Freelance Project Planner — For Writers | Startup Writer

✦ Free Tool

Freelance Project Planner — For Writers.

Know what to charge. Plan the project. Walk in prepared. Free for every writer, every time.

Tell me about yourself

Your location and experience set your pricing foundation.

✦ Startup Writer Writers from India, Philippines, and Eastern Europe with 3+ years of niche experience regularly charge premium rates to US and UK clients. Your location affects your cost of living — not your skill.

Your Country

Years of Experience

Your Writing Specialisation

General / Blog

B2B SaaS

Finance / Fintech

Healthcare

Legal

Tech / Cyber

eCommerce

Marketing

Your average writing speed

About the project

Add one project or bundle multiple — pricing adjusts accordingly.

✦ Startup Writer A US client spending $400 on your work is spending what they'd pay for 1–2 hours of a local consultant. A fair number works for both sides.

Client's Country

Client's Industry

Projects in this quote

Add a project

Project Type

Word Count

Revisions

Research Depth

Deadline

Your pricing range

Based on your location, experience, client market, and project scope.

✦ Startup Writer Specialised writing — SaaS, finance, legal — is commanding higher rates than ever. The market is splitting between commodity and craft. This tool is built for the craft side.

Recommended Price Range

$— to $—

—

Walk-away minimum: $—

Per Word

—

mid-range

Flat Project

—

recommended

Effective /hr

—

at mid rate

Estimated hours—

Rush fee applied—

Revision buffer—

Bundle discount—

Location gap analysis

Add your country and client country to see this.

Negotiation floor: — — Don't go below this. At this point the project costs you more than it returns.

Your project timeline

Based on your writing speed, word count, and deadline.

⚠ This deadline is very tight. Consider quoting the rush rate or negotiating a couple of extra days.

—

words/day needed

—

total hours est.

—

days available

One quick thing — before the prompt.

You've seen the range. Where are you landing on this project?

How confident are you in your rate?

Still unsure Somewhat Pretty good Confident 100% ready

Move the slider to see your personalised note.

What are you doing with this project?

Charging the full range

Leaving room to negotiate

New client — starting lower

New niche — building experience

Raising my rate from before

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✦ About this tool

The Freelance Project Planner — What It Does & Why It Exists

Most freelance writers price their work by guessing. They look at what someone charged on a forum, pick a number that feels safe, and end up either undercharging or quoting with nothing to back it up. This tool fixes that.

The planner is location-aware — it accounts for where you are, where your client is, and the genuine gap between those two markets. Then it builds your project timeline and generates a ready-to-use AI prompt, proposal email, and scope-of-work document. All in one flow.

Freelance Writing Rates by Industry — 2026

Not all writing pays the same. Here's a breakdown by industry, relative to general content.

Industry	Rate Range (per word)	Why It Pays More
Lifestyle / General	$0.04–$0.12	Lowest barrier, most competition
eCommerce	$0.07–$0.18	Conversion focus, SEO demand
Digital Marketing	$0.08–$0.22	Performance-aware, ROI tracked
B2B SaaS	$0.18–$0.60	High budgets, complex topics
Finance / Fintech	$0.18–$0.75	Regulated, expertise required
Healthcare	$0.20–$0.90	Medical accuracy essential
Legal	$0.25–$1.20	High expertise barrier, few qualified writers
Tech / Cybersecurity	$0.20–$0.80	Plain-language technical writing is rare

Frequently Asked Questions

How are the rates calculated?

The pricing engine uses your location (cost-of-living index), experience, specialisation, the client's country and industry, project type, word count, research depth, revisions, and deadline urgency. Rates are based on real market data reviewed by Startup Writer's writing experts — updated regularly.

Is this tool free?

100% free. No account, no email, no hidden tier. Bookmark it and use it before every project.

Should I always charge the top of the range?

Not necessarily. The range gives you a fair window. Starting in the middle is reasonable for most projects. Going below the walk-away minimum signals low quality rather than affordability — and that hurts you long-term.

What's the "negotiation floor"?

The minimum you should accept — the point where the project costs more in time and energy than it returns. It's calculated from your estimated hours and a sustainable rate for your location. It's not a tactic. It's a real floor.

What does the AI prompt generate?

Three things: a writing prompt you can paste into any LLM or AI writing tool to start drafting, a client proposal email, and a scope-of-work document. All tailored to your project inputs.

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