Project profit calculator

Understanding your project profit shouldn’t be complicated. This calculator shows exactly how much profit your project made after team time and costs, so you can see what actually paid off.

In a matter of seconds, you’ll know if your project was truly worth it and how to make the next one even better.

You begin by adding your project name (this step is optional), then enter your project revenue. It’s the total amount you invoiced; what the client paid for this project. Think of this step as the foundation for calculating profit, margin, and performance.

If your revenue includes multiple invoices or milestones, simply enter the full amount paid for the entire project. You can enter values in USD, EUR, or GBP, depending on the currency you use for your work.

Next, add each person who worked on the project. This step helps the calculator determine your true internal cost and the actual cost to deliver the project.

Here’s how you go about it:
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• For each team member, enter their name and monthly cost. This is the total monthly cost for your company, including salary, taxes, benefits, equipment, and other related expenses. If you’re a freelancer, you can enter your target monthly income plus your business overhead.
• Then enter their monthly employment hours. This is the total number of hours your company pays for each month; think of it as their full contractual capacity. Don’t subtract vacation, holidays, sick days, or internal time here.
• Finally, add their delivery hours for this project. This is the actual time they spent working on the project, including internal and unbilled work, not just what you invoiced the client.

You can add as many team members as needed to get a complete and accurate picture.

If your project has additional costs beyond team time, you can add them here, to get an even more accurate profit calculation. Don’t worry if you don’t track these numbers; this step is completely optional. If you only bill for time and don’t have extra project expenses, you can skip this section and still get reliable results.

If you do have additional costs, you can include these 3 types:

1. Extra project costs. These are internal project costs you didn’t bill to the client. For example, hiring a contractor to help with delivery, paying for project-specific software, and covering travel expenses for meetings or on-site work.
2. Pass-through expenses. These are costs you paid on behalf of the client and included in your invoice. For example, ad spend for a marketing campaign, hosting fees, or stock assets.
3. Shared project costs. These are a portion of your regular company expenses allocated to this project. For example, part of your office rent, company-wide software subscriptions (like design or project management tools), or general overhead, such as utilities.

Adding these costs gives you the most complete picture of your true project profit. But if you don’t have them, you can still continue with confidence.

Once you’ve added your revenue, team members, and project-related costs, the calculator does all the math. In seconds, you’ll see exactly how profitable this project really was, based on real numbers.

Here’s what you’ll get.

Your project profit is your revenue minus all project-related costs and the portion of your team’s monthly costs that went into this project.

In other words: Project profit = Revenue – Project costs – (Team member monthly cost ÷ Monthly employment hours × Delivery hours)

‍So, let’s say you have a project with a $100,000 revenue.

You added one team member, John, who costs $5,000 per month and works 160 hours per month. For this project, he spent 40 delivery hours. You also had $300 in extra project costs. When you plug in the numbers, your project profit is $98,450, showing that after accounting for team costs and extra expenses, that’s what you really earned.

Once your project profit is calculated, the calculator shows your profit margin, which tells you what percentage of your revenue actually turns into profit. It’s a quick way to see how healthy the project really is.

The formula is: Project margin (%) = (Project profit ÷ Project revenue) × 100

So, if you earned $98,450 on a $100,000 project, your margin is 98.5%, which is awesome. A high margin means the project was very efficient, while a lower one shows where costs may have eaten into your profit.

Revenue per hour shows how much money your project earned for each hour your team spent on it. It’s a quick way to see the true value of the time your team put in.

The formula is: Revenue per hour = Project revenue ÷ Delivery hours

For example, if a project brought in $100,000 and your team spent 40 hours delivering it, your revenue per hour is $2,500.

This number shows you how much each hour of your team’s time actually costs you; it helps you understand whether a project is truly profitable compared to what you spend on your team.

The formula is simple: Average internal cost per hour = Team member monthly cost ÷ Monthly employment hours

So, for example, if a team member costs $5,000 per month and works 160 hours per month, each hour costs you $31.25.

Project costs show the total of everything you spent to deliver a project, including your team’s time and any additional project expenses. With these costs laid out, you see exactly where your money goes and how it impacts your profit.

For team costs, the calculation is: Team cost = Team member monthly cost ÷ Monthly employment hours × Delivery hours
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So, let’s say John costs $5,000 per month and works 160 hours per month. He spent 40 hours on this project. His team cost for this project is $1,250. If you also had $300 in extra project expenses, your total project costs would be $1,550.

With everything laid out clearly, you can see whether the project was truly profitable, barely broke even, or needs a different pricing approach next time.
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