Can freelancers work on an hourly rate or for a fixed price?

In an hourly assignment, the fee normally depends on the hours worked at an agreed rate. In a fixed-price assignment, the parties agree a price for specified work or services. They can also combine these approaches, for example by pricing an initial investigation hourly and agreeing a fixed price for the next phase. 

These models describe payment. They do not, by themselves, establish what the freelancer must deliver or whether the relationship is employment. 

An hourly assignment can have a clear scope, milestones and deliverables. A fixed fee does not automatically mean that every desired outcome is guaranteed. A lawyer, for example, may agree a fixed fee for preparing advice without guaranteeing success in the underlying dispute. 

The contract should distinguish the services, the standard of performance and the payment arrangements. Articles 7:400 and 7:401 BW provide the framework for service agreements and the duty to act with the care of a good service provider.

Dutch law does not impose a general ban on independent work billed by the hour. Nor does it grant a general exemption to fixed-price projects. 

The Wet DBA replaced the VAR system on 1 May 2016. That change did not create a rule that independent work must be sold for a fixed price. 

In Deliveroo, the Supreme Court identified the way remuneration is determined and paid, its level and commercial risk as relevant circumstances. They sit alongside matters such as control over work and working hours, organisational integration, personal performance and entrepreneurship. 

The Uber judgment of 21 February 2025 confirmed that these circumstances have no fixed hierarchy. Entrepreneurship outside the particular assignment can also matter. 

Labels deserve similar caution. On 16 June 2026, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal found temporary-agency employment relationships between Temper and its workers. The assessment concerned the arrangement as a whole, despite contracts being concluded through a platform. It does not establish that all hourly or platform assignments are employment.

As of 3 November 2026, the Zelfstandigenwet remains a proposal. Its consultation ran from 1 to 29 October 2026. The government’s intended commencement is January 2028, subject to the legislative process. 

The proposal offers a route to certainty about the absence of employment authority when both its self-employment test and work-relationship test are met. Working for one’s own account and risk is one part of that route. 

The explanatory memorandum, section 5.3.4, treats payment solely for time worked as insufficient for its economic-benefit element. A named deliverable may not resolve this if every hour is guaranteed payment. It also recognises performances within an agreed period with substantial preparation not separately billed by time, such as a musician’s engagement. Both economic benefits and financial risks matter. 

Consultation responses show concerns about how the proposal would affect professional services. In an 18 October 2026 response, a financial specialist described working at an hourly rate on lengthy projects and argued for greater recognition of that business model. This is one respondent’s account and policy position, not a legal exemption or evidence of how most freelancers work.

The hourly-rate presumption is a separate enacted measure. Its commencement decree sets 31 December 2026 as the start date. It is therefore not yet in force on 3 November 2026. 

Government guidance gives €38 per hour at the 1 January 2026 reference level. The statutory amount is indexed, so the applicable threshold must be checked for the relevant date. 

Once effective, a worker paid at or below the applicable threshold can invoke a rebuttable civil-law presumption of an employment contract. The other party must then show that the relationship is not employment. 

Choose a payment model that suits the work and describe what the parties will actually do. 

Scope and responsibility. Identify the services, intended outputs, relevant standards and boundaries of the assignment. Explain which obligations concern professional care and which concern an agreed result. Avoid promising outcomes that the professional cannot control. 

Price and changes. Record the rate or fixed fee, expenses, invoicing and treatment of additional work. Distinguish an estimated budget from a binding price cap. State who bears the cost of overruns, correcting defective work and changes requested by the client. 

Working arrangements. Record who decides how work is performed and how scheduling, access and coordination operate. Article 7:402 BW recognises timely and responsible instructions concerning an assignment. That does not make every form of managerial control compatible with independent work. 

Commercial evidence. Retain the agreed scope, negotiations, relevant time records, invoices, changes and evidence of responsibilities actually exercised. Review the arrangement if a defined project develops into ongoing work under the client’s daily direction. 

Use of an FMS. When using Zooly or another freelance management system, check which records and workflows the configured system supports. A project category, approval or compliance score can organise an assessment; it cannot determine legal status.