Upwork is a marketplace for freelancers in fields like writing, graphic design and web development. The site helps professionals find projects, communicate with clients and get paid.
If you’re a new freelancer, or working in a new field, you can rack up valuable experience without always having to pitch clients cold. But the site is full of new workers who are willing to take work for a lower rate, which can impact your earning potential.
Overall, Upwork makes it easier to find jobs and make more money, but think carefully about which gigs you want to apply for.
How to make money on Upwork
1. Set up a robust — and honest — profile
Your profile serves the same purpose as a general résumé for prospective employers. You can’t get work without one.
Fill out the job type you’d like to do, the specific areas in which you’re skilled and your level of expertise. This is all self-reported, so be honest. If you get hired for jobs you can’t deliver on, your account could be put on hold or closed.
Track all the money you make
See the ins and outs of your cash, cards, and bank accounts at a glance.
After that, add a headshot and a detailed description of your background. You can include links to a portfolio or to specific work samples.
You can also fill in your education, how many hours per week you can work, location and preferred rate. If you’re not sure what to charge, check out the rates of other freelancers on Upwork who have similar experience.
Upwork will typically approve your profile within 24 hours, assuming your profile is verifiable and accurate. Then you can get working.
2. Choose a membership plan
Upwork offers two membership plans for freelancers: Basic and Plus.
Basic
This plan is free, but you’ll pay to connect with potential clients. Freelancers on the basic plan receive 10 free "Connects" each month, the platform’s internal tokens, which are used to submit proposals to clients. You can also pay $0.15 for each additional Connect, sold in bundles of 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80. Connects can be earned and Upwork sometimes awards the tokens during promotions. A specified number of unused Connects can be rolled over to the next month but expire if not used within one year.
If someone reaches out to you, you don’t have to use any Connects. The more robust your profile looks, the more likely you are to receive job offers from potential clients. Displaying your best work or highlighting specific experience can help you stand out. If you’re new to your field, volunteer experience counts, too.
The basic plan also includes payment protection for hourly and project-based payments.
Plus
This plan is $14.99 per month and includes everything in the basic plan, as well as:
80 Connects per month.
Visibility into what price competitors have bid for a job.
Option to keep earnings confidential.
Ability to customize your profile URL.
Profile never hidden due to inactivity.
3. Connect with (legitimate) employers
Use your Connects to submit proposals for jobs in your wheelhouse. Proposals should include an introductory letter, your desired fee and answers to questions the client included in the posting. You can also send examples of any work you think would be relevant.
Before applying for a gig, get an idea of the potential employer’s reputation. The Better Business Bureau, Glassdoor and a search for news coverage of the employer on Google are good places to start your research.
Did you know...
Upwork's ratings system helps you decide who you really want to work with and lets others see if they want to hire you.
Much like Uber or Lyft, both parties rate each other after the contract is complete. Employers are graded on a five-star scale, and their ratings are visible on their pages. Ratings from your clients make up your Job Success Score, which is a percentage displayed on your profile that represents how many gigs were completed to the client’s satisfaction.
Even if everything checks out, keep communication and payments within the site. Documenting behavior on both sides discourages scams, as clients will be held accountable for making shady payment or work requests or making claims about your work without in-site proof.
4. Set your price and start working
Upwork takes a cut of your earnings. The fee structure is a sliding scale based on the total amount you bill with a client over time, so the more you work with a client, the smaller the cut taken. You can expect Upwork to take:
20% for the first $500 you bill a client.
10% for total billings with a client between $500.01 and $10,000.
5% for total billings with a client that exceed $10,000.
You can get paid in one of two ways: hourly or fixed price. Upwork’s fees are the same for both.
Your hourly rate on Upwork is the price before the service deduction. So if you list a rate of $20 per hour for your first gig, you can expect to earn $16 per hour after the 20% fee. Once you’ve billed $500 with that client, the fee drops to 10% and you would earn $18 per hour.
When you negotiate a rate for a fixed-price job, the same idea applies: If you’re getting paid $400 for a job, you’ll be paid $320 after the 20% cut. Once you’ve billed $500 with that client, the fee drops to 10%.
Did you know...
If you’re approached for a job with a low rate of pay, don’t take it at face value. Negotiate with the customer to find a price that fits.
