You quoted $150/hr.
You earned $73.
Sengi is a profitability tracking tool that calculates your effective hourly rate on every freelance project in real time. Most freelancers quote one rate but earn far less per hour once scope creep, revisions, and unbilled admin time are factored in. Sengi tracks your hours against your project fee automatically, alerts you when profitability drops below your target, and shows you which projects and clients are actually worth your time.
Fixed-fee projects hide what you actually earn per hour. Scope creeps, timelines slip, and your effective rate drops without you noticing. Sengi calculates your real rate in real time, so you can act before the project is over.
Join solo professionals who stopped guessing what they earn.
Why freelancer tools do not show your real hourly rate
Your accounting software tells you what happened last quarter. Your invoice tool tells you what you billed. Your time tracker tells you where the hours went.
None of them answer the only question that matters while you can still do something about it: Am I still profitable on this project right now, while I can still act?
That is not a feature anyone forgot to build. The tools you already use were built for accountants, for agencies, for teams. Showing a solo freelancer their real margin in real time would undermine the way those tools make money. They cannot add this without threatening the customers who pay their bills. So they never will. (Upwork research confirms that most freelancers lack visibility into per-project profitability.)
Sengi exists for that gap. Not invoicing. Not accounting. Not project management. Real-time profitability for the person doing the work.
| What You Need to Know | Accounting Software | Time Tracker | Invoicing App | Sengi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per project | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hours per project | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Effective hourly rate | No | No | No | Yes |
| Real-time budget health | No | No | No | Yes |
| Scope creep alerts | No | No | No | Yes |
| Profitability by client type | No | No | No | Yes |
What freelancers discover in their first week
“I thought I was doing fine until I saw my effective rate on that last project. Now I don't take on work without checking the numbers first.”
Sarah M.
Freelance Designer
“The scope creep alerts saved me on a project that was quietly running 30% over. I caught it early, had the conversation, and got a change order approved the same week.”
James R.
Independent Developer
“I finally understand which types of clients are worth taking on. The profitability breakdown across all my projects changed how I write proposals entirely.”
Priya K.
Strategy Consultant
Why Sengi
Invoicing, budgets, and scope tracking built for freelancer profitability
Invoicing and budget tracking aren't the product. They're what makes the profitability insight possible.
Invoicing that feeds your data
Send professional invoices in seconds. Every invoice automatically becomes part of your profitability picture. No manual entry, no reconciliation.
Automatic budget tracking for freelance projects
Set a budget once. Sengi tracks hours against it continuously and alerts you before you run over, not after.
How Sengi detects freelance scope creep before projects go over budget
When hours climb faster than invoices, Sengi flags it. The 80% alert gives you leverage to act while the conversation is still possible.
How It Works
How to start tracking freelance project profitability
Create a project
Set your budget, hourly rate, and client details in seconds.
Track time & send invoices
Log hours, generate polished invoices, and track payments, all in one place.
See your real profitability
Watch your effective rate, budget health, and margins update in real time.
Add your first project in 30 seconds. Log a few hours. See your real rate.
What Sengi watches while you work
Your effective hourly rate, scope creep alerts, and budget health, tracked automatically
What Sengi shows you that nothing else does. Understand your true profitability on every project with tools designed for the way freelancers actually work.
How effective hourly rate tracking works in Sengi
See what you actually earned per hour on every project, not your quoted rate, your real rate. Updated as you log hours, before the invoice is sent.
Automated scope creep and budget alerts
Get alerted when a project hits 80% of its budget. That's the moment you still have leverage to renegotiate, adjust scope, or make a conscious decision to absorb the cost.
Freelance profitability insights by client and project type
Spot which client types, project models, and freelance pricing strategies actually earn you the most. Stop guessing how much to charge. Your Sengi data shows exactly what's profitable and what isn't. Learn from every project to price your next one based on real numbers, not guesswork.
Real-time budget health monitoring for freelance projects
Live dashboards show each project's budget health at a glance. Green, amber, or red. You always know where you stand.
Professional freelance invoicing with profitability tracking
Beautiful, branded invoices that make you look like a powerhouse. PDF export, shareable invoice links, and multi-currency support.
How time tracking connects to freelance billing in Sengi
Log hours against each project and instantly see how your time investment maps to your invoiced amount. Every unbilled minute made visible and accountable.
The moment it clicks
That big project you were proud of, the one with the impressive invoice? Your effective hourly rate was $73.
That quick two-week project you almost turned down? $184/hr.
Your invoices told you both clients paid well. Your effective hourly rate tells you which one actually did.
Freelance profitability tracking: frequently asked questions
What is Sengi?
Sengi is a profitability tracking tool for freelancers that calculates your effective hourly rate on every project in real time. It combines invoicing, time tracking, and budget monitoring to show you what you actually earn per hour, not just what you billed.
How does Sengi calculate effective hourly rate?
Sengi divides your project fee by the total hours you log against that project. As you track time, your effective hourly rate updates automatically so you can see profitability change in real time, before the project ends.
Is Sengi a time tracker or invoicing app?
Sengi includes time tracking and invoicing, but its core purpose is profitability visibility. It uses your invoices and logged hours to calculate your effective hourly rate and alert you to scope creep and budget overruns.
Who is Sengi built for?
Sengi is built for solo freelancers and independent consultants who charge flat project fees or retainers and need to know whether each project is actually profitable based on their effective hourly rate.
How much does Sengi cost?
Sengi offers two paid plans after a 14-day free trial with full access. Starter is $29 per month (or $290 per year) and includes unlimited invoicing, contacts, and PDF export. Pro is $49 per month (or $490 per year) and adds project tracking, budget alerts, scope creep detection, and profitability summaries.
Does Sengi work for hourly freelancers or only flat-fee projects?
Sengi works for both. If you charge hourly, Sengi tracks your hours and calculates your effective rate per project. If you charge flat fees or retainers, Sengi divides your fee by actual hours worked to reveal what each hour really earned. The profitability insight is valuable regardless of how you price your services.
Calculate your real freelance hourly rate
Most freelancers are surprised by what they see. Start your free trial and know your real rate within minutes.