Guides
Upwork fees in 2026 for agencies: every fee, with worked examples
The service fee now runs from 0% to 15% per contract, the client pays up to 7.99% on top, and Connects and withdrawals cost extra. Here is what an agency nets on $1,000 and $10,000.
On a $10,000 contract, Upwork's two fees take $300 to $2,500 between client and agency.
Where a $10,000 contract's money goes under published fee rates · US dollars
Hover or tab through the chart for exact values.
Source: Computed from Upwork's published rates (help center, read 2026-11-03): Freelancer Service Fee 0% to 15%; Client Marketplace Fee up to 7.99%, 3% for qualifying U.S. bank payers; Business Plus 10%.Excludes the one-time Contract Initiation Fee, which does not apply to fixed-price contracts over $100.
Show the data
| Agency nets | Freelancer Service Fee | Client fee on top | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% client fee, 0% service fee | $10,000 | $0 | $300 |
| 7.99% client fee, 10% service fee | $9,000 | $1,000 | $799 |
| 7.99% client fee, 15% service fee | $8,500 | $1,500 | $799 |
| Business Plus 10%, 15% service fee | $8,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 |
Upwork charges agencies a Freelancer Service Fee of 0% to 15% per contract, shown on the offer or proposal and fixed once the contract begins; Upwork does not publish which factors set it. On a $10,000 contract an agency therefore nets between $8,500 and $10,000. Direct Contracts carry 5%. Clients pay their own fee on top, up to 7.99% (3% for qualifying U.S. bank payers, 10% on Business Plus). Add Agency Plus at $19.99 a month, Connects at $0.15 each, and withdrawal fees.
0% to 15%
Freelancer Service Fee
per contract, fixed at the start
7.99%
Client Marketplace Fee ceiling
3% for qualifying U.S. bank payers
$19.99
Agency Plus a month
required to bid
$50
per U.S. dollar wire
the dearest withdrawal
The service fee is 0% to 15%, set per contract
There is no single percentage. Upwork's Freelancer Service Fee article puts the rule in one line.
“The fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract”
The article says the fee "is set based on factors" and stops there: Upwork does not say which factors, which categories carry which rate, or whether agency size, client type or history moves it. That is worth stating plainly, because many fee guides still quote one number. There is no single Upwork fee for an agency in 2026, only a range and the percentage on each contract.
What Upwork does promise is visibility and stability. "You'll see the fee percentage when a client sends you an offer, or you are submitting a proposal", and "Once your contract begins, the fee is fixed and won't change." The fee applies to everything paid through the contract, bonuses included.
The same article lists the exceptions:
- Upwork Payroll and Any Hire contracts carry no Freelancer Service Fee.
- Direct Contracts carry a reduced fee, 5% of the contract value per the Direct Contracts article.
- Enterprise clients: "Typically, freelancers partnered with Enterprise clients pay a 10% service fee."
The Direct Contracts zero is a Freelancer Plus perk: active Plus members "won't pay any freelancer service fees on Direct Contracts". Upwork's Agency Plus article lists no such perk, so an agency should plan Direct Contracts at 5%. They are only for clients new to Upwork; a client met on Upwork stays on standard contracts. The full definition is in the Freelancer Service Fee glossary entry.
The agency's fee can be anywhere from 0% to 15%, and the client's from 3% to 10%.
Every published Upwork fee rate, as a percentage of the payment · percent of the payment
Hover or tab through the chart for exact values.
Source: Upwork help center, read 2026-11-03: Learn about the Freelancer Service Fee; Direct Contracts (bring a client to Upwork); What is the Client Marketplace Fee?; How Business Plus plan fees work on Upwork.The service fee's bottom is 0%, which draws as no bar. Freelancer-side fees come out of the agency's earnings; client-side fees are added to what the client pays.
