Freelance copywriting rates hinge on what the words do: blog posts priced per word sit at the bottom, while conversion copy — landing pages, email sequences, ads — is priced against the revenue it generates and can reach $100–$120/hour equivalent or far more on a project basis.
AI tools have squeezed the low end of the market hard. The sustainable play in the US/EU market is moving up: strategy, research-driven messaging, and copy tied to measurable conversion — work clients can't get from a prompt.
Your minimum hourly rate
$85/hour
Exact break-even: $82.53/hour — rounded up to the nearest $5.
How this breaks down
- Revenue you need to bill
- $103,000/yr
- — covers taxes (~25%)
- $25,000
- — covers expenses
- $3,000
- Billable hours per year
- 1,248h
Pricing tips for freelance copywriters
- Never price per word for conversion assets; price per deliverable (e.g. landing page: $1,500–$5,000).
- Charge for research and interviews separately — they're often half the real work.
- Offer a paid 'messaging audit' as an entry product; it converts to bigger retainers.
For the full method — including how to present higher rates to clients without losing the deal — see our guide to setting freelance rates. And when the work is done, invoice it properly.