How To Create a Company Account on Upwork for Team Collaboration

An Upwork company account is a team workspace that links individual client profiles together so your organization can easily hire talent, manage projects, and track spending in one place. Whether you're a small team or a growing business, setting up a team on Upwork takes just a few steps and gives everyone shared visibility into your hiring activity.

What to know about a company account on Upwork

• An Upwork company account helps multiple individuals or companies collaborate in a shared team workspace.
• Any client account includes basic team tools for free. Business Plus adds advanced roles, permissions, and reporting.
• Your company’s team account acts as your team admin, managing setup, billing, and invitations.
• Team members can post jobs, review proposals, manage contracts, and track spending together.
• Once your team is connected, hiring activity, contracts, and spending are visible to everyone in one shared workspace.

You already know that Upwork is a great place to find the talent you need for your business. But did you know that your team can collaborate on hiring together as a company on Upwork without a special account? This guide will show you how to create a company account on Upwork with a teams workspace to make the most of the shared tools available.

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What is a company account on Upwork?

A company account on Upwork is a standard client account that's been set up to support a team. Instead of one person hiring independently, multiple people can post jobs, manage contracts, and track spending together under one organization.

There's no separate sign-up for a company account. When you create a client account and invite teammates to join, Upwork automatically groups everyone under your organization. Each person signs in with their own credentials and gets their own profile, but all activity is visible and manageable from one place.

Upwork for companies works best when multiple people need to post jobs, review proposals, or oversee contracts at the same time. Basic team tools are included with every client account. Business Plus builds on that foundation with features like custom roles, advanced reporting, and AI-powered recruiting support.

How do I create a company account on Upwork?

You can create an Upwork account for your company by signing up for a client account. From there, you can set up a team, invite colleagues, and configure your organization's workspace without any special registration process.

Here’s how to get started with creating a company account:

1. Create a client account. Go to Upwork and sign up as a client. You'll be asked to add basic information about yourself and your business.
2. Set up your company details. Under Account Settings → My Info, fill in your company name, logo, and contact information. This helps your team and any freelancers you work with identify your organization.
3. Create a team. From your account, create one or more teams to match how your organization works — by department, project type, or region.
4. Invite your teammates. Add colleagues using their email address or Upwork username. If they're new to Upwork, they'll be prompted to create a client account. If they already have one, a company profile will be added alongside their existing account.

Once your teammates accept their invitations, your company's workspace is ready. Everyone can post jobs, manage contracts, and track spending from one shared view.

How a team works with a company account

A team on Upwork is a shared workspace where multiple people from the same company can hire and manage freelance talent together. It works by linking individual client profiles to that workspace, giving your team the visibility and control you need to move faster together.

Every client account includes the basic team tools for free. Within each team, you can:

• Collaborate in one place. Post jobs, review proposals, and manage contracts together.
• Stay connected. See what projects are in motion and keep communication flowing across the team.
• Get clearer insights. Use shared reports to track spending and progress, so everyone stays aligned.
• Stay in control. The basic setup includes one role (hiring manager). Business Plus expands that with custom roles, permissions, and advanced reporting.
• Get AI-powered help. AI tools for hiring, like Uma™, Upwork's Mindful AI, can help your team craft job descriptions, compare proposals, and answer questions about the platform.

One person creates the team as the lead account to manage setup, billing, and invitations, then invites others to join using their individual client profiles and their own credentials.

 From there, every team member can post jobs, review proposals, send offers, and manage contracts. Spending, project activity, and freelancer relationships are visible across the team for transparency. 

Think of it as the difference between everyone on your team hiring separately and everyone sharing feedback in an organized workspace. The talent and the work stay organized in one place. As your company grows, you can scale up and upgrade to Business Plus for hiring support, to create new teams, and to customize permissions. 

How to create a team for your company on Upwork

Once you’ve decided a team is the right move, getting set up with a shared workspace is straightforward.

