Freelance platform fees compared (2026)
Quick answer
Fiverr takes 20% flat. Upwork takes 0–15%, set per contract and shown before you bid — the flat 10% it charged until May 2025 no longer exists. Freelancer.com takes 10% or $5, whichever is greater. Guru takes 9% on its free tier, falling to 5% on a paid plan. PeoplePerHour starts at 20% with a new buyer and drops to 3.5% once you have billed them about £5,000. Contra takes 0% from the freelancer and charges the client a flat $2–$29 instead. Every one of those also charges the client, so the real take is higher than the headline — on Fiverr it is closer to 25.5%.
What each platform takes
| Platform | Freelancer pays | Client pays | Total take | Cost to apply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiverr | 20% flat | 5.5% + $3.50 under $200 | ≈25.5% | None — buyers come to you |
| Upwork | 0–15%, set per contract | Up to 7.99% + $0.99–$14.99 per contract | Up to ≈23% | Connects, $0.15 each |
| Freelancer.com | 10% or $5, whichever is greater | 3% or $3, whichever is greater | ≈13% | $20 balance held to bid |
| Guru | 9% free tier, down to 5% on a $49.95/mo plan | 2.9% handling fee | ≈11.9% on the free tier | 10 Bids/mo free, 50 on paid plans |
| PeoplePerHour | 20% → 7.5% → 3.5% by lifetime billing per buyer | 10% + £0.60 | ≈30% on a new buyer | Proposal credits + a required paid plan |
| Contra | 0% commission | $2–$29 flat per payment (max $29) | 0% of your fee | None |
What that costs on $60,000 a year
Same work, same money billed, different route. Marketplace figures use the freelancer-side rate only — the client-side fee comes out of the same client budget, so it costs you indirectly on top of this.
| Route | Fees on $60,000 | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| Fiverr (20%) | $12,000 | $48,000 |
| PeoplePerHour, new buyers (20%) | $12,000 | $48,000 |
| Upwork (0–15%, varies by contract) | $0–$9,000 | $51,000–$60,000 |
| Freelancer.com (10%) | $6,000 | $54,000 |
| Guru, free tier (9%) | $5,400 | $54,600 |
| Invoicing direct, Stripe (2.9%) | ≈$1,740 | ≈$58,260 |
| Invoicing direct, Wise (≈1%) | ≈$600 | ≈$59,400 |
The costs that aren’t in the headline rate
Every platform in the table charges something that does not appear in its percentage. Most of it is spent before you have earned anything.
Upwork
Connects cost $0.15 each and are required to submit a proposal — non-refundable, expiring after a year, so an unsuccessful month is money spent on nothing. Your client also pays a Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99–$14.99 on every new contract, charged again when they rehire you and non-refundable even if the payment is later returned.
Freelancer.com
You need a $20 minimum account balance before you can place a bid, and it stays reserved until the bid is accepted or withdrawn.
PeoplePerHour
A paid subscription is mandatory at the end of the application process, and proposals cost credits beyond the 15–25 included each month.
Guru
Quoting costs Bids: 10 a month on the free tier, 50 on paid plans. The 5% job fee is bought, not earned — it requires the $49.95/mo Executive plan.
Fiverr
Earnings are not withdrawable for 14 days after an order completes (shorter for Top Rated and Pro sellers). Seller Plus runs $25/mo.
Contra
Commission-free is not cost-free at payout: standard bank transfers run $0–$15 depending on country, PayPal 2%, currency conversion 0.4%–1%, and faster payouts 2%.
Marketplace cut vs. processing fee — the difference that matters
A marketplace takes a percentage of everything you earn — that is a cut of your income, and it recurs on every project for as long as you use the platform. A payment processor charges a small per-transaction fee to move the money, which you would pay however you invoiced. The 20% Fiverr keeps is a fundamentally bigger cost than the ~3% Stripe charges to process a card, and conflating the two is how "which platform has no fees" gets answered badly.
The honest trade is this: a marketplace cut buys you client acquisition. If Upwork brings you a client you would never have found, 10% is a reasonable finder’s fee. If you sourced the client yourself and are routing the invoice through a platform out of habit, you are paying a finder’s fee for a finder you did not use.
What it costs to just take the money
If you invoice directly, this is the whole fee. No marketplace in the table above avoids these — they sit underneath the platform cut, not instead of it.
| Processor | What they take | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 | Standard US card rate; the fixed $0.30 makes it pricier on very small charges. |
| PayPal | 2.9%–3.49% + fixed fee | +2.5% currency markup on international payments. |
| Wise | ≈0.4%–1.5% | Mid-market rate — usually the cheapest for international clients. |
Which route is cheapest for you
- You find your own clients: invoice directly. A Wise link for international clients (≈0.4%–1.5%) or Stripe for US domestic (2.9% + $0.30) is the whole cost — roughly $600–$1,740 a year on $60,000 against $6,000–$12,000 through a marketplace.
