Upwork Fees in 2026: What Freelancers Actually Pay

At FreelanceAtlas, we help freelancers keep more of what they bill. This guide covers every Upwork charge as of September 2026: the variable service fee, the fees clients pay, Connects, Freelancer Plus, withdrawal methods, currency conversion and VAT or GST, with two worked examples and a formula for pricing the fees into your rate. Read it alongside How Much Should You Charge on Upwork? (By Skill, 2026) and Upwork Connects Explained: How to Stop Wasting Them.

This article is general information, not tax advice. VAT, GST and income reporting rules depend on where you live and how your business is set up, so check with a CPA, an enrolled agent or a qualified tax advisor in your country before you rely on any tax figure here.

Upwork Fees at a Glance (September 2026)

Every row is explained, with its source, below.

The Freelancer Service Fee: 0% to 15%, Set Per Contract

Upwork’s help page on the Freelancer Service Fee, as of September 2026, says it directly: “The fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract.” It is charged on your earnings, and Upwork says it pays for payment protection, fraud prevention, dispute resolution and the tools you use to run the work.

Upwork describes the rate as “set based on factors that help support a balanced and competitive environment across different types of work.” Its annual report for 2025, filed with the SEC, is more specific: the fee depends on “platform-specific supply and demand factors, such as project type, job availability, and client demand.” Upwork does not publish the formula, so you cannot know a job’s rate until you start a proposal or receive an offer.

What Changed in May 2025

The same annual report dates the change: “Effective May 2025, we introduced a variable pricing structure for talent service fees for new contracts.” Contracts formed before May 2025 keep “a flat talent service fee of 10%,” so an older contract can stay at 10% while each new one gets its own rate.

You See the Fee Before You Commit, and It Does Not Move

Upwork shows the percentage “when a client sends you an offer, or you are submitting a proposal.” After that, “Once a proposal, offer, or contract is sent, the Freelancer Service Fee is locked in and won’t change.”

Three smaller rules matter. If money is refunded to the client, Upwork returns the fee you paid on that amount, so a $100 refund at 10% gives you back $10. Upwork says it is “not offering any regular discounts.” And fees are rounded to the cent, which is why Upwork’s own example of 12 hours at $22.22 nets $239.98 instead of an even $240.

Contracts That Use a Different Fee

Not every contract runs on the variable fee. The same help page lists the exceptions:

• Direct Contracts. When you bring your own client to Upwork, the Direct Contracts page says you pay “a 5% freelancer service fee,” and an active Freelancer Plus member pays none. Your client still pays the Client Marketplace Fee and a Contract Initiation Fee. Start every later contract with that client from the Direct Contracts page, or you lose the discount.
• Enterprise clients. “Typically, freelancers partnered with Enterprise clients pay a 10% service fee,” though the exact rate depends on that client’s agreement.
• Any Hire. You pay no Freelancer Service Fee on an Any Hire contract.
• Upwork Payroll. Payroll workers are paid through a third-party staffing firm and pay no Freelancer Service Fee.

Direct Contracts count toward your Job Success Score, earnings and Top Rated status like any other contract. Direct Contracts are the approved route for clients you found yourself. Moving a client you met on Upwork off the platform is a different question with its own rules, covered in Is It Against Upwork’s TOS to Take a Client Off-Platform?

What Clients Pay on Top of Your Rate

On the free Basic plan, Upwork’s Client Marketplace Fee page says clients pay “up to 7.99%” on payments to freelancers, including fixed-price and hourly contracts, bonuses and Direct Contracts. A qualifying US client who pays from a bank account pays 3%. The fee is “not refundable, even if a payment is reversed or refunded.”

Clients also pay a one-time Contract Initiation Fee “ranging from $0.99 to $14.99 USD” for each new contract, including a new contract with a freelancer they hired before. It varies with “contract type, account history, and hiring activity,” and adding milestones to an existing contract does not trigger it again. Clients on the Business Plus plan pay more: the annual report lists a 10% fee, or 8% by ACH.