Show the data
| Fee rate | |
|---|---|
| Freelancer Service Fee, top of range | 15.00 |
| Freelancer Service Fee, typical Enterprise | 10.00 |
| Business Plus client fee | 10.00 |
| Business Plus, some U.S. checking payers | 8.00 |
| Client Marketplace Fee, ceiling (Basic plan) | 7.99 |
| Direct Contract freelancer fee | 5.00 |
| Client fee, qualifying U.S. bank payers | 3.00 |
| Direct Contract fee on Freelancer Plus | 0.00 |
What an agency nets on $1,000 and $10,000
Net take is the contract value minus the service fee, and the range is wide. Using only the rates Upwork publishes, the table shows the four points that matter. At the top of the range an agency keeps 85 cents of every dollar; at the bottom, all of it.
The fee is taken from what the client pays you, so to hit a target net you price above it. Upwork's own example uses a 10% fee: to take home $20 an hour you charge $22.22, and rounding can move the result by a few cents. The general rule is target net divided by one minus the fee. At 15%, $20 net needs $23.53.
| Service fee | Net on $1,000 | Net on $10,000 | Fee on $10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% (bottom of the range) | $1,000 | $10,000 | $0 |
| 5% (Direct Contract) | $950 | $9,500 | $500 |
| 10% (typical Enterprise) | $900 | $9,000 | $1,000 |
| 15% (top of the range) | $850 | $8,500 | $1,500 |
Before Connects, Agency Plus and withdrawal fees. The rate on your contract is printed on the offer; use that, not a point on this table.
The client pays a separate fee on top
The client's fee never comes out of the agency's earnings, but it is part of the price the client compares. Upwork's Client Marketplace Fee article sets it at "up to 7.99%" on all payments for clients on the free Basic plan, reduced to 3% for qualifying U.S. clients paying by bank account. It is not refundable, "even if a payment is reversed or refunded". The article does not say how a client's rate is set below the ceiling.
Business Plus clients pay more, not less: a 10% fee on all freelancer payments, and "Some U.S. clients may qualify for a reduced 8% fee by paying with a checking account", per How Business Plus plan fees work.
Then there is a one-time Contract Initiation Fee. Upwork's Contract Initiation Fee article puts it at $0.99 to $14.99 per contract. On fixed-price contracts it applies only to contracts of $100 or less; on hourly contracts it is charged at the first payment. Business Plus clients are not charged it on hourly contracts. The Business Plus article describes it as up to $4.99 on contracts under $100, so the two pages do not agree on the ceiling.
On a $10,000 contract, the client therefore pays $10,300 (3%), up to $10,799 (Basic), or $10,800 to $11,000 (Business Plus).
Read the stack as the gap between what the client spends and what reaches the agency. In the best published case Upwork keeps $300 of $10,300, about 2.9%. With a Basic client at the ceiling and a 15% service fee it keeps $2,299 of $10,799, about 21.3%. With a Business Plus client and a 15% service fee, $2,500 of $11,000, about 22.7%.
Connects and Agency Plus are the cost of selling
The fees above are charged on work won. The cost of winning it is separate and lands whether or not you win. An agency must be on Agency Plus to bid, which Upwork's agency growth guide prices at $19.99 a month. Every proposal then costs Connects, at $0.15 each per Understanding and using Connects, and a rejected proposal's Connects are not returned.
How many? Upwork publishes no range. In Upsight's ledger, 1,040 proposals sent in October 2026 asked a median 15 Connects ($2.25) to submit. Over 9,788 applications from August to October 2026, mostly one agency's sends, the net cost after boost refunds was 449 Connects per reply when boosted ($67.35) and 614 when not ($92.10). Those figures come from is boosting worth it and Connects per proposal; the Connects guide covers budgets and refunds.
A reply is not a contract. Your own replies-per-contract ratio turns Connects per reply into a cost of sale per contract. The table uses three ratios as inputs, not measurements.
| Replies needed per contract | Boosted (449 per reply) | Not boosted (614 per reply) | Share of a $10,000 contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $67.35 | $92.10 | 0.7% to 0.9% |
| 3 | $202.05 | $276.30 | 2.0% to 2.8% |
| 5 | $336.75 | $460.50 | 3.4% to 4.6% |
Connects per reply: Upsight ledger, 9,788 applications 2026-08-01 to 2026-10-19, 95.8% one agency's sends, reconciled to Upwork transactions. Not a controlled test.
