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Is boosting an Upwork proposal worth it?
In Upsight's ledger, boosted proposals were viewed by the client 22.6% of the time against 10.1% for unboosted ones, and got a reply 5.8% of the time against 2.3%. A boosted proposal cost more Connects, 26.2 against 14.3 net of refunds, but less per result: 116 Connects per view against 142, and 449 per reply against 614. Most boosts did not hold their slot to the end: 61% of settled boosts were refunded in full.
By Orhan G. Yalçın · Published
Sample and method
Sample. 9,788 applications (invitations excluded) submitted between 2026-08-01 and 2026-10-19 whose Connects were reconciled to Upwork's transactions. 9,376 of them, 95.8%, were sent by Vizio AI, the software agency that builds Upsight.
Method. Views and replies come from each proposal's status on Upwork. Connects are net: the submit fee plus the boost bid, minus every refund Upwork recorded against the proposal. A boost counts as settled once Upwork has either charged it or released the hold, which happens within about a week of sending.
The numbers
| Proposals | Viewed | Replied | Net Connects per proposal | Per view | Per reply | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boosted | 7,686 | 22.6% | 5.8% | 26.2 | 116 | 449 |
| Not boosted | 2,102 | 10.1% | 2.3% | 14.3 | 142 | 614 |
Why a refunded boost is not wasted
A boost is a bid in an auction for the top slots on the client's proposal list, paid in Connects on top of the submit fee. Upwork holds the bid when you send, then either charges it, if the proposal still held a top slot when the auction closed or the client acted on it there, or returns it in full; see boost auction and boost refund.
So most boosts come back, and that is not the same as losing. A boost that was outbid late still sat near the top while it held, and its Connects return. What a boost costs is the bid Upwork kept, which is why the table divides net Connects, after refunds, by results.
The caveat that matters
This is not an experiment. Upsight's campaigns decide when to boost and how much, so boosted and unboosted proposals went to different jobs, and part of the gap is the jobs, not the boost. It is also, almost entirely, one software agency's bidding, in the categories where proposals are most crowded (see how many proposals a job gets). Read it as evidence that boosting, done selectively, returned more replies per Connect for this agency, not as a promise for every profile.
How Upsight measures it. The Connects ledger matches every charge and refund in Upwork's transaction history to the proposal it belongs to, so a boost's cost is known after the auction settles rather than guessed at the send.
Questions
Does boosting an Upwork proposal get more views?
In 9,788 applications sent between August and October 2026, boosted proposals were viewed 22.6% of the time and unboosted ones 10.1%. The groups went to different jobs, so part of the gap is job choice.
Do you get Connects back if your boost is outbid?
Yes. Upwork holds the boost bid when you send and returns it in full if the proposal does not hold a top slot when the auction settles. In this sample 61% of settled boosts were refunded in full.
Is boosting worth the Connects?
For this agency it was: boosted proposals cost 449 Connects per reply net of refunds, against 614 for unboosted ones. That is one agency's data with boosts chosen selectively, not a controlled test.
Terms used: Boosted proposal · Boost auction · Boost refund · Outbid · Connects ledger · Connects · All posts