What Is The Best Way To Charge For Freelance Work: Hourly or Fixed Rate?

It’s never easy to determine a fair and precise fixed price. That’s why I think a freelancer should opt for an hourly project’s price.

Both a client and a freelancer will be able to evaluate the scope of work through the hourly rate. Again, just to make sure, you can say, let’s give it a try for 5 or 10 hours. You can set a weekly limit too. A freelancer can work for the specified number of hours. It’s up to a client to decide whether or not he will allow a freelancer to manually add the working time.

Hourly Is More Fairly

Before I decided to join a new freelance platform goLance, I used to work as a freelancer on all freelance websites available. Mostly on hourly-based projects. That’s why I personally prefer these kinds of projects. They allow me to be in control. I also have no problems accepting a payment that a client thinks it is fair. Now, there are some "technicalities" that are worth discussing.

You should definitely pay attention to the review period. A client will pay only for the results he needs and accepts. So, take your time in examining the work diary after each working day. To be totally honest about it, I wasn’t happy with the available time and activity trackers. That’s why I strongly appreciated being able to use goLance's own version of an hourly project tracking tool.

goMeter Does It Much Better

It is understandable that every client doesn't want to go to much into details of a work diary and its enclosed screenshots. That’s just too much time-consuming. However, if I were to a client, I would pay attention to the potential red flags. I strongly appreciate an activity percentage you can include in a work diary while using goMeter. For example, if a client sees that a freelancer has between 85% and 95% activity percentage on average per day, then he or she should have no problem releasing the payment right away. A client can also have a quick look at the screenshots. If everything is as it is supposed to be, it is possible to be fully focused on the deliverables. That’s the point with the work diaries and the whole time tracking system on hourly projects. I guess, this is exactly what the developers had in mind when developing this genuine time-tracking tool.

Hourly vs Fixed Rate: The Final Verdict

It is quite obvious that an hourly project story is a bit more complicated and demanding compared to the fixed projects. But, it is more a reliable one. I believe in win-win freelance scenarios. I’ve always had. The hourly projects are the fairest by far, for both parties.

Do you agree? Have you already used goLance's goMeter? What are your first-hand experiences?