- You need the platform to find clients: Guru’s free tier (9%) and Freelancer.com (10%) undercut Fiverr’s 20% substantially. Upwork’s 0–15% cannot be compared in advance — you only see the rate once you are looking at a specific job. Count the pay-to-apply cost either way: on a bad month, Connects and Bids are spent whether or not you win work.
- You keep clients for years: PeoplePerHour is the outlier. It is the most expensive start in the table at 20% and the cheapest end at 3.5% once lifetime billing with that buyer passes about £5,000.
- Your clients are fee-sensitive: Contra moves the charge to them as a flat $2–$29 rather than a percentage, which is cheaper for them on large payments and worse on small ones.
Invoicing with no platform fee at all
A management tool sits in a third category: it is a subscription, not a marketplace and not a processor. It writes the invoice and attaches your own Stripe, PayPal, or Wise link. The client pays you directly, into your account; the tool never touches the money and takes no percentage. That is what a 0% platform fee means — you still pay your processor’s standard rate, and nothing above it. LancerWise works this way, free for two clients and $15/month beyond that.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Upwork take from freelancers?
Between 0% and 15%, depending on the contract. Upwork replaced its flat 10% service fee on 1 May 2025 with a variable rate set per contract, based on factors it does not disclose; you see your rate on a specific job before you bid, and it is locked for that contract. Anyone quoting a single "Upwork takes 10%" figure is citing the old structure — Upwork publishes no median and no distribution. Submitting proposals also costs Connects at $0.15 each, non-refundable and expiring after a year. Your client pays separately: a Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99% plus a one-time Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99–$14.99, which on a small first contract can exceed the percentage itself.
How much does Fiverr take?
Fiverr takes a flat 20% of every order, with no tiers and no exceptions — sellers are credited with 80% of the gig price. Buyers pay a further 5.5% service fee, plus a $3.50 small-order fee on anything under $200, which makes the combined take on a small order roughly 25.5% or more. Earnings also sit for 14 days after an order completes before you can withdraw them.
How do I avoid Upwork fees?
Invoice the client directly instead of routing the work through the marketplace, once you are free to do so — Upwork’s terms restrict taking a client you met there off-platform, so this applies to clients you found yourself. Send an invoice with your own Stripe, PayPal, or Wise payment link on it; the client pays you directly and no marketplace takes a cut. You still pay your processor’s standard rate of roughly 1%–3%, but nothing above it, and there are no Connects to buy.
Which freelance platform has the lowest fees?
On the freelancer side, Contra at 0% commission is the lowest of the major marketplaces, though its clients pay a flat platform fee of $2–$29 per payment and payouts carry their own charges. Among percentage-based platforms, Guru’s free tier takes 9% and Freelancer.com 10%, both well below Fiverr’s 20%. Upwork cannot be ranked against them on a single number — its 0–15% is set per contract and it publishes no typical rate. PeoplePerHour starts at 20% for a new buyer but drops to 3.5% once your lifetime billing with that buyer passes roughly £5,000 — the cheapest rate in the table if you keep clients long-term.
What is the cheapest way for a freelancer to get paid?
Invoicing directly, with your own payment link. For international clients a Wise link at the mid-market rate (≈0.4%–1.5%) is usually cheapest; for US domestic clients a Stripe link (2.9% + $0.30) is standard. On $60,000 a year that is roughly $600–$1,740 in fees, against $6,000 on a 10% marketplace and $12,000 on Fiverr. The catch is that a marketplace also brings you the client — if you are sourcing your own work, the cut buys you nothing.
Are zero-fee freelance platforms legit?
Usually, but read "zero-fee" as zero PLATFORM fee, not zero cost. Contra genuinely charges freelancers no commission and moves the fee to the client. A management tool charges a subscription instead of skimming payments. In both cases a payment processor still takes roughly 1%–3%, and payout method can add more — Contra’s own help centre lists bank transfers at $0–$15 and PayPal at 2%. Be wary only of platforms advertising "no fees" while quietly adding a currency markup; check whether they hold your money or just link out to your own account.
Freelance payment terms, defined
- Platform fee
- A cut a platform takes from your earnings simply for using it. Fiverr charges 20%; Contra charges 0% and bills the client instead; a subscription tool charges nothing on the payment at all.
- Take rate
- The total share of a transaction a platform keeps — the freelancer-side cut plus any client-side fee, which is why Fiverr’s real take is closer to 25.5% than 20%.
- Client-side fee
- A charge added to what the client pays, on top of the cut taken from the freelancer. It does not appear on your earnings statement but it raises your effective price and comes out of the same budget.
- Connects
- Upwork’s pay-to-apply currency, $0.15 each, spent to submit a proposal. Non-refundable and expiring after a year, so they are a cost of bidding rather than a cost of working.
- Net 30
- A payment term meaning an invoice is due 30 days after it is issued. Net 15 and Net 60 work the same way with shorter or longer windows.
- Kill fee
- A pre-agreed payment you receive if a client cancels a project after you have started, covering the work already done.
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