Direct Contract

It starts from Find work, then Direct Contracts, then Create a contract. Upwork's rule on who qualifies is strict: Direct Contracts are only for clients who are new to Upwork. A client met on Upwork must stay on standard contracts, and creating a new account to move an existing Upwork relationship onto a Direct Contract violates the Terms of Service.

The fee is the reason it exists. The freelancer pays a 5% freelancer service fee, calculated on the total value of the contract: on $100 USD of earnings, a $5 USD fee. An active Freelancer Plus member pays no freelancer service fee on Direct Contracts. The client pays the Client Marketplace Fee and a Contract Initiation Fee, as on other contracts. After the client accepts the first invitation, later contracts with that client have to be started from the Direct Contracts page to keep the discounted freelancer fee.

For reputation, a Direct Contract counts like any other. Both sides can leave feedback, which can affect the Job Success Score and Rising Talent or Top Rated status, and the contracts and earnings are counted in the profile's totals.

Protection is where Upwork's own pages disagree. One help article describes Direct Contracts as holding the client's money until the work is delivered; another, written for freelancers who join Upwork through a direct contract, says payments are not held in escrow and that Payment Protection and the dispute option do not apply. Read the terms shown on the contract itself before relying on either, and treat a Direct Contract as a billing convenience for a client you already trust.