Upwork takes less than Fiverr on a $100 job, but the freelancer's cut is a range
Upwork charges the client 5% on each transaction, or 3% by ACH for eligible clients on Basic. Business Plus costs 10%, or 8% by ACH. The freelancer's fee was a flat 10% on contracts formed before May 2025. Since May 2025 it has been 0% to 15% per contract, and the rate is fixed when the contract starts. [1]
On a $100 contract the client pays $105 and the freelancer takes home $85 to $100, so Upwork keeps $5 to $20 across both sides. Fiverr keeps $29 on the same job: $9 from the buyer and $20 from the seller. [1] [2] [4]
The rate you actually pay depends on the category and the contract. G2 Learn gives 10% as the typical freelancer fee, and Self Employed reports it can reach 15% in common categories. Price your work on the 15% figure until your own contracts show a lower rate. The complaints page shows how fee disputes usually end. For the wider picture, start at Upwork, explained. [5] [6]
Connects and Freelancer Plus: the subscription does not pay for itself on bids
Basic gives freelancers 10 Connects a month. Guides put the price of an extra Connect at $0.15, sold in packs of at least 10 for $1.50. Upwork's Q3 2026 10-Q says it is "optimizing our Connects pricing model," so a price you read today may change. [3] [5] [7]
Freelancer Plus costs $19.99 a month for 100 Connects and removes the 5% fee on Direct Contracts. Most guides give that price, though one older guide says $14.99. Plus gives 90 more Connects than Basic. Buying those 90 at $0.15 costs $13.50, so on bids alone Plus costs $6.49 more a month. [3] [5]
Plus pays off through Direct Contracts. The 5% fee on $400 of direct billing is $20, which is about the plan's price. Above $400 a month the saving beats the subscription; below it, Basic is cheaper. [3] [5]
Contract and payout charges catch people out
A contract initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99 applies to each new contract. On Business Plus, fixed-price contracts of $100 or less pay up to $4.99. Lemon.io gives these figures but does not say whether the client or the freelancer pays. Read the fee line before you accept an offer. [3]
A Trustpilot reviewer reported a $2.99 withdrawal fee on top of the 15% fee in October 2026. A 2022 Hacker News post described $30 to a non-US bank. Lemon.io lists no withdrawal fee at all, and says payouts are held for about five days before clearing, then take about a week. Check the fee for your payout method before you choose how often to withdraw. [8] [9] [3]
Upwork keeps more of each dollar while clients leave
Upwork's take rate, its marketplace revenue as a share of the value of work bought through it, rose to 20.0% in Q3 2026 from 18.9% a year earlier. It was 18.7% for 2025 and 13.8% in 2022. The 10-Q credits part of the Q3 rise to variable talent fees. [7] [1]
Active clients fell from 832,000 in 2024 to 785,000 at the end of 2025, and to 763,000 in Q2 2026. Management is scaling experiments with variable talent fees and wider client fee ranges, as it told analysts on the Q3 call. A higher take on fewer clients is the trend to watch when you decide how much to put on Upwork. [1] [10] [11]
Paid plans, compared
| Plan | Per month (monthly) | Per month (annual) | What you get | Is it worth it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upwork Basic (freelancers) | Free | Free | 10 Connects a month; 5% fee on Direct Contracts | Yes, for freelancers who bid a few times a month |
| Upwork Freelancer Plus | $19.99 | Not stated | 100 Connects a month; no fee on Direct Contracts | Only if you bill more than about $400 a month directly |
| Upwork Business Plus (clients) | Guides disagree, from $49.99 to none | Not stated | Client fee of 10% (8% by ACH) instead of 5% | Unclear. The higher fee needs a clear reason, and guides don't list what Business Plus adds |
| Fiverr Seller Plus Standard (rival) | $25 | $18.75 ($225 a year) | Analytics, a success-manager call and coupons; the 20% cut stays | Only once orders are steady |
| Contra Pro (rival) | $29 | $16.58 ($199 a year) | Removes the client's $15 or $29 platform fee on each payment | Only if you are the one paying that fee |
| Omnitwine | Free | Free | AI suggestions of members on the other side who fit a client or freelancer for one job, each with a reason; a member directory | Only for finding one specific client or freelancer outside Upwork's bid flow; it takes no cut and holds no payment [3] [5] [1] [12] [13] [14] [15] |
Is free Upwork good enough?
For most freelancers, yes. Basic costs nothing. Plus changes two things: 90 more Connects a month, and no 5% fee on Direct Contracts. It only helps if you bill direct work above about $400 a month. Test it for one month: count the Connects you spend and the direct billing you invoice. If the direct billing is under $400, stay on Basic. [3] [5]
For clients, Basic is the cheaper fee. Business Plus doubles the client fee from 5% to 10%, so it has to save you more than that, and the guides do not say what it adds. On a $2,000 contract the difference is $100 on the fee alone. Test it with the next invoice: compare the fee line with the 5% you would pay on Basic. [1]