Hourly projects
All hourly projects get logged in your Work Diary, which is built into Upwork’s desktop app. With this function on, the app will keep a detailed record of your progress on a project. The app tracks your time in 10-minute billing cycles and records keystrokes, scrolling and clicks. It also takes a screenshot periodically.
You can also turn the Work Diary on and off at any time and log work manually instead, but using the tool helps you qualify for an Upwork service called Hourly Protection. This service ensures that you’re paid for work you can prove you completed, even if a client refuses.
Fixed-price projects
Payment for fixed-price projects is more straightforward. The person or company contracting you has to set aside a certain amount of money when you make the agreement. The employer must also set milestones, which are concrete deliverables on the way to the finished job. You’re paid with some or all of the deposit once you hit these checkpoints, and the remainder is paid once everything is complete.
5. Get paid
Upwork freelancers can get secured payments via PayPal, direct deposit or wire transfer.
All of your hourly projects are billed weekly. You’ll get paid after you and the client review the work, 10 days after the billing period ends. If a project gets dropped before it’s finished, that’s when Hourly Protection and milestones come in handy. If you think you weren’t compensated fairly, Upwork has a dispute process.
Fixed-price projects start paying out as you hit agreed-upon milestones. You can begin a dispute if the client fails to pay for a milestone or refuses to pay for what you think is completed work.
Just like with any other job platform, as long as you're smart about the job search process and you know your worth and your rates, you'll be able to start using Upwork to make money in no time. If you put in the work, you might even be able to make a full-time income from Upwork.
Once the client approves a milestone, your funds are available for withdrawal after a five-day security period. Project Catalog contracts are based on project approval. Once the client approves your project, your funds are available for withdrawal after a five-day security period.
Yes, Upwork is legit, and, for the most part, it's relatively safe. I've personally had a lot of success making money on this platform as a freelancer. I've also had a lot of success finding talent to hire. Upwork's roots trace back to the 2013 merger of freelance companies Elance and oDesk.
Upwork's past industry research has shown that 60% of freelancers who left a full-time job to become freelancers make more money than they did in their previous jobs. According to 2020 freelancer research data, freelancers in the United States earn an average hourly rate of $20.
On average, writers on Upwork earn about $30-$59 per hour. If you work 10 hours per week, you could make an extra $1,200-$2,360 per month. If you're interested in working as a freelance writer to earn money on the side, check out what writing jobs clients are posting on Upwork right now.
Successful freelancers on Upwork can earn $100 to $175 per hour, and sometimes more. It's common to see freelancers with lifetime earnings of $250,000, $500,000, and occasionally higher. So if you're wondering, “Can you earn a living on Upwork?” the answer is yes!
Yes, Upwork can be a great way to kickstart your freelancing career – as you're able to browse millions of jobs and find the ones that are perfect for you.
As a freelancer working on Upwork, the platform doesn't withhold any taxes from your income. You may be required to make tax estimations to cover self-employment taxes. So the responsibility for paying taxes falls solely on you as the independent contractor.
If your client approves the submission you get paid immediately into your Upwork account, and the funds become available after the 5 day security period. If the client gets run over by a bus the funds are released to you after 14 days, plus the 5 day security period.
The main difference between Fiverr and Upwork is that Fiverr is better suited for smaller, one-time projects, while Upwork is better for larger and more complex projects. Fiverr is known for its simple interface and affordable prices, making it a good option for freelancers and small businesses.
We want to be sure people are compensated fairly for work. Upwork does not support contract rates under $3.00 USD per hour for hourly contracts. For fixed-price contracts, the minimum pay for a project is $5.00 USD, unless the client requires you to work a certain number of hours on the project.
What Is The Best Hourly Rate In UpWork? The best hourly rate in UpWork is anywhere from $20 to $35 per hour, depending on your experience, skillset and demand for your skills. If you're a beginner, start with $20/hour or less depending on how much those in your field are charging.
On Wednesday, freelance marketplace platform Upwork unveiled its new report featuring the most highly sought-after freelance skills in tech, design, marketing, customer service, and accounting. Upwork says that in the past year, 60 million Americans did some type of freelance work, an all-time high.
These are the top five professional fields for remote work:
Graphic design. Whether you want to work as an employee for a company, an agency, or freelance for clients, graphic design is an in-demand field for remote work. ...