The rates move. The 2025 annual report described a 5% client fee, or 3% by ACH, while the help page as of September 2026 says “up to 7.99%.” In 2025, Upwork’s marketplace revenue equaled 18.7% of the money moving through the marketplace, up from 18.0% in 2024, a rise the company tied to “growing contributions from ads and monetization products,” a category that includes the Connects freelancers buy.

Why this matters to you: a $1,000 bid really costs a Basic-plan client about $1,031 to $1,095 once their fees are added.

Connects: What It Costs to Apply

Upwork’s Connects help page states that “Connects cost $0.15 (USD) each and are sold in bundles,” and you need a verified billing method to buy them, even if you pay from your earnings. The number a proposal needs “varies per job and can change during the time the job is posted,” based on project size, scope and market demand. Upwork shows the count on each job post and does not publish a standard number.

Know when you get them back. Connects are returned if the client cancels the job before making a contract (not when a post simply expires) or if Upwork removes the post for a Terms of Service violation. They are not returned when the client rejects you, picks someone else, lets the job expire, or when you withdraw. Returned Connects go back into your balance, not your bank. Boosting a proposal costs extra Connects on top of the base amount, bid against other freelancers.

Upwork says “some freelancers may receive 10 free Connects each month,” and each talent badge pays 30 Connects, up to 90 in total, which Upwork Top Rated, Top Rated Plus and Rising Talent: How the Badges Work in 2026 covers in detail. One cost new freelancers miss: the identity verification badge costs 35 Connects, or $5.25, lasts three years, and is required to apply to US-only or UK-only jobs.

To budget, say you send 20 proposals a month at an assumed average of 14 Connects each. That is 280 Connects; subtract 10 free ones and you buy 270 for $40.50 a month, a cost your rate has to cover.

Freelancer Plus: $19.99 a Month and the Break-Even Math

Upwork’s guide Is Upwork Freelancer Plus Worth It? puts the price at $19.99 a month when you subscribe through Upwork and $27 a month through the Apple App Store. The help center does not print a price and tells you to confirm it under Membership plan, then Change Plan, so check there before you subscribe.

According to the Freelancer Plus help page, the plan includes:

• 100 Connects a month once you have been on the plan for a month (90 to 100 in your first month)
• Instant job alerts and expanded data on applicants, bids and hiring activity
• A 0% freelancer service fee on Direct Contracts
• Full, unlimited access to Uma, Upwork’s AI assistant
• Profile tools: keep your profile active during a break, hide your earnings, use a custom URL

Plus does not buy a lower rate on regular jobs: Upwork’s guide notes that all freelancers “pay the same service fees on traditional Upwork contracts.” Here is the break-even math. Plus gives you 90 more Connects than the 10 a free account may get, worth $13.50 at $0.15 each, if you would have bought them anyway. That leaves $6.49 a month to justify with the other features. On Direct Contracts, the 5% you stop paying covers that gap once you bill $129.80 a month through them, and covers the whole $19.99 at $399.80. If you rarely buy Connects and have no Direct Contract clients, Plus has to pay for itself through the insights and alerts alone.

Withdrawal Fees by Method

Upwork’s How to get paid page lists the current options and fees:

Hourly earnings become available ten days after the billing week ends, and fixed-price funds are released five days after the client approves a milestone. A new withdrawal method only becomes active after three calendar days, and once a withdrawal starts it cannot be canceled.

Because the fee is charged per withdrawal, batching saves money. Withdrawing to a local bank every week costs $51.48 a year at $0.99 each; monthly costs $11.88. Upwork’s automatic withdrawals run “on a schedule you set,” so pick the least frequent one your cash flow allows.

PayPal and Payoneer: Check the Fee Before You Choose

Upwork does not print these two fees in its help center. The PayPal withdrawal page says “Upwork charges a small fee per transfer, and PayPal may apply additional fees on their side,” and tells you to see the current amount under Settings, Withdrawals, Add a method. PayPal’s own fees vary by currency and country; Upwork notes that PayPal India may treat Upwork transfers as payments for services and charge more. The How to get paid page lists Payoneer, for freelancers outside the US, without a printed fee, so check it the same way. For a side-by-side of the rails, see How to Get Paid as an International Freelancer: Wise, Payoneer, and the Real Costs.