One person creates the team as the lead account to manage setup, billing, and invitations, then invites others to join using their individual client profiles and their own credentials. From there, every team member can view project activity, and freelancer relationships are visible across the team for transparency.

Follow these steps to get your group in sync and ready to collaborate.

1. Choose a primary account

Start by identifying one account to serve as the team’s lead. This account manages setup, permissions, and billing for your company.

If only one person in your organization already has an Upwork client account, that’s usually the natural choice. If several people do, pick the one with the most relevant hiring history or spend — it’s easiest to build from the most active account. You can transfer ownership later if needed. 

Before moving forward, double-check your Company details and Company contacts under Account Settings → My Info to make sure it’s all up to date.

2. Create one or more teams for your company

Next, create your team to match how you work. You might group people by department, project, function, or region — whatever is the best fit for your needs.

With a Basic client account, any team members you add will automatically be assigned the hiring manager role. This allows them to:

• Post jobs and review proposals
• Invite, shortlist, and interview freelancers
• Send offers and manage contracts
• View timesheets and work diaries
• Create, view, and export reports
• Chat and access any company chat room
• Access the company address book

If your business needs more structure, Business Plus gives you the ability to create multiple teams, assign different role-based access, and manage reporting and billing in more detail.

Here’s an example of what your team setup might look like: One Upwork account could include two teams — Development and Design — with each managing its own contracts and payment methods.

3. Add team members

Start inviting coworkers through the Teams & Members screen. You’ll need either:

• Their email address to send an invite, or
• The email or username they use for their existing Upwork account

If you have Business Plus, you can assign each invitee a specific team and permission level (which you can always adjust later).

If someone’s new to Upwork, they’ll be prompted to create a new client account. If they already have one, a new client profile for your company will appear under their avatar. Their personal account will stay separate.

To keep confusion to a minimum, consider closing any old accounts once active contracts have been restarted under the new team profile.

4. Transfer ongoing contracts

If you started with a single account, you’re done! No transfers needed. But if your new team combines multiple people who already have active projects on Upwork, there’s one extra step — and it can take a bit of care.‍

Contracts can’t automatically move between accounts. Each person on your team with open projects on their individual account will need to end those contracts and restart them (if appropriate) under the new team account.

As you might imagine, this can feel disruptive for a freelancer who’s in the middle of a project, so it’s best to handle the process with care and clear communication.

Managing your company account on Upwork

After setting up the team account, most of the day-to-day work on Upwork will feel exactly the same — you’ll still post jobs, review proposals, and manage contracts as usual. The difference is collaboration with clearer oversight, simpler management, and better visibility into team activity.

Grouping contracts within the team’s shared workspace gives you a complete picture of what’s happening across your organization. For example, you can:

• See what’s being spent. Get weekly billing summaries online or by email with a breakdown of spending overall or by team. You can also track milestones, invoices, and project activity at a glance.
• Fine-tune permissions. Customize roles and access levels so each team member sees exactly what they need — and nothing they don’t.
• Simplify your budgets. Manage interdepartmental spending more efficiently by setting payment methods and purchase order details for each team.

Best practices to transfer contracts within your team more smoothly

Moving contracts from one client account to another takes some coordination, but it doesn’t have to derail your work. A few thoughtful steps can keep projects on track and communication clear for everyone involved.

1. Make the team transition seamless

• Give talent a heads-up. Let the freelancers you work with know what’s changing, when it’s happening, and what they can expect. A quick note up front helps prevent confusion later.
• For hourly projects. When you end an hourly contract, the work diary freezes immediately. Allow a brief overlap between the old and new contracts so you can review the current week’s work diary and make any needed adjustments before restarting work under the new team account.
• For fixed-price projects. If a project is mid-milestone, it may be easiest to wait until payment has been released from project funds before moving it. Otherwise, you’ll need to request a refund and restart the milestone on the new account. In some cases, waiting until the project wraps up and starting fresh is even simpler.

