Freelancing decision

Freelance vs Full-Time

Rate vs salary — the real comparison

Low confidence 0 of 7 inputs yours

Your numbers

Anything you leave alone is treated as an assumption.

Full-time salary assumed

Freelance hourly rate assumed

Billable hours per year assumed

~27 hr/wk after sales, admin and gaps

Business expenses per year assumed

Value of job benefits (health, 401k match) assumed

Extra self-employment tax assumed

Unpaid time off / gaps (weeks/yr) assumed

What matters to you

Weight each factor from 0 to 10. The score moves immediately.

Take-home income 10

Pearto's default is 10 of 10.

Income certainty 9

Pearto's default is 9 of 10.

Benefits and overhead 7

Pearto's default is 7 of 10.

Effective hourly rate 7

What each option pays per hour actually worked. Weighted 7 of 10 — Pearto's default. Pearto's default is 7 of 10.

What Pearto assumed

Nothing below was invented silently. Change any of them above.

Self-employment tax modeled as +7.65% on freelance net.
Billable hours already exclude sales/admin/gap time.
No retirement match available to freelancers.

Pearto Score

83.7 / 100

FULL-TIME is the better fit

FULL-TIME scores 83.74 against FREELANCE's 74.97 — a 8.77-point lead across 4 weighted factors.

Confidence Low

Some important inputs are still assumptions rather than your own numbers.

FREELANCE

Take-home income 96.8

Income certainty 100

Benefits and overhead 0

Effective hourly rate 86.6

FULL-TIME better fit

Take-home income 100

Income certainty 100

Benefits and overhead 42.4

Effective hourly rate 81

FREELANCE FULL-TIME Higher is better for that option. Ratings out of 100.

These factors are computed from your own numbers rather than fixed ratings, so they change when you change an input.

How this score was built

Raw rating × your weight ÷ total weight = the points each factor contributed.

Contributions sum to each option's Pearto Score. Nothing is rounded away.
Factor	Weight	FREELANCE	Points	FULL-TIME	Points
Take-home income	10	96.8	29.33	100	30.30
Income certainty	9	100	27.27	100	27.27
Benefits and overhead	7	0	0	42.4	8.99
Effective hourly rate	7	86.6	18.37	81	17.18
Pearto Score	—	—	74.97	—	83.74

Scenarios

FULL-TIME stays ahead in every scenario tested. The recommendation survives a uniform change in your inputs.

Scenario	FREELANCE	FULL-TIME	Result
Your numbers now	75.0	83.7	FULL-TIME
Optimistic	72.1	85.6	FULL-TIME
Likely	75.9	82.5	FULL-TIME
Pessimistic	75.9	78.6	FULL-TIME

These are uniform shocks to every number you entered, not forecasts. They test how much the recommendation depends on your inputs being exactly right.

Why FULL-TIME

Benefits and overhead: FULL-TIME 42.4 to FREELANCE 0, worth 9 points.
Take-home income: FULL-TIME 100 to FREELANCE 96.8, worth 1 points.

What works against it

Effective hourly rate: FREELANCE 86.6 to FULL-TIME 81, costing 1.2 points.

What would change the answer

FULL-TIME leads now, and 2 thresholds would reverse it. The closest is billable hours per year: above 1689.9 and Freelance takes over.

your number

If billable hours per year goes above 1,689.9hr, Freelance becomes the better option.

You are at 1,400hr; the threshold is 1,689.9hr.
your priority

Set the importance of Benefits and overhead below 0.2 out of 10 and FREELANCE becomes the recommendation.

You are at 7 out of 10; the threshold is 0.2 out of 10.

Financial break-even points

From this calculator's own cost model, which answers a different question from the Pearto Score.

If your rate falls below $77/hr → FULL-TIME becomes the better option.
If billable hours drop below 1437/yr → FULL-TIME becomes the better option.
If the salary offer rises above $91,427+ benefits → re-run this comparison.

Confidence

Some important inputs are still assumptions rather than your own numbers.

How much you told us 0%

How far apart the options are 44%

How hard the answer is to flip 83%

How to improve it

Pearto is not yet citing live published data for this decision, so confidence is capped.
Replace the assumed values that matter most: billableHours, salaryFT, rate.

Risks to watch

Client concentration: losing one client can cut income sharply.
Health insurance costs vary a lot by state and age.
Full-time roles can disappear too — stability is relative.

Where this comes from

The cost figures are calculated from the numbers you entered using Pearto's tested formulas. The factor ratings are Pearto's editorial judgement, weighted by the priorities you set.

No live external data feeds are connected in this build, which is why confidence is capped. See the source policy.

FULL-TIME 83.7 Change inputs