Currency Conversion, VAT and GST, and Your 1099-K

Your Upwork balance is held in US dollars. When you withdraw in another currency, Upwork’s currency conversion page says the conversion “is handled by our payment partners, and they set the actual exchange rate used,” and that they “may include a markup on the rate to cover their own costs.” The rate you see on Google is the mid-market rate, so expect to receive a little less than it suggests.

VAT and GST on Upwork’s Own Fees

Some countries require Upwork to add tax to what it charges you. Its tax information page for freelancers lists country pages covering the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada, India and others. The tax applies to Upwork’s services to you, such as the service fee, membership and Connects.

The UK page is typical: VAT is “20% of the cost of the service being taxed,” so “On $100 USD in Freelancer Service Fees, you’ll pay $20 in tax.” If you give Upwork a valid VAT ID, it does not collect the tax, but VAT you paid before entering the ID is not refunded. If you are VAT-registered, enter your ID before you buy Connects or start a contract.

If You Are in the US: Your 1099-K Shows Gross Payments

For tax year 2025, Upwork’s US income reporting page says you get a Form 1099-K if you earned $20,000 or more before fees and had at least 200 transactions, or if you live in a state with a lower threshold. The form shows your total payments for the year, not your net earnings. Upwork points to its billings and earnings report for totals that include fees; reconcile the two and ask your tax professional how to treat the fees.

Worked Example 1: What You Net on a $1,000 Fixed-Price Contract

This is an illustration, not a quote. Say you win a $1,000 fixed-price project, the contract shows a 10% fee, and the job asked for 16 Connects.

1. Service fee: 10% of $1,000 is $100, so $900 reaches your balance five days after the client approves the work.
2. Connects: 16 at $0.15 is $2.40.
3. Withdrawal: $0 to a US bank with a US tax address, $0.99 to a local bank, or $50 by wire.

You net $897.60 with a free US bank withdrawal, $896.61 through Direct to Local Bank, or $847.60 by wire. The fee band is wide: at 0% the local-bank result is $996.61, and at 15% it is $846.61.

Now add UK VAT for a freelancer without a VAT ID. Tax of 20% applies to the $100 fee and to the $2.40 of Connects, so the fee costs $120 and the Connects $2.88. After a $0.99 local-bank withdrawal, you net $876.13.

For a Basic-plan client, the same job costs $1,000 plus a marketplace fee of up to $79.90 plus a Contract Initiation Fee of up to $14.99, or as much as $1,094.89. A US client paying from a bank account at 3% pays $1,030.99 to $1,044.99.

Worked Example 2: 20 Hours at $50 an Hour

Another illustration. You bill 20 hours at $50 an hour over two weeks, 10 hours each week, so the client pays you $1,000 in two weekly payments of $500. Say this contract shows a 12% fee and the proposal cost 12 Connects ($1.80).

• Service fee: 12% of $1,000 is $120, leaving $880.
• US freelancer, free ACH withdrawals: $880 minus $1.80 is $878.20, or $43.91 an hour.
• US freelancer using Instant Pay each week: two transfers at $2.00 bring it to $874.20, or $43.71 an hour.
• Non-US freelancer, Direct to Local Bank each week: two transfers at $0.99 bring it to $876.22, or $43.81 an hour.

Your $50 rate becomes roughly $44 in hand, and each week’s hours become available ten days after the week closes. How fast hourly money arrives also depends on your badge status, which our guide to Upwork Top Rated covers.

How to Price Upwork Fees Into Your Rate

Start from the number you want to keep, then gross it up for the fee shown on that specific proposal:

Rate to quote = Target net rate / (1 – fee rate)

To keep $50 an hour, quote $55.56 at a 10% fee, $56.82 at 12% and $58.82 at 15%. Upwork’s help page uses the same method: to take home $20 an hour at 10%, charge $22.22. For fixed-price work, a $1,000 target becomes $1,111.11 at 10% and $1,176.47 at 15%.

