Upwork charges fees on both sides of every job. Freelancers lose 0% to 15% of each contract to a service fee and also pay for Connects to apply, plus a withdrawal charge to move money out. Clients pay a marketplace fee of up to 10% on every payment and a one-time initiation fee each time they start a contract. If you’re asking how much Upwork charges, the honest answer is that the headline percentage is only part of it; Connects, subscriptions, withdrawal fees, sales tax, and the Conversion Fee for taking a relationship off-platform all stack on top.
What Freelancers Pay on Earnings
Every dollar you earn through the marketplace is reduced by a service fee before it reaches your available balance. The fee runs from 0% to 15% per contract and is set based on factors Upwork uses to maintain what it calls a “balanced and competitive environment across different types of work.”1Upwork. Learn About the Freelancer Service Fee Once a contract begins, the percentage locks in for the life of that contract. The fee applies to all earnings on a contract, including bonuses.2Upwork. Upwork Fee Calculator Bill a client $500 on a contract carrying a 10% fee and you receive $450.
Direct Contracts: 5% Instead
If you bring your own client to Upwork rather than finding them through the marketplace, a Direct Contract carries a reduced service fee of 5%.3Upwork. A Free Service Agreement – Upwork Direct Contracts You still get escrow and payment infrastructure, without the full marketplace rate.
What Clients Pay
Marketplace Fee on Every Payment
On the free Basic plan, clients pay a marketplace fee of up to 7.99% on all payments to freelancers, covering hourly contracts, fixed-price milestones, bonuses, and payroll.4Upwork. What Is the Client Marketplace Fee U.S.-based clients who qualify to pay by bank account (ACH) get a reduced rate of 3%. On the Business Plus plan the marketplace fee is 10%, discounted to 8% for eligible ACH payments.5Upwork. Upwork Pricing – Plans and Fees for Clients
One detail worth noting: the marketplace fee is non-refundable, even if the underlying payment to a freelancer is reversed or refunded.4Upwork. What Is the Client Marketplace Fee If a $1,000 milestone falls apart and the freelancer sends the money back, the client still eats the marketplace fee already paid on that payment.
Contract Initiation Fee
Each new contract triggers a one-time initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99.6Upwork. What Is the Contract Initiation Fee on Upwork Business Plus clients get this waived on most contracts, though fixed-price contracts under $100 still carry a smaller initiation fee of up to $4.99.5Upwork. Upwork Pricing – Plans and Fees for Clients
Connects: What It Costs to Apply
Freelancers can’t submit a proposal without spending Connects, a virtual token priced at $0.15 each.7Upwork. Understanding and Using Connects Each listing specifies how many are required, with higher-budget and more competitive jobs demanding more. The minimum purchase is 10.8Upwork. Connects Calculator
Freelancers on the free Basic plan receive 10 Connects per month.9Upwork. How To Get Free Connects on Upwork Freelancer Plus subscribers get 100 per month after their first month on the plan.10Upwork Help. What Is Freelancer Plus Ten Connects covers maybe one or two proposals, so active freelancers end up buying more. A job that costs 16 Connects to apply to runs $2.40 just to submit, with no guarantee of a reply.
Boosting a Proposal
You can optionally bid extra Connects to boost a proposal into one of the top four slots on the client’s applicant list. Boosting is an auction: you set a maximum, the auction runs seven days or until the client hires, and the boost amount is charged only if you hold a top-four spot when the auction ends and the client interacts with your proposal while it is boosted. The base Connects for the proposal itself are charged immediately on submission. If you get outbid and the client never opens the boosted version, the extra Connects come back.11Upwork. How to Boost Your Proposal
When Connects Are Refunded
Upwork refunds Connects only when the platform itself removes a job posting for violating its terms of service. In that case both the base Connects and any boost Connects are returned.12Upwork. How Will Connects Refunds Work If the client ignores you, closes the posting, or hires someone else, those Connects are spent.
Getting Paid Out
Moving money off Upwork costs something no matter the method. Direct to Local Bank is the cheapest at $0.99 per withdrawal.13Upwork. What Are the Fees, Limits, and Timing of Direct to Local Bank Payments Your own bank may charge an incoming transfer fee on top of that.14Upwork. 15Upwork. How Do Wire Transfers Work on Upwork PayPal and Payoneer are supported, but those providers set their own fees.
Optional Subscriptions
Freelancer Plus
Freelancer Plus costs $19.99 per month.16Upwork. Is Upwork Freelancer Plus Worth It The 100 monthly Connects alone would cost $15 if bought separately, nearly covering the subscription. Plus members also see bid range data showing the minimum, maximum, and average proposals on a job. If you submit more than a handful of proposals a month, the math usually works.
Business Plus for Clients
Business Plus charges a higher marketplace fee (10%, or 8% via ACH) in exchange for pre-vetted talent access, team workspaces, advanced reporting, API integration, priority support, waived initiation fees on most contracts, and 30-day payment terms. Clients can also bring outside freelancers onto the platform through direct contracts at $49 per active contract per month.5Upwork. Upwork Pricing – Plans and Fees for Clients
The Expensive Exit: Conversion Fee
Taking a working relationship off Upwork is not free. The terms of service include a 24-month non-circumvention period starting from when you first connect with a client or freelancer through the site. During that window all payments must run through Upwork unless you pay a Conversion Fee.17Upwork. Upwork Legal Center
The Conversion Fee is 13.5% of the freelancer’s estimated annual earnings, calculated as hourly rate multiplied by 2,080 hours (a standard full-time work year).18Upwork. What Is the Upwork Conversion Fee For a freelancer billing $50 per hour, that’s roughly $14,040. Circumventing the system without paying, whether by sharing contact details before a contract starts or routing payments off-platform, can result in permanent account closure for both parties.19Upwork Customer Service & Support. Circumvention, and Why It’s Against the Rules Even an incomplete attempt can trigger enforcement.
Taxes That Affect Your Net
Form 1099-K
Upwork reports freelancer earnings to the IRS on Form 1099-K. Under the threshold reinstated by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, third-party settlement organizations like Upwork are required to file a 1099-K when a freelancer’s gross payments exceed $20,000 and transactions exceed 200 in a calendar year.20Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill You may still get a 1099-K below those thresholds, and whether or not you receive one, all income has to be reported on your return.21Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Form 1099-K
Backup Withholding
If you don’t provide a valid taxpayer identification number (SSN, EIN, or ITIN), Upwork may be required to withhold 24% of your earnings under IRS backup withholding rules, which apply to payments reported on 1099 forms.22Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding Completing your W-9 when you set up the account avoids it.
Sales Tax on Upwork’s Charges
Depending on where you live, Upwork may charge sales tax on its service fees, Connects purchases, and subscriptions. The amount varies by state and local jurisdiction, and Upwork shows an estimated tax at checkout when it applies.23Upwork. How U.S. Sales Tax Works for Freelancers on Upwork You budget $0.15 per Connect and see $0.16 at checkout. Across dozens of purchases, it adds up.
If a Dispute Escalates
Mediation through Upwork is free. If a payment dispute goes to formal arbitration, each side pays $337.50. Arbitration is rare, but the figure is worth knowing before you commit to a large fixed-price milestone with a new client. Clear scope and written deliverables remain the cheapest form of dispute prevention on the platform.