2. End open contracts in the old account

Before cleaning up contracts, confirm you’re using the correct account from the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner.

1. Go to Jobs → All Contracts
2. Select the more options icon (…) and then End contract, or choose the End contract button on your dashboard
3. If you plan to rehire a freelancer, save their profile link first. You can find it under Recently Ended Contracts → (…) → View profile

When ending an hourly contract or fixed-price contract:

• Leave feedback! Upwork’s double-blind feedback system helps both you and the independent professionals you work with build stronger reputations.
• Make final payments. For fixed-price projects, you can add a last payment directly through the End contract form.
• If needed, request or process refunds. Freelancers can issue refunds for payments made within the last 180 days.

3. Rehire under your new team account

Once contracts are closed, you’re ready to reengage talent under your company account on Upwork with a new team workspace. Try to have as brief a time gap as possible.

1. Switch to your new team account. Use the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner. If you’re connected to more than one team, double-check that you’ve selected the right one — contracts can’t be moved between teams once they begin.
2. Find the freelancer’s profile. Navigate to their profile or use a saved link from your previous contract.
3. Select “Hire.” You’ll find the button at the top of their profile.
4. Review and send your offer. Adjust job details as needed before you send an offer. You can even include a link to the original job post for context.

The freelancer will then receive your offer and can accept it to start work again. With new contracts in place, your team can pick up right where you left off — smoothly and confidently.

Bring your team together under one company account

A company account on Upwork is how your team goes from hiring individually to hiring together. With the structure in place, your organization can move faster and stay aligned across every project. Upwork’s team features make it easy to keep your company’s hiring, billing, and projects in sync — all in one place. Once everything’s connected, your team can focus less on admin and more on getting great work done. And with Uma, your team can get help writing job posts, comparing proposals, and finding the right talent faster.

Set up a team to start collaborating, or explore how Business Plus can help you scale faster.

FAQs about how to create a company account on Upwork

Here are answers to common questions that come up about how to create a company account on Upwork, from team setup and permissions to managing multiple accounts. 

Can I join Upwork as a company?

Yes, you create an Upwork account for your company to find and hire freelance talent. There's no separate company registration — you create a standard client account and set it up as a team workspace for your company. From there, you can invite colleagues, organize hiring by department or project, and manage contracts and spending in one place.

How do I add a team member in Upwork?

You can add a new member to your Upwork team by going to your team's settings and selecting "Invite Member." You'll need the person's email address or their Upwork username. If they already have a client account, a new profile for your company will appear under their avatar. If they're new to Upwork, they'll be prompted to create a client account. With Business Plus, you can assign each person a specific team and permission level during the invitation process.

How do I edit my team’s company profile on Upwork?

To edit the information for your company’s team workspace, go to Account Settings and select "My Info." From there, you can update your company name, logo, description, and contact details. This information appears on your public company profile and is visible to freelancers when you post jobs or send offers.

Can I create more than one client account?

Yes, if you’re involved with more than one company or organization, you can create a separate client account for each. If the businesses don't overlap, keeping their projects and billing separate helps prevent confusion. For example, use one account for your day job and another for a side hustle:

• Client account for your day job. Even if this account includes multiple teams, all activity, contracts, and billing will stay connected to that organization.
• Your new client account. This account is completely distinct, with its own contracts, payment methods, and network of freelance talent.

How do I know I’m using the right account if I have more than one?

You can switch between accounts by selecting your user avatar in the upper-right corner. Giving each profile a distinct avatar or label can help you quickly see which account is active.

What account type should I choose on Upwork?

When creating an account, Upwork asks what type of work you're looking to do. If you're hiring talent, choose a client account. If you're offering your services, start with a freelancer account — and if you work with a team of independent professionals, you can set up an agency from there. For businesses that need a shared team workspace for hiring, a client account is the starting point.