Upwork Simplified Its Fee in 2023. Here Is What the Old One Was.

What Changed, and What It Replaced

Since May 2023, Upwork has charged freelancers a flat 10% service fee on every dollar earned through the platform, deducted from the freelancer's gross contract value before payment is released. The rate applies regardless of how much a freelancer has billed a given client historically or in total.

The structure it replaced had been in place for years and worked on a per-client lifetime billing threshold. On the first $500 billed to any single client, Upwork took 20%. Once cumulative billings to that client crossed $500, the rate dropped to 10% on earnings between $500.01 and $10,000. Above $10,000 with the same client, the fee fell further to 5%. A freelancer with a long-term, high-value client relationship therefore paid a progressively lower take rate over time — but every new client relationship reset the clock to 20%.

That reset mechanism was the practical sting. A freelancer working with five different clients simultaneously, none of them past the $500 threshold, paid the top 20% rate on all of it. The tiered model rewarded continuity with any single client but penalised breadth of client base, which describes a large share of how freelance work actually flows.

Upwork's stated rationale for the 2023 change, as published in its fee-change announcement, was simplification: a single, predictable number that freelancers could factor into their pricing without tracking per-client billing history. The company also charges a flat fee for Connects — the tokens freelancers spend to submit proposals — separately from the service fee.

For a freelancer billing a new client $2,000 in a first engagement, the old structure would have cost $250 in fees: 20% on the first $500 ($100) and 10% on the remaining $1,500 ($150). Under the flat 10%, the same $2,000 costs $200. Below $10,000 lifetime with any given client, the new rate is therefore cheaper or equal in most scenarios. Above $10,000 with a single long-term client, the old 5% tier was significantly more favourable; those earners pay double the rate now.

Upwork is incorporated in Delaware, is headquartered in California, and is publicly traded. Its service fee revenue — the platform's primary top-line item — is disclosed in its annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 2023 fee change applied to freelancers globally, with the platform taking its cut before disbursing the remainder through its payment system.