Free Freelancer Rate Increase Letter Template
Word + Excel
What this is
Who it's for: Freelancers whose rates have stayed flat while their experience, demand or costs have grown.
Raise your rate without an awkward conversation: four ready-to-send letters, a follow-up message and a calculator that works out the new rate from your old rate and increase percentage.
Free in full — download it and use it on your own freelance work.
This is a template, not legal advice and not financial advice. No example figure in the letters or the worksheet is a recommended rate — every number is an illustration of the arithmetic and must be replaced with your own. Nothing here promises a client will accept an increase. Check your contract before changing a rate mid-term, give the notice your contract requires, and never backdate an increase.
User manual
- Pick the letter that fits: annual review, retainer, results-driven or returning-client.
- Work out the new rate in the Excel calculator from your old rate and increase percentage, and check the notice-days column.
- Fill in the brackets, set the effective date, and check your contract before changing a rate mid-term.
- Send the letter, and use the follow-up message if the client does not reply.
Requirements
Word or LibreOffice for the letters; Excel or LibreOffice for the calculator.
Download details
Format: Word + Excel
What is inside: Rate-Increase-Letter-Template.docx + Rate-Increase-Calculator.xlsx + cover.png
Download free — Rate-Increase-Letter-Template.docx (41.1 KB)
- Rate-Increase-Letter-Template.docx — 41.1 KB
- Rate-Increase-Calculator.xlsx — 7.9 KB
Questions
Which letter should I send?
Annual review for a yearly rise, retainer for ongoing work, results-driven when your results justify it, and returning-client when an old client comes back at an old rate.
What if the client says no to the new rate?
Use the scope-adjustment alternative letter: offer less scope at the new rate instead of the same scope for less money.
What does the calculator do?
It turns an old rate and an increase percentage into the increase amount and the new rate, with an effective-date column and a notice-days check, plus blank ready-formatted rows for more clients.
Can I raise a rate in the middle of a contract?
Check your contract first, give the notice your contract requires, and never backdate an increase.
What if a file will not open or a formula does not calculate?
Tell us at [email protected] and it will be fixed or replaced.