job, and the two figures are equal. At 48 hours a week it's €5,270 a month. The yearly figure barely moves: only below 26.6 hours a week do you miss the 1,225-hour test (urencriterium) and its self-employment deduction.
Hours worked per week · Use the arrow keys to move along the hours.
The Lab in Peil makes the same comparison with your own hours. With Include non-billable hours you choose whether only your billable hours count, or all the hours you work.
What the number leaves out
The tables make the income comparable. The protection that comes with a Dutch job is not in them: you can't put a fair price tag on it. Weigh it alongside:
- Illness: a Dutch employer keeps paying at least 70% of your wage for up to two years when you're ill. Short illness is in the 46 working weeks: holidays, a bout of flu and quiet spells fall in the weeks you don't invoice. Long illness you cover as a freelancer with disability insurance (AOV), which usually pays out only after a waiting period.
- Unemployment: an employee gets up to two years of WW after dismissal. There is no insurance for that as a freelancer. When a client goes, you live on your buffer; the reserve calculator shows how many months it bridges.
- Disability after two years: an employee then moves to the WIA. The AOV in this comparison (€170 a month) is what a freelancer pays for it instead. How well it covers depends on the policy, and the premium on your profession and your age: the older you are, the more you pay.
Work it out with your own numbers
The tables use one worked example. Your hours, costs and premiums are probably different:
The job
As an offer states it. With 8% holiday pay that is €58,320 a year.
You as a freelancer
The hours that end up on a client invoice.
Sales, quotes, admin, marketing, learning.
A job pays all 52 weeks. You only invoice the weeks you work: subtract holidays, illness and quiet spells.
1,104 billable of 1,656 hours worked per year.
Software, insurance, workspace, bookkeeper.
The premium as it leaves your account each month.
By default what a job builds up: 10% of the salary. Enter what you really put aside.
As a freelancer you match this with
You match a gross salary of €4,500 a month with about €66,641 in revenue — €60 per hour at 67% billable, including funding your own AOV and pension.
Indicative — not tax advice. Both sides use the 2026 rates and the same calculation core as the Peil app. "Matching" means keeping the same net take-home, and in the fair comparison also being able to fund the AOV and pension an employer would otherwise (partly) pay for. The salary includes holiday pay; employer costs assume ~20% social charges and 5% employer pension on it. Holidays and short illness are in your working weeks. Not in this number: two years of paid sick leave for long illness, and unemployment benefit (WW). As a freelancer you arrange those yourself, with disability insurance (AOV) and a buffer.
The assumptions
- Hours: 24 billable and 12 non-billable hours a week, 46 working weeks. That is 1,104 billable hours a year and 1,656 in total, enough for the 1,225-hour test (urencriterium).
- Freelancer: €420 business costs and €170 AOV a month, building up the same pension the job would. No starter's deduction.
- Employee: 8% holiday pay, 10% pension accrual on the salary (half employer, half employee) and 20% employer charges, up to the maximum premium wage (maximum premieloon, €79,409 in 2026).
- Tax: the 2026 rates, deductions and tax credits, as on Dutch freelance tax figures 2026. No VAT anywhere in these amounts.
Frequently asked questions
What salary is €85 an hour as a freelancer in the Netherlands?
In 2026 about €6,545 gross a month in a full-time job, or €84,827 a year including holiday pay (vakantiegeld). That holds if you invoice 24 hours a week and spend 12 more on other work, 46 weeks a year, with €420 costs and €170 disability insurance (AOV) a month. You then keep the same net income as the employee each year and build up the same pension, in 1,656 hours against the employee's 1,880. An employer spends €104,950 a year on that salary in total.
What freelance rate do I need to match €4,500 gross a month?
About €60.36 per billable hour, or €66,641 revenue a year, with the same assumptions. That leaves €3,485 net a month, as the employee keeps, and pays for your own AOV and the pension a job would build up.
Does Dutch holiday pay count in the comparison?
Yes. A salary of €4,500 a month plus 8% holiday pay is €58,320 a year, all of it taxed and paid to the employee. Holidays themselves are in the number of working weeks: a freelancer does not invoice in those weeks.
Indicative, not tax advice. Work it out: freelance vs employment · net effective hourly rate · Dutch Freelance Rate Index