Freelancer Service Fee

Upwork's wording is "The fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract." It is set "based on factors" that Upwork describes only as supporting a balanced and competitive environment across different types of work; it does not publish which factors apply or which rate a category carries. What it does promise is visibility and stability. You see the fee percentage when a client sends you an offer or when you submit a proposal, it is shown in the contract details and transaction summaries, and once the contract begins the fee does not change.

The fee applies to everything paid through the contract, bonuses included. The client is charged the billing rate you enter, so to take home a given amount you price above it. Upwork's example uses a 10% fee: to net $20 USD an hour you charge $22.22 USD, and rounding can move the result by a few cents.

Exceptions on Upwork's page:

• Upwork Payroll and Any Hire contracts carry no Freelancer Service Fee.
• Direct Contracts carry a reduced fee.
• Enterprise contracts typically carry a 10% fee, with the exact rate set by the client's Enterprise agreement.

Because the rate now varies from contract to contract, a single fee assumption no longer describes an agency's margins; the percentage shown on each offer is the number to record. The client pays a separate Client Marketplace Fee on top.

How Upsight uses it. Upsight's P&L subtracts the service fee from booked revenue as a percentage the reader sets, because the real rate differs from contract to contract.