Grow your freelance business your way

As a freelancer, you’ll pay a variable freelancer service fee ranging from 0-15% on all earnings, including bonuses. This fee is charged on all your contracts with a client—whether hourly, fixed-price, or a Project Catalog project. (There are a few exceptions, see here).

The freelancer service fee is applied to all earnings, including bonuses. For example, Upwork assesses a variable service fee ranging from 0-15% on freelancer earnings. If you work on a contract with a 10% fee and bill your client $500, you'll get a $450 payout. You can set your payment schedule on Upwork, too, with payments transferring into your accounts as frequently as every week.

As a freelancer, you pay the freelancer service fee on all earnings, including bonuses. The fee is included in the amounts clients see on your proposals, contracts, and profile. Most of your reports show only total charges, inclusive of fees — the same as what the client would see.

Fees are broken out in your Transaction History Report and your Billings and Earnings Reports. The total billed to your clients is your income and the fees paid may be deductible business expenses.

Your freelance hourly rate is the amount of money you charge a client per hour based upon the agreement you reach with them. Our freelance hourly rate calculator can help you determine the best rate for you.

Absolutely. Hourly rates do not have to be set in stone. Freelancers can adjust your hourly rate at any time. In fact, as you can gain more experience and expand your skills, it may make good sense for your rate to go up. And remember: Our freelance rate calculator is intended to assist you in determining your base-level rate.

That depends on the individual freelancer. But according to our Future Workforce Index, full-time freelancers out-earned their full-time employee (FTE) counterparts across functions and occupations like writing, creative design, and IT and development. In fact, 78% of skilled freelancers reported satisfaction with their pay versus just 64% of FTEs.

That depends on the arrangement and schedule you work out with your individual clients. Some freelancers do fixed-price projects, while others work on an hourly contract basis. Upwork offers a simple and streamlined process for invoicing clients and tracking earnings, and offers many options for how you get paid, including direct deposit, PayPal, wire transfer and more.

Our service fee is based on a percentage of freelancer earnings. Freelancers pay a variable freelancer service fee ranging from 0-15% on all earnings, including bonuses. This fee is charged on all contracts with a client—whether hourly or fixed-price. (There are a few exceptions, see here).