When you go independent, there’s no HR band or salary matrix that tells you what’s fair.  

You come up with a number, throw spaghetti off the wall, and hopefully, something sticks. But among other things in consulting, guessing rarely pays off. 

But benchmarking gives you a number that’s grounded in reality. 

More than copying someone else’s number, it’s also about understanding your market context. And most importantly, it helps you frame value with confidence.  

By the end of this article, you might not have a single right answer – but it will give you a map. 

Benchmarking is important for clients, as much as it is for consultants.  

For clients, it ensures that they’re paying a market-aligned rate for the kind of expertise they need. It helps them differentiate between bargain pricing and genuine value creation. 

For consultants, it builds clarity and confidence. It's hard to negotiate a deal if you don’t know what normal looks like. Benchmarking gives you the baseline. 

But an important note to remember: benchmarks don’t capture the entire value of your services. 

They don’t quantify trust, creativity, or the transformation you deliver.  

The goal in benchmarking is to match the market average – to understand it well enough and know when (and why) you’re above or below it. 

If you’ve never benchmarked for anything before, don’t start by looking up “average consulting rate.” You’ll end up with a jumble of numbers that only brings more confusion. 

Instead, narrow down your samples and benchmark against the right comparables – people and projects that look enough like yours to make the data meaningful. 

Here’s what to check:

Rates vary dramatically per sector. 

For example, a corporate-strategy consultant and an HR change manager might both solve “organizational problems,” but their benchmarks differ by thousands per day. 

Generally speaking: 

Recent benchmarks put the day rates roughly about $1500 to $3000 – but that’s just a rough frame. 

Anything higher and you’re dealing with C-level senior advisors in PE/I-bank deal flow. Anything lower and you’re looking at ‘doers’ like program managers and project managers.

Here’s a tip: compare yourself to peers with similar experiences, not similar titles. 

Early-stage indie consultants often underprice because they benchmark against their last salary, forgetting that they traded stability for risk and autonomy. 

Mid-career independents tend to double or triple their starting rates – not because they’re older, but because they’ve proven leverage. They already built frameworks, references, and repeatable outcomes. 

By benchmarking experiences, consultants calibrate their credibility curve and see where they sit in the pricing maturity arc.

Location matters, not because of where you live but because of where clients operate.  

Consultants selling into New York, London, or Singapore markets generally expect higher rates than those in smaller regional economies. 

It’s not because of the cost of living, but rather the presence of clients who regularly hire consultants – seeing it as a necessity instead of discretionary spending.

Rates also depend on who’s signing the check. 

An enterprise client expects rigor, documentation, and governance – and they set budgets accordingly. 

A PE PortCo wants speed and measurable ROI, so they’re willing to pay top-tier rates for proven expertise. 

A startup founder may value your help deeply but have a smaller budget ceiling than usual. This is where most consultants might encounter equity offers instead of cash. 

When you benchmark, pay attention to your peers’ client mix and how it matches your ideal engagement. Someone serving Fortune 100 clients will have a different reference point than someone advising founder-led businesses. 

Don’t risk comparing your apples to someone else’s aerospace. 

Benchmarking takes more than a quick look – it takes hours of research and goes through multiple sources. You collect signals that help you come up with a fair number at the end.  

Here’s a simple way to do it: 

Benchmarking is a way to gauge the market before pricing yourself in it. 

It’s not the final say about your worth, but the first step in understanding it. As you gain experience, the comparables should change – from your peers to the top performers and market leaders.

The goal is to make sure the number you choose makes sense to the world you’re selling to – without undercutting your own worth.

Our rate calculator is live. It’s good — but with your feedback, it’ll be great.

Use it. Stress-test it. Tell us what’s missing.

Thanks to early users, we learned about re-bucketing LA with NYC/SF and shifting technical niches (fintech, healthcare tech, etc.) into Tech for more accurate rate bands.

👉 Leave your feedback here: Independent Consultant Rate Calculator Survey

Help us build the tool you wish you had starting out.

Does your client think everything is a problem? 

That’s when you pull out the Bucketing framework. 

Think of it like the consultant version of organizing a junk drawer. 

You dump everything on the floor and organize it into boxes. No overlaps, and nothing’s missing. 

What you end up with is a clean, logical picture or what actually drives the problem – not just a blob of its symptoms. 

Imagine a consultant brought into a SaaS firm – convinced that their sales team wasn’t performing well. 

Instead of scheduling training or hiring new people, she used the Bucketing framework to cover every possible cause – from pricing confusion to bad lead quality and clunky CRM. 

Once everything was grouped, the real problem surfaced: positioning, not sales. 

Marketing chased the wrong buyers, closing the wrong deals. 

After refocusing the message and pipeline, they cut 30% off the sales cycle. 

Bucketing didn’t just tidy up their thinking – it also reframed the problem entirely. 

Download our template here and experience the quiet magic of a good structure.

Remember, the path to success is paved with continuous learning and embracing fresh perspectives.

Let's stay connected, share ideas, and elevate your consulting business.

Stay curious, friends.

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