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Can't I just use Claude with Upwork's MCP, or Uma? What Upsight adds
For one proposal, use Upwork's own tools: they are good at it. Upwork's MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other agents to your Upwork account; an agent can search jobs, draft a proposal and submit it with a boost bid, and Upwork makes you review and explicitly confirm every submission. Uma, Upwork's built-in AI, drafts and refines proposals inside Upwork, with limited free use and full access on Freelancer Plus. What neither does is the always-on part: watching the feed at 3 AM, scoring every new job against what your agency actually wins, choosing which member should bid, sending dozens a day under rules you set per campaign, and telling you afterwards which proposals were read, what each reply cost in Connects and where each profile ranks in search. That is Upsight. Upsight is $99, $249 or $999 a month, billed monthly with no setup fee and no minimum term.
What Upwork MCP and Uma says it does best: Upwork describes its MCP server as a way to "securely connect supported AI agents to your Upwork account", and Uma as a companion that helps freelancers write, refine and land work, built into Upwork.
Pricing, side by side
Prices verified on from Upwork's help center (How to use Upwork with AI agents through MCP; What is Freelancer Plus?; How to submit a proposal on Upwork) and the tool definitions of Upwork's MCP server, read from a live connection and Upsight's pricing page. Vendors change prices; if one has moved, write to support@upsight.fyi and we will correct the page.
| Plan | Price | Terms | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upwork MCP server | Not published | Upwork's MCP help article states no charge for the connection itself. Each proposal still costs the job's Connects, as on Upwork.com. | Job search (up to 10 results a page), job details with the Connects cost, proposal drafting, submission with an optional boost bid, invitations, contracts, milestones and messages, all through your AI agent. |
| Uma (Freelancer Basic) | $0 | Limited access, free for all talent on Upwork. | Proposal tips and drafts inside Upwork; Uma-generated proposals are not available to every freelancer. |
| Freelancer Plus | Not published | Monthly. Upwork's help article shows the price only inside your account (Membership plan, then Change Plan). | 100 Connects a month, full access to Uma, proposal and client insights including competitors' bid ranges, instant job alerts. |
- Upwork's MCP server is used under the Upwork API and MCP Terms of Use; Upwork's help article says an agent can draft a proposal and that you review and explicitly confirm the submission.
- On the live server, every write returns a preview that needs a separate confirmation, and setting a tool to always allow never bypasses that confirmation.
- The Freelancer Plus price is not printed on Upwork's help pages; it is shown in your account. Upsight does not repeat third-party figures for it.
| Plan | Price | Terms | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solopreneurs | $99 / month | Monthly, cancel anytime. Annual billing 20% less. | 100 proposals / month, 1 connected account, 5 tracked keywords |
| Agencies | $249 / month | Monthly, cancel anytime. Annual billing 20% less. | 250 proposals / month, 5 connected accounts, Member-level analytics |
| Enterprise | $999 / month | Monthly, cancel anytime. Annual billing 20% less. | 1,000 proposals / month, 10 connected accounts, Priority everything |
- Overage $1 per proposal beyond the plan. A proposal counts when Upsight submits it; rejected drafts cost nothing.
- No setup fee, no minimum term. Upwork Connects are bought from Upwork as before and are not part of any plan.
Feature by feature
"Not stated" means the vendor's public pages do not describe it, which is not the same as not having it: ask them.