What is this? Ideally, things like starting your own blog or writing on Medium can help you craft a portfolio and pitch editors directly to get better paying gigs. However, if you want to start making money on Upwork as a beginner, cheap content writing work is as easy as it gets.
Identity verification on the freelancer side of Upwork is a top priority for the company and keeping an up-to-date profile picture is an important factor in that process. I wish Upwork would also require it on the client side of the platform too as I think it would help cut down on scams and fraud.
One of the larger platforms for matching freelancers with freelance jobs is Upwork, so in this world where freelancing is on an upward trend, the company should be able turn a profit right? Wrong! Over the past 12 months, Upwork lost more than $26 million.
Even if your client fails to pay you for the hours you invoiced, you will still be paid if you are eligible for Upwork Hourly Protection. On a fixed-price contract, if you end the contract, you forfeit any funds that remain in escrow.
The key is to not let yourself get frustrated if you aren't an overnight success. It's going to take time. At the end of the day, winning your first Upwork job is just a delicate balance of strategy, persistence, skill and a little bit of good luck.
As I mentioned, by default you're probably ahead of 40% of your competition already, and so long as you develop some decent skills and put some thought and care into your proposals, it's not that hard to get ahead of 50% more and be in the top 10% of people submitting proposals on Upwork.
While the Internal Revenue Service will require clients and businesses to issue the 1099 form when the payments they make for the tax year are over $600, there is no such requirement for reporting income. As an independent contractor, you have to report all income regardless of the amount when you file taxes.
You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 and 1040-SR instructionsPDF.
Form 1099-NEC must be filed if a business paid a non-employee $600 or more in the tax year. A non-employee might be an independent contractor or any person hired on a contract basis to complete work, such as a graphic designer, writer, or web developer.
When you post a job on the Upwork site, you'll be prompted to choose one of two pricing structures: A fixed price project or an hourly project. Each has different characteristics with different protections in place for both you and the freelancers you engage to do the work.
For hourly contracts, except those that use Upwork Payroll, the billing period begins on Monday and ends on the following Sunday. Your funds become available 10 days later. When working hourly contracts, we automatically invoice all time that you log in the Work Diary to the client.
Accounts may be suspended due to a single violation or repeated violations. You can learn more about Trust & Safety actions here. If we suspend your account, we will send you an email with all the details to the email address you used to register with Upwork. You will also receive a notice when you try to log in.
Regardless of where you are living, you are responsible to comply with any work authorization requirements you may have. Unfortunately, we do not offer universal service to all international locations, and you must be 18 years old (or the age of majority in your country, whichever is older).
Upwork then plugs your hourly activity and work-in-progress snapshots into the appropriate billing segments in your Work Diary. It also records the total number of mouse clicks, scroll actions, and keystrokes per segment.
Upwork itself is a legit freelancing platform and it takes numerous security measures to ensure the safety of its users. However, there are possibilities of getting scammed on it if you don't know the rules and best practices before dealing with a client or freelancer.
One of those tools is your Job Success Score (JSS). Your JSS measures your clients' satisfaction with your overall work history on Upwork's platform. It reflects your clients' satisfaction as shown by relationships, feedback, and job outcomes over time.
When a freelancer fails, people often think it's due to a lack of skills, but that's not always the case. Usually, they fail because of a lack of business acumen or the discipline required to become a successful freelancer.
Successful freelancers on Upwork can earn $100 to $175 per hour, and sometimes more. It's common to see freelancers with lifetime earnings of $250,000, $500,000, and occasionally higher. So if you're wondering, “Can you earn a living on Upwork?” the answer is yes!
Top freelancers and agencies on Upwork typically have a score of 90% or higher, which indicates an overall track record of meeting or exceeding clients' work expectations. Small differences between scores, say 91% versus 93%, are less important than large differences.
As a freelancer, you'll pay a 10% freelancer service fee on the earnings you make on Upwork. This fee is charged on all your contracts with a client — whether hourly, fixed-price, or a Project Catalog project.
Hobby: Calligraphy, Rowing, Vacation, Geocaching, Web surfing, Electronics, Electronics
Introduction: My name is Msgr. Benton Quitzon, I am a comfortable, charming, thankful, happy, adventurous, handsome, precious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