Two adjustments make this honest:

• Tax on the fee. If Upwork charges you VAT or GST, multiply the fee rate by one plus the tax rate. A 10% fee with 20% UK VAT behaves like 12%, so $50 net needs $56.82.
• Monthly overhead. Spread Freelancer Plus and purchased Connects across your billable Upwork hours. Say you pay $19.99 for Plus and $9.00 for 60 extra Connects, $28.99 a month over 40 billable hours: add $0.72 an hour.

The free FreelanceAtlas rate calculator handles the step before this, turning your income goal, expenses and billable hours into a target rate. Then apply the gross-up above for each proposal, because the fee can differ from one job to the next. Upwork’s built-in calculator on the proposal form also shows your net after the fee before you submit.

Conclusion

Upwork’s fees are not one number. The service fee runs from 0% to 15% and is fixed per contract, with Connects, an optional membership, withdrawal charges and, in some countries, VAT or GST on top. Clients pay their own fees too. Every one of these is visible before you commit, so you can price them in instead of discovering them on payday.

Do this next. Open your Membership plan page and confirm what you pay for Plus, if anything, and whether its Connects and Direct Contracts savings cover it. Check your withdrawal method against the table above and switch to monthly withdrawals if you take out small amounts every week. Enter a VAT or GST ID if you have one. Then, on your next proposal, read the fee percentage before you write the bid and gross up your target rate for that exact fee.

Key Takeaways

• As of September 2026, the Freelancer Service Fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract, is shown before you submit a proposal or accept an offer, and does not change once the proposal, offer or contract is sent.
• Upwork introduced the variable fee for new contracts in May 2025; contracts formed before then keep a flat 10% fee, according to its 2025 annual report.
• Connects cost $0.15 each, the number per proposal varies by job, and the identity verification badge costs 35 Connects ($5.25) for three years.
• Freelancer Plus costs $19.99 a month through Upwork ($27 through the Apple App Store) and includes 100 Connects a month and a 0% fee on Direct Contracts, which otherwise carry a 5% fee.
• Withdrawals cost $0.99 to a local bank, $2.00 by Instant Pay, $50 by US dollar wire, and nothing by ACH with a US tax address, while non-US tax addresses pay $2.99 for ACH since September 1, 2026.
• To keep $50 an hour at a 10% fee, quote $55.56, and treat VAT or GST on the fee, such as the UK’s 20%, as part of the fee rate.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Upwork take from freelancers in 2026?

The Freelancer Service Fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract, and Upwork shows the exact rate before you submit a proposal or accept an offer. Direct Contracts carry a 5% fee, or 0% with Freelancer Plus, and Enterprise contracts are typically 10%. You also pay for Connects at $0.15 each and a withdrawal fee that depends on the method.

Can I lower my Upwork service fee?

Not on a contract that is already running, because the fee is locked once the proposal, offer or contract is sent, and Upwork says it does not offer regular discounts. You can choose which jobs to bid on after seeing each one’s fee, and you can bring your own clients through Direct Contracts at 5%, or 0% with Freelancer Plus.

Do clients pay fees on Upwork too?

Yes. Clients on the free Basic plan pay a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99% on payments to freelancers, or 3% if a qualifying US client pays from a bank account. They also pay a one-time Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99 to $14.99 on each new contract.

What is the cheapest way to withdraw money from Upwork?

For freelancers with a US tax address, Direct to U.S. Bank by ACH is free. Outside the US, Direct to Local Bank costs $0.99 per withdrawal, though your bank may add an incoming fee, and ACH to a US account now costs $2.99 for non-US tax addresses. Wires cost $50, and Upwork shows the PayPal and Payoneer fees when you add those methods. Because fees are charged per withdrawal, fewer and larger withdrawals cost less.

Do I pay VAT or GST on Upwork fees?

In some countries, yes. Upwork collects tax on its services to you, such as the service fee, membership and Connects, where your government requires it. In the UK the rate is 20%, so $100 in service fees costs $120. Entering a valid VAT ID stops the collection going forward, but tax already paid is not refunded, so check your country’s page on Upwork’s tax information hub and ask a tax advisor.