| Feature | Upsight | Upwork MCP and Uma |
|---|---|---|
| Bidding | Yes: AI bidder: campaigns sweep the feed every 15 minutes, score each job against your win history, draft from your knowledge base, submit with a boost bid sized to the live auction. | Partly: Your agent searches and submits when you ask, one conversation at a time. Marketplace search returns up to 10 jobs a page and takes no date filter (only the personalized feed does); nothing watches the feed or scores new jobs on its own. |
| Approval mode | Yes: Per campaign: send automatically after a short review window, or require a person to approve every proposal. The setting is shown on each campaign. | Yes: Forced, by Upwork: every write is a preview you confirm, and no setting skips it. Built for one action at a time in a chat, not a queue of dozens. |
| Search-rank tracking | Yes: Daily position of each profile for each keyword in Upwork search, including the agencies ranked above you. Public data, no account access needed. | No: Not offered. Nothing records where your profile appears in Upwork search for a keyword, or how that moves. |
| Per-member analytics | Yes: Sent, viewed, replied and hired per connected member profile, with the denominator shown. | Partly: Agency and freelancer dashboards can be read; there is no per-member sent, viewed and replied funnel, and staffing the right member is left to you. |
| Connects & boost ledger | Yes: Every Connect and boost bid reconciled to the Upwork transaction, including refunds, so the real cost of a proposal is known after the fact. | Partly: Financial history is readable, and the boost tool can read, pause or stop a profile boost; nothing reconciles Connects and boost bids to the replies they bought. |
| Inbox & alerts | Yes: Replies, invitations and new leads in one inbox; alerts per campaign to Slack, Discord, Telegram or email. | Partly: Your agent can read and send messages in your rooms on request. No alerts; Freelancer Plus adds instant job alerts on Upwork. |
| HubSpot | Yes: Leads sync to HubSpot as a lead or a deal, deduplicated against Upsight's own ledger. Included in every plan. | No: Not offered. |
| MCP / API | Yes: MCP server and REST API with workspace API keys, so Claude or a script can read and operate the bidder. | Yes: It is the official API surface: an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other agents, under Upwork's API and MCP Terms of Use. |
| Trial | Partly: No self-serve free trial. A free 30-minute pipeline audit on your own numbers before you pay anything. | Yes: No trial needed: Upwork states no fee for the connection. |
| Minimum term | Yes: None. Monthly, cancel anytime. | Yes: None. |
| Setup fee | Yes: None. | Yes: None beyond connecting your agent. |
Where Upwork MCP and Uma is better
- Price. Upwork states no fee for the MCP connection and limited Uma use is free; Upsight's entry plan is $99 a month.
- It is Upwork's own surface. The MCP server is official and governed by Upwork's API and MCP Terms of Use, so there is no question about whether it is allowed.
- Breadth. Beyond proposals it reaches contracts, milestones, messages, offers and your profile, all from the AI assistant you already use.
- Inside the job post. Uma's tips and drafts sit next to the proposal form, and Freelancer Plus shows competitors' bid ranges and exact proposal counts.
Where Upsight is better
- Always on. Upsight campaigns sweep the feed every 15 minutes and score every new job against your agency's win history; an MCP agent acts only when you ask it to.
- Staffing. Each job is matched to the member whose knowledge profile fits, and sent as that member through your Business Manager login; Upwork's tools leave that choice to you.
- Volume under rules you set. Dozens of drafts a day, each campaign either holding every one for a person to approve or sending after a short review window, within daily caps per account, instead of one confirmation per chat turn.
- Measurement over time. Daily search-rank history per profile and keyword, per-member funnels with the denominator shown, and a Connects and boost ledger reconciled to the Upwork transaction.
- Your own MCP, too. Upsight's MCP server lets Claude read and operate the bidder with workspace API keys, so the two connectors work side by side.
Frequently asked
- Can Claude or ChatGPT submit Upwork proposals for me?
- Yes, through Upwork's official MCP server. An agent can search jobs, draft a proposal and submit it, with an optional boost bid, and Upwork requires you to review and explicitly confirm each submission. It does this when you ask, one job at a time; it does not watch the feed or decide which jobs are worth a proposal.
- Is using Upwork's MCP server allowed?
- Yes. It is Upwork's own connector, governed by the Upwork API and MCP Terms of Use, and every write goes through a preview you confirm. What its terms and Upwork's wider rules still govern is how you use it, which is why the confirmation cannot be switched off.
- Do I still need Upsight if I have Freelancer Plus and Uma?
- Not for writing one good proposal: Uma and Freelancer Plus's bid ranges cover that. Upsight is for agencies that bid every day across several member profiles and need the feed watched, the right member staffed, sends governed by per-campaign rules, and the result measured: views, replies, Connects per reply and search rank.
- Does Upsight use Upwork's official API?
- Where Upwork's API allows it, yes: Upsight has an API lane for proposals and reads, alongside your connected Upwork login for what the API does not cover. Each campaign can require a person to approve every proposal either way.
See your own numbers before you choose.
A 30-minute pipeline audit on your real view rate, Connects spend and search rank. Read-only, free, and you keep the numbers.