Upwork Review (2026)Freelance Hiring Fees Explained
By Daan Haket · Researched and written with an AI assistant · who does what
There is no flat plan price to compare: the cost is a percentage on every payment, charged to the client and separately to the freelancer.
small businesses and teams that need to find and pay freelancers on a project basis and want one place for contracts and payments.
you want a fixed monthly price, you hire the same person long term and would rather pay them directly, or you need a plan comparison we could not verify.
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Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 23 Oct 2026
Upwork is a marketplace where clients hire freelancers, and it earns through fees on payments rather than a single subscription price. Its help article on the Client Marketplace Fee describes the Basic client plan as free and says payments made to freelancers carry a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99%, which is not refundable even when the underlying payment is refunded.
A Business Plus client pays a 10% fee on freelancer payments, and eligible US Business Plus clients may qualify for a reduced 8% fee when paying from a checking account. Freelancers pay a separate service fee of 0% to 15% per contract, fixed once the contract begins, and Upwork returns the freelancer service fee on any amount that is refunded. Freelancers bid with Connects, which cost $0.15 (USD) each.
Enterprise pricing and the Connects allowances per membership are not published in the pages we read. Client and freelancer fees are separate and should not be added into one price. Plans change — always verify the live price on their site.
Category context: HR & People. Across the 15 tools in this category that we researched with a public US-dollar price, the median entry price is $49 a month (lowest paid plan as listed, per seat where the vendor prices per seat). Compare pricing conditions in the Software Cost Atlas →
The honest knock
The Client Marketplace Fee is not refundable even if the payment is refunded, and the client pricing pages were not readable for us, so the paid-plan features are not verified.
What Upwork does
Freelance marketplace where clients post jobs, hire and pay freelancers, with fees charged on payments instead of a flat plan price.
Business Plus only if the 10% fee is worth the extras
Starting on the free Basic client plan costs nothing until you pay a freelancer, at which point the marketplace fee applies. Business Plus charges 10% on freelancer payments, so it only makes sense if you hire often enough to value what it adds. We could not read a full feature table for the paid plans, so compare them on Upwork before you upgrade.
How to actually use Upwork
Create an Upwork client account, complete the phone verification and billing-method check it asks for, then open Hire talent and choose Post a job. Write the job description, publish it, and review the proposals that come in. Fees are taken from payments to freelancers, so read the fee article for your plan before you fund a contract. We did not post a job ourselves.
Distilled from Upwork's own help center articles on the Client Marketplace Fee, the Business Plus fees, the Freelancer Service Fee, Connects and how to post a job, read on 23 October 2026 through Codex research. Upwork is an affiliate partner of ours through PartnerStack. We have not used the service ourselves.
The natural comparison is Fiverr — Fiverr is not yet in our directory as a reviewed tool, so we have no comparison of the two. Check both fee pages against the size of the contracts you plan to place.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Upwork cost for a client?
Per Upwork help articles read on 23 October 2026, the Basic client plan is free, and payments to freelancers carry a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99%. Business Plus charges 10% on freelancer payments.
What does a freelancer pay?
A separate service fee of 0% to 15% per contract, which is fixed once the contract begins. Freelancers also use Connects to bid, priced at $0.15 (USD) each.
Is the marketplace fee refundable?
No. The help article says the Client Marketplace Fee is not refundable even when the underlying payment is refunded. The freelancer service fee, by contrast, is returned on any refunded amount.
Is there a cheaper rate for Business Plus?
Eligible US Business Plus clients may qualify for a reduced 8% fee when paying from a checking account, according to the Business Plus fee article.
What do we not know?
We could not read the client pricing pages, so a complete feature table for the paid plans, Enterprise pricing and the Connects allowances are not verified here.
Is this a hands-on review of Upwork?
This is a researched assessment, not a hands-on test — where we've used a tool ourselves, we say so explicitly. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we earn a commission only if you sign up, at no cost to you.
- Read 2026-10-23 on support.upwork.com help articles; the client pricing pages returned an access error, so there is no complete plan table.
Others in this category
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