Gig Work Break-Even Calculator
Gross earnings on a gig app are not pay. Subtract what the miles and the platform take, and see what an hour on the road is really worth.
True net hourly earnings
$15.43
Gross was $22.14 per hour before costs.
How to use this calculator
Pick a period you have complete records for — a single shift, a week, a month — and use the same period for every input. Mixing a week of earnings with a month of costs produces a flattering number that means nothing.
Gross earnings is everything the platform credited you: base pay, promotions, surge, tips. Miles driven should include the distance to pick-ups and the miles between jobs, not just the paid legs, because your car doesn't care who was paying when it wore out.
Cost per mile is the input that decides everything, and it's yours to set. It should cover fuel or charging, tyres, oil and servicing, brakes, and — the part almost everyone omits — depreciation, because high-mileage driving converts your vehicle into cash and then into nothing. Work it out from your own records: take a year of running costs plus the fall in your car's value, divide by the miles you drove. This tool doesn't supply a standard rate because the right figure depends on your vehicle and where you drive.
Other vehicle costs captures the per-period extras: parking, tolls, congestion charges, car washes, the share of insurance attributable to gig driving. Platform fees covers service fees, commissions and any deductions the app applies before payout, if those aren't already excluded from your gross figure.
What the output means
The headline is your true net hourly rate: what you kept, divided by the hours you were working, including waiting time. This is the number to compare against any other way you could spend those hours. It is frequently a long way below the figure the app displays.
Break-even hourly tells you what you must earn per hour just to cover costs — below that line you are paying for the privilege of working. Net per mile is the same idea in the unit gig platforms actually price in, and it's the fastest way to judge an offer in the moment: if a job pays less per mile than this figure, it's dragging your average down.
Run the calculator again for different conditions — a weekday lunch shift versus a Friday night, one platform versus another, a dense zone versus a sprawling one. The gross figures may look similar while the net ones differ sharply, because the costs scale with distance and dead miles rather than with earnings. Most drivers who improve their income do it by cutting unpaid miles and waiting time, not by working longer.
Finally, remember that net earnings here are before tax. Take the net figure to the Tax Set-Aside Calculator to work out what to hold back.
Frequently asked questions
- What should I use for cost per mile?
- Your own figure, derived from your own vehicle costs including depreciation. This tool intentionally supplies no default, because a hybrid in a small city and an old SUV in a sprawling one are nowhere near the same.
- Should I count the miles driven to my starting zone?
- If you wouldn't have driven them otherwise, yes. Excluding dead miles is the most common reason a break-even calculation comes out too optimistic.
- Do I include tips in gross earnings?
- Yes — tips are part of what the work paid. Just be consistent across periods when you compare.
- Is the net figure after tax?
- No. It's earnings after operating costs, before any tax you owe. Use the Tax Set-Aside Calculator on the net figure.
- Should waiting time count as hours worked?
- Yes, if you were available and couldn't do something else. Excluding it makes your hourly rate look better and your scheduling decisions worse.