2026 rates, checked
Upwork Fee Calculator
Your Upwork fee can change with every contract. Enter the rate on your offer to see what you keep after the fee, Connects and withdrawal, or the rate to quote.
- Free, no sign-up
- Hourly, fixed price and agency
- Private: runs in your browser
Updates as you type
You keep
$3,600.00
from $4,000.00 billed (80 hours at $50.00). Upwork and payout costs take $400.00, or 10%.
- Upwork service fee
- $400.00
- You keep per hour
- $45.00
- Client pays
- $4,200.00
Your client pays $4,200.00: $4,000.00 plus a 5% fee (Basic plan). They also pay a one-time Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99 to $14.99.
Selling the same work as a Fiverr gig?See what you would keep on $4,000.00Your yearly Upwork bill Estimate
Costs per contract$400.00
and a year$2,400.00
Your take-home at every Upwork fee level
What reaches you from $4,000.00 at each service fee level, with your other costs. Pick one to use it.
Did this match what Upwork actually charged you?
Quick answer
How much does Upwork take from freelancers?
Upwork takes a Freelancer Service Fee of 0% to 15%, set per contract and shown on your offer before you accept. At 10%, a $1,000 contract pays you $900; at 15% it pays $850. Connects cost $0.15 each, and withdrawing to a US bank is free with a US tax address. To keep $45 an hour at 10%, charge $50.
- Freelancer Service Fee0% to 15%Set per contract
- You keep from $1,000$900At a 10% fee
- One Connect$0.15Per Connect a proposal needs
- To keep $45 an hour$50/hrAt a 10% fee
Rate table
What to charge per hour on Upwork
At a 10% service fee, over 80 hours, before Connects and withdrawal fees. The client column uses the Basic plan fee of 5%.
The table follows the fee and options you pick in the calculator.
| You want to keep | Charge | Upwork takes | Client pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20.00/hr | $22.23/hr | $2.22 | $23.34 |
| $30.00/hr | $33.34/hr | $3.33 | $35.01 |
| $40.00/hr | $44.45/hr | $4.45 | $46.67 |
| $50.00/hr | $55.56/hr | $5.56 | $58.34 |
| $75.00/hr | $83.34/hr | $8.33 | $87.51 |
| $100.00/hr | $111.12/hr | $11.11 | $116.68 |
| $150.00/hr | $166.67/hr | $16.67 | $175.00 |
Fee table
Upwork fees on common amounts
What you receive after the Freelancer Service Fee alone, at 5%, 10% and 15%.
| You bill | At 5% | At 10% | At 15% |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100.00 | $95.00 | $90.00 | $85.00 |
| $500.00 | $475.00 | $450.00 | $425.00 |
| $1,000.00 | $950.00 | $900.00 | $850.00 |
| $2,500.00 | $2,375.00 | $2,250.00 | $2,125.00 |
| $5,000.00 | $4,750.00 | $4,500.00 | $4,250.00 |
| $10,000.00 | $9,500.00 | $9,000.00 | $8,500.00 |
The basics
How Upwork fees work in 2026
Upwork no longer uses the old sliding scale of 20%, 10% and 5%. Every contract now has its own Freelancer Service Fee between 0% and 15% of what you bill. You see the exact rate on the offer or when you submit a proposal, and it is locked in for the life of the contract.
- 0% to 15%
Upwork Freelancer Service Fee: 0% to 15%
The fee is a percentage of every payment on the contract: hourly invoices, fixed-price milestones, bonuses, and expense and miscellaneous payments. Upwork rounds it to the nearest cent on each payment. Contracts you start with your own client through Direct Contracts pay 5%, or 0% with Freelancer Plus, and Enterprise clients usually mean a 10% fee.
- $0.15 each
Upwork Connects cost
Each proposal costs the number of Connects shown on the job, at $0.15 per Connect. If you send 5 proposals of 10 Connects for every job you win, each new contract costs you $7.50 before you earn anything. Basic accounts may get 10 free Connects a month.
