Lost on pricing? We've got your back.

You know the moment. The client loves the work, the meeting's going well, and then it lands: "So… how much?" And your brain goes quiet. You think of your rent. You think of what a friend charged once. You think of losing the job. And you say a number that's too low — again.

If that's you, you're not bad at business. Nobody taught you this part. Freelance designers, photographers, editors, two-person studios a year into the game — almost everyone we meet from Bahrain's creative community is guessing their prices, and most are guessing low. Some are quietly going broke and calling it exposure.

We can't sit with everyone over coffee. So we built the coffee conversation into a tool — and we're giving it away. If you're lost on what to charge, this is us having your back.

Meet TCCA Rate Studio: your rate, calculated — not guessed

TCCA Rate Studio is a free rate calculator and invoice maker that does two jobs. First, it answers "how much should I charge?" properly — a cost-plus calculation built from your actual life: rent, software, gear, the salary you need, the hours you can honestly bill, and a profit margin so a slow month doesn't sink you. Second, it turns that number into work you can send: itemized quotations that convert to numbered invoices in one click, with your logo, your CR number and VAT if you're registered.

How to calculate your freelance rate (the honest formula)

The model is called cost-plus pricing, and agencies have used it forever. Add up everything it costs to exist for a month — workspace, subscriptions, equipment fund, and the pay you need to live. Divide that by the hours you can genuinely sell: nobody bills 40 hours a week, because meetings, admin and pitching eat more than you think — 60% is a good month. That gives your break-even hourly rate: charge under it and every job quietly costs you money. Add a 20–30% margin for growth, savings and risk, and that's your rate. Your day rate, your project minimums, your retainer floor — everything flows from it.

Quotations clients take seriously

An itemized quotation does two things a WhatsApp voice note never will: it shows the client exactly what they're buying, and it protects you when scope grows. Rate Studio gives every document a number, a validity date, line items with rates, optional VAT at 10%, and your payment terms — then prints to PDF from any browser. When the client says yes, the quote becomes an invoice without retyping a thing.

Yours. Actually yours.

Rate Studio is a single file that runs in your browser and works completely offline. No account, no subscription, no server watching you work: your clients, rates and invoices live on your own device, and you can export a one-file backup anytime. It comes in three looks — Obsidian, Paper and Dune — and every one of them can be recolored to match your own brand. Setup takes two minutes.

Questions you're probably asking

Is it really free — what's the catch? Really free. No trial, no locked features. The one ask is a Google sign-in to download, because we're building tools for this community and we'd like to know who's using them.

Does my data reach TCCA? No. Everything you type into Rate Studio stays in your browser, on your device. We only know that you downloaded it.

Is it only for Bahrain? It defaults to BHD and 10% VAT because that's home, but the currency and VAT rate are editable — it works anywhere.

Who is it for? Freelance designers, photographers, videographers, editors, copywriters, social media managers, illustrators — and small studios that haven't built their money workflow yet.

Get Rate Studio

Sign in with Google and the download is yours — free, no strings. We ask for a sign-in for one honest reason: we're building tools for this community and we'd like to know who's using them.

And when the project outgrows one pair of hands — a launch that needs film, a brand that needs building — you know where we are. That's the whole trade: we help you charge properly today, and we get to work with a healthier creative scene tomorrow.