Weekly limit

Upwork puts it as "a cap on how many hours you can log each billing week". Only the client can set or change it, though Upwork recommends agreeing it together before work starts, so that scope, expectations and budget line up.

The limit does three things:

• It caps billing. Hours logged over the limit are not billed. In the work diary they are marked as over the limit and the client is never charged for them.
• It bounds protection. Only hours within the limit are covered by Hourly Protection. Time over it is entirely the freelancer's risk.
• It shapes the conversation. If the work needs more time, the client can raise the limit or pay the extra hours as a bonus payment. Upwork's advice is to agree the bonus before logging the hours, not after.

The limit applies per billing week, so unused hours in one week do not carry over to the next.

For an agency running several hourly contracts, the limit is the one number on each contract that says how much time a client has agreed to pay for each week, which makes it the natural ceiling when planning a member's schedule. A limit that is hit every week is a reason to ask the client for a higher one early. Upwork's own tip is to message the client as soon as more time looks likely, because it gives both sides room to decide whether the extra hours make sense.

The limit exists on hourly contracts only. A fixed-price contract is bounded by its milestones instead, and the hours themselves are recorded in the work diary.