Upwork withdrawal fees
| Withdrawal method | Upwork fee |
|---|---|
| Direct to US bank (ACH), US tax address | Free |
| Direct to US bank (ACH), non-US tax address | $2.99 per transfer (since 1 September 2026) |
| Direct to local bank, outside the US | $0.99 per transfer |
| Instant Pay, US freelancers | $2.00 per transfer, up to $2,999 |
| US dollar wire transfer | $50.00 per transfer |
| PayPal, Payoneer | A small per-transfer fee shown in your Withdrawals settings, plus the provider’s own fees |
Both sides
Who pays what on Upwork
| Fee | Freelancer | Client |
|---|---|---|
| Service or Marketplace Fee | 0% to 15% per contract (5% on Direct Contracts, 0% with Freelancer Plus) | 5% on Basic (3% from a US checking account), 10% on Business Plus (8%) |
| One-time fee | None | Contract Initiation Fee, $0.99 to $14.99 per new contract on Basic |
| Bidding | Connects, $0.15 each | None |
| Getting money out | $0 to $50 per withdrawal, by method | None |
| Membership | Freelancer Plus, $19.99 a month (optional) | Business Plus (optional) |
On a $1,000 contract at a 10% fee, your client pays $1,050 plus the one-time fee and you receive $900, so Upwork collects about $150 across both sides.
Upwork’s client pricing page lists the 5% Marketplace Fee used here. An older Upwork Help Center article still mentions “up to 7.99%”.
Do the maths
How this calculator works
Take-home
Take-home = billed × (1 − service fee) − VAT on the fee − Connects − withdrawal fees − currency conversion
Rate to charge
Rate to charge = (take-home you want + Connects + withdrawal fees) ÷ (1 − service fee), adjusted for VAT and conversion
Agency profit
Agency profit = take-home − pay to your freelancer or team − management cost
Example: $50 an hour for 80 hours is $4,000. A 10% fee takes $400 and 50 Connects cost $7.50, so you take home $3,592.50, or $44.91 for every hour you billed.
Skip the maths and use the calculatorFAQ
Upwork fee questions
Short answers to what freelancers ask most. Something missing or looks wrong? Tell us and we’ll check it.
Is Upwork’s fee 10% or 15%?
It can be either, or anything from 0% to 15%. Upwork sets the Freelancer Service Fee per contract based on factors such as the type of work, and shows it before you submit a proposal or accept an offer. Use the percentage on your own offer rather than an average.
Does Upwork still charge 20%, 10% and 5%?
No. The old sliding scale of 20% on the first $500 with a client, then 10% and 5%, has been replaced by a variable fee of 0% to 15% per contract. The legacy tiered rates only apply where Upwork has confirmed them to you in writing.
What fees do Upwork clients pay?
Clients on the free Basic plan pay a 5% Marketplace Fee on every payment, or 3% if they are eligible US clients paying from a checking account, plus a one-time Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99 to $14.99 for each new contract. Business Plus clients pay 10%, or 8% from a US checking account.
Is Freelancer Plus worth it?
Freelancer Plus costs $19.99 a month and includes 100 Connects (worth $15 at $0.15 each) plus a 0% fee on Direct Contracts. It doesn’t reduce the 0% to 15% fee on marketplace contracts, so it pays off mainly if you buy a lot of Connects or bill clients through Direct Contracts.
When do I get paid on Upwork?
For hourly contracts, you are paid 10 days after the weekly billing period ends on Sunday: hours are invoiced on Monday, the client can review them until Friday, and the money becomes available the following Wednesday (UTC). For fixed-price milestones, the client has 14 days to review your submitted work, after which payment is released automatically, and then a five-day security hold applies.
Which takes less, Upwork or Fiverr?
Upwork usually takes less as a percentage: 0% to 15% per contract against Fiverr’s flat 20%, so a $1,000 job pays $850 to $1,000 on Upwork and $800 on Fiverr. Upwork adds the cost of Connects for every proposal you send, and both platforms charge the client or buyer a fee on top. Which suits you better depends on whether you’d rather bid for posted jobs or be found through a gig you’ve listed.
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