Withdrawal fees run from free to $50 a transfer
The last fee is getting the money out. Upwork's How to get paid on Upwork article lists each withdrawal method and its fee, and notes that methods may vary and that "Some banks or vendors may charge fees on their end".
| Method | Upwork fee |
|---|---|
| Direct to U.S. Bank (ACH), U.S. tax address | Free |
| Direct to U.S. Bank (ACH), international tax address | 2.99 (effective September 1st, 2026) |
| Direct to Local Bank, outside the U.S. | $0.99 per transfer |
| Instant Pay for U.S. freelancers | $2.00 per transfer |
| U.S. Dollar Wire Transfer | $50.00 per transfer |
| PayPal, Payoneer (outside the U.S.), Direct to Wallet | No fee printed in the article |
Upwork prints the international ACH fee as "2.99" with no currency sign. Provider and bank fees are extra.
Flat fees punish small transfers. A $50 wire is 0.5% of $10,000 and 5.9% of an $850 net. Timing matters as much as price: per the same article, hourly earnings become available ten days after the billing week, fixed-price funds five days after the client approves a milestone, and a new withdrawal method becomes active in three calendar days.
How to protect the margin
- 1
Record the fee on every offer
Upwork shows the percentage on the offer and when you submit a proposal. Log it per contract; your blended rate is the only fee number that describes your business.
- 2
Price to a net, not a gross
Divide the rate you need by one minus the contract's fee. At 15%, a $40 net hour is $47.06 billed.
- 3
Remember what the client sees
Your bid plus their fee, 3% to 10%, is what the client compares with an outside quote. Explain value, not hours, when the gap matters.
- 4
Count Connects as cost of sale
Track Connects per reply and replies per contract by category. Where both are high and budgets are small, the selling cost can rival the fee.
- 5
Batch withdrawals
Use an automatic schedule with a minimum amount, or a local bank method, so per-transfer fees stay a small share of each payout.
Upsight's ledger reconciles every Connects charge, boost bid and refund to the proposal and member that caused it, and its P&L subtracts the service fee at the rate you set, because the real rate varies by contract. The free bidder cost tool prices the people side of the same sales cost.
Questions
What is Upwork's fee for agencies in 2026?
Agencies pay the Freelancer Service Fee, which Upwork says ranges from 0% to 15% per contract and is fixed once the contract begins. Direct Contracts carry 5%, Enterprise contracts typically 10%. Agencies also pay $19.99 a month for Agency Plus and $0.15 per Connect.
How is the Upwork freelancer service fee calculated?
Upwork says the fee is set based on factors but does not publish them. You see the percentage on the offer or when submitting a proposal, it applies to all payments on the contract including bonuses, and it does not change after the contract starts.
How much does an agency keep from a $10,000 Upwork contract?
Between $8,500 and $10,000 after the Freelancer Service Fee, which ranges from 0% to 15%. At the typical Enterprise rate of 10% it keeps $9,000; on a 5% Direct Contract, $9,500. Withdrawal fees and Connects come on top.
Does the client pay Upwork fees too?
Yes, separately. Clients on the Basic plan pay a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99%, or 3% for qualifying U.S. bank payers; Business Plus clients pay 10%, or 8% for some U.S. checking payers. A one-time Contract Initiation Fee may apply on small contracts.
What does it cost to withdraw money from Upwork?
Upwork lists ACH to a U.S. bank as free with a U.S. tax address, local bank transfers outside the U.S. at $0.99, Instant Pay at $2.00 and U.S. dollar wires at $50.00 per transfer. Banks and payout providers may add their own fees.
Orhan G. Yalçın
Founder of Upsight and of Vizio AI, an Upwork agency that bids with Upsight every day. Every number on this blog comes with its sample, window and method. More about how we measure.
Terms in this post: Freelancer Service Fee · Client Marketplace Fee · Direct Contract · Business Plus · Withdrawal methods · Agency Plus
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