Connects

Upwork sells Connects at $0.15 each in bundles, to accounts with a verified billing method; a free Agency Basic account cannot buy them, an Agency Plus agency can, from one balance shared by every member. The number a proposal costs "varies per job and can change during the time the job is posted", set from "project size, scope, and market demand", and is printed on the job post. Upwork publishes no fixed range.

Free Connects exist but are conditional. "Some freelancers may receive 10 free Connects each month", with eligibility shown in the Connects history; Freelancer Plus includes 100 a month. Upwork is testing activity rewards: 12 free Connects for submitting three or more proposals and spending at least 54 Connects doing so, up to twice a calendar month, and a variable award for interviews with established clients. Unused Connects roll over with no cap for a freelancer; an agency can roll over up to 400 a month, and Connects expire one year after purchase.

Connects come back only in the cases Upwork lists, which do not include a rejected proposal or an expired job: see Connects refund.

How Upsight uses it. Connects are bought from Upwork and are never part of an Upsight plan. What Upsight adds is accounting: every charge, boost bid and refund in the Connects history is matched to the proposal that caused it, so the real Connects per proposal is known after the fact, and a campaign's score exists to skip the jobs that would have spent them badly.