How much should I raise my rates?

For existing clients, a rise of about 10 to 20% is a common rule of thumb and usually accepted with notice. If your rate is far below market, correct it in two steps rather than all at once. For new clients you have more room, so quote your full target rate from the start. Work from your own costs and your market rather than a fixed percentage.

How do I tell a client I'm raising my rates?

Give 30 to 60 days' notice and frame it as a professional update, not a request for permission. Keep the message short, warm and matter-of-fact, send it by email to one client at a time, and don't over-explain or apologise. A brief, confident note is accepted far more easily than a long, anxious justification.

When should I raise my rates?

When you are fully booked and turning work away, when you've added skills or results, when your costs have risen, or simply when it's been a year or more since your last increase. Raising rates once a year as routine keeps each rise small and expected rather than a big, overdue jump.

Should I raise rates for new and existing clients at the same time?

It's lower risk to lead with new clients. Quote every new enquiry at your target rate while keeping existing clients where they are, and once a few new clients accept the higher rate you have proof it holds. Then bring existing clients up more gently, with notice. New work at the higher rate also cushions any client who leaves.

Freelancing31 October 2026·8 min read·Written by Remit Team

How to Raise Your Rates Without Losing Clients

Q: What if a client says no to the new rate?

First adjust the scope rather than the rate: offer less work or fewer revisions for their old budget. If the relationship matters, you can keep them on the old rate for a set period with an end date. If a client treats a fair, well-notified increase as an insult, losing them is often no bad thing.

Charging more is one of the hardest things to do in a freelance or small business, and one of the most important. Your costs rise every year, your skills grow, and the rate you set when you started is almost never the rate you should still be on. Yet the fear is always the same: raise your prices and clients walk. The good news is that, handled well, a rate increase rarely costs you the clients worth keeping. This guide covers when to raise your rates, how much, the low-risk way to test a new rate, how and when to tell existing clients, the exact words to use, and what to do if someone pushes back. It is general business guidance, not a script you must follow to the letter, so adapt it to your work and your market.

A freelancer at a desk reviewing their pricing before raising their rates

Why raising your rates is normal

Prices go up everywhere else, and your work is no exception. Inflation alone erodes a fixed rate every year, so standing still is really a pay cut in slow motion. On top of that, you get faster and better over time, which means each hour you sell is worth more than it was. Clients understand this, because they raise their own prices too.

The business that never increases its rates is not being loyal; it is quietly going backwards while everyone around it moves forward. Treat a periodic rate review as a normal part of running your business, not a confrontation, and the whole thing gets much easier.

When to raise your rates

A few signals tell you it is time. You are fully booked and turning work away, which means demand is outstripping your price. You have clearly added skills, speed or results since you last set your rate. Your costs have risen. Or it has simply been a year or more since your last increase.

The calendar is reason enough on its own: many freelancers and small businesses raise rates once a year as routine, which keeps each rise small and expected rather than a big, overdue jump. If you dread the conversation, that is usually a sign you have left it too long.

How much to raise them

For existing clients, modest and regular beats rare and dramatic. As a rule of thumb, many freelancers raise an existing client somewhere in the 10 to 20% range, which is usually absorbed without much friction, especially with notice; treat that as a starting point to test against your own market, not a fixed figure. If your rate is badly below market, you may need a larger correction, but consider staging it over two steps rather than doubling overnight. For new clients you have far more room, because they have no old rate to anchor to.

The simplest approach is to quote new leads your target rate straight away and bring existing clients up more gently. Always work from your own numbers, what you need to earn and what your market pays, rather than a percentage pulled from the air; our guide on how much to charge covers setting the underlying rate.

The new-clients-first strategy

The lowest-risk way to raise your rates is to test the new number on new leads before you ever mention it to existing clients. Quote every incoming enquiry at your target rate while keeping current clients where they are. Once a few new clients say yes at the higher figure, you have a useful signal that the rate holds, not a cast-iron guarantee but real evidence, and the confidence that comes with it.

That evidence changes the conversation with existing clients: you are no longer hoping the rate is reasonable, you have seen other people pay it. It also means that, as long as you have steady enquiries, new work coming in at the higher rate helps cover any long-standing client who eventually leaves over price.

How to tell existing clients

When you do raise an existing client, two things make it land well: notice and framing. Give at least 30 to 60 days before the new rate applies, so it never lands as a surprise on their next invoice. And frame it as a professional update, not a request. You are informing them of a change to your rates, the same way any supplier would, not asking permission to charge more.

Keep it short, warm and matter-of-fact. Do not over-explain or apologise, because a long, anxious justification signals that you are not sure the rate is fair, which invites pushback. Confidence, briefly expressed, does most of the work.

The exact message (a template)

Here is a simple message you can adapt. Keep it this short:

"Hi [name], a quick note to let you know my rates will be increasing from [date]. From then, my rate will be [new rate]. I've really enjoyed working with you and I'm looking forward to continuing. Happy to talk through anything, and thank you as always for your business."

Send it by email so there is a record, to one client at a time rather than a visible group, and a month or two ahead of the change. That is genuinely all it needs to be. The clients who value your work will reply with some version of "no problem".

When a client pushes back

Some will ask, and that is fine. Your first move is not to drop the rate but to adjust the scope: offer to deliver a little less, fewer revisions or a smaller package, for the old budget. That protects your rate while giving them a way to stay within theirs. If a client genuinely cannot move and the relationship matters, you can keep them on the old rate for a set period, but put an end date on it.

And if someone treats a fair, well-notified increase as an insult, that is useful information: the clients who fight every small, well-notified rise are often the same ones who stretch the scope and pay late. Losing one occasionally is part of moving your business forward.

A worked example, and your contracts

Say you currently charge 50 an hour and want to reach 58, a 16% rise. Rather than spring the full jump, you could quote 58 to new leads now, move existing clients to 54 at their next renewal with notice, and to 58 a few months later. On, say, 20 billed hours a week, going from 50 to 58 is an extra 160 a week, roughly 8,000 over a year, for the same work (an illustrative example). Small percentages add up fast, which is exactly why leaving rates untouched for years is so costly.

One practical check before you announce anything: look at your contracts. A retainer or fixed-term agreement may set the rate for its term or require a notice period for changes, so the increase applies at renewal rather than immediately. For project and fixed-price work, apply the new rate to the next new scope rather than to a job you have already quoted. Our guide on how to write a quote covers putting the new figure cleanly into your next quote, and for larger pieces of work a business proposal lets the value carry the higher price.

Put the new rate everywhere

Once your new rate is live, the last step is the easy one: use it everywhere, consistently. Update your standard quote, your proposal pricing and your invoices so every new document reflects the new number, and never quietly slip back to the old rate because a client hesitated. With Remit you can set your rate once and reuse it across every quote and invoice, so your pricing stays consistent and professional from the first enquiry to the final bill.

Raising your rates is not a one-off act of courage; it is a normal habit of a business that intends to keep growing. Do it regularly, in small steps, lead with new clients, give notice, and keep the message short, and you will raise your income without losing the clients worth keeping. This is general guidance rather than advice for your specific situation, so adapt the numbers and timing to your market.