How much is Upwork fee
for freelancers

Important Update for 2023 affected Upwork freelance fees! See more information here: https://etcetera.kiev.ua/blog/simpler-fees-on-upwork/

The question “How much is Upwork fee for freelancers” is not only important for new users of the platform. Because even if you have been working on Upwork for a long time now, you will probably find something new and interesting in this post, where we’ve collected ALL the information on the topic.

So, how much is Upwork fee for freelancers?

1. The general rule of freelance fees is a sliding % based on your total lifetime billings with a client (including hourly, fixed-price, or a Project Catalog contracts).

$0-$500 in earnings from a client: 20% service fee applied to earnings
$500.01-$10,000 in earnings from a client: 10% service fee
$10,000.01 or more in earnings from a client: 5% service fee

You can check your progress toward reduced fees under Reports › Lifetime Billings by Client.

2. Freelancers hired for Featured Jobs pay a reduced freelancer service fee if they are Top Rated or a Rising Talent. To spot a Features Job – look for a small diamonв in the job post description. The fee then will start at 10%.

2. Contracts with Enterprise Clients usually also have a flat 10% service fee.

Direct Contracts & Bring Your Own Client have slightly different rules.

For BYOC flow - they client creates a new account with your referral link. In Direct Contracts the client doesn’t create a regular account, just uses the payment functionality. Both DC and BYOC have reduced freelance fees:

Top Rated freelancers who bring their offline clients to Upwork (and the client creates an account for the first time) are eligible for 0% on fees with the new clients they bring (for all future contracts). Even if you lose your TR status, you’ll continue to pay a 0% fee on these contracts. If you have not received a personal BYOC invitation link, email BringYourClient@upwork.com.
For Direct Contract you’ll pay a processing fee of 3.4% of the total contract amount but you won’t pay any freelancer service fees to Upwork. Direct Contracts let you manage contracts in the Upwork platform with your clients who don’t have an Upwork account. You still have the benefits of escrow services, simple contract management, faster payments, and dispute assistance should a problem arise.

Agency Service Fees follow the same rules. But agency service fees are based on total agency billings with a client across all contracts. So, if a designer, for example, has already passed $500 and then a developer from the same agency starts a contract – the fee will be only 10%.