Upwork Fee Structure

As a freelancer on Upwork, it’s important to understand how the platform’s fee structure works. It’s structured as a sliding scale, which means it changes the percentage they take from your income based on your lifetime billings with each client.

Here is the Sliding Scale:

• 20% for the first $500 you bill your client across all contracts
• 10% for total billings with your client between $500.01 and $10,000
• 5% for total billings with your client that exceed $10,000

Case Illustration

For example, if you were to bill a client $600 on your first project, Upwork would take 20% of the first $500 (which is $100), and then 10% of the remaining $100 (which is $10). Therefore, you would pay Upwork $110 and keep $490 out of that $600 for yourself.

Note:

Keep in mind, this rate is per client, not overall. So when you start working with a new client, the percentage begins at 20% and decreases as your lifetime billings with that particular client increase.