Upwork: What It Is, How It Works and What It Costs

What is Upwork?

Upwork is a US company born from the merger of Elance (1998) and oDesk (2003), announced in 2013. The Upwork brand launched in 2015 and the company has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2018.

It brings together clients who post projects (from entrepreneurs to large companies) with freelancers in almost any field: development, design, marketing, writing, data, finance, support and more. Everything runs in English.

How Upwork works step by step

The main flow is the classic projects-and-proposals model:

• The client posts a job with a description, skills and budget (fixed price or hourly).
• Freelancers send proposals by spending Connects; the number depends on each job.
• The client interviews, chooses and opens a contract. On fixed price, they deposit the milestone in escrow; on hourly contracts, the freelancer logs their hours.
• The freelancer delivers, the client approves and the payment is released.
• Both leave a review, which builds the freelancer's reputation (Job Success Score).

How much does Upwork charge?

Since 2025 the freelancer fee is variable: according to Upwork, it ranges from 0% to 15% of what you earn, is set for each contract and you see it before sending the proposal or accepting an offer. Once the contract starts, it doesn't change.

For the client, the Basic plan charges a 5% marketplace fee on each payment (3% for some US clients who pay with a bank account) and a contract initiation fee of USD 0.99 to USD 14.99 for each new contract. Example: a USD 500 contract with a 10% fee leaves the freelancer USD 450, and costs the client USD 525 plus the initiation fee.

Connects and Freelancer Plus

Connects are credits you spend to send proposals. Each one costs USD 0.15 and each job asks for a different number depending on its size and demand. The free plan includes 10 Connects per month; if you want to apply more, you buy packs.

Freelancer Plus is the subscription for freelancers: it costs USD 19.99 per month and includes 100 Connects per month according to Upwork's help center, plus proposal analytics and a 0% fee on Direct Contracts.

How you get paid on Upwork from Latin America

Money is withdrawn from your Upwork balance. The options depend on your country: Direct to Local Bank (USD 0.99 per withdrawal, in local currency), Payoneer, PayPal and USD wire transfer (USD 50 per withdrawal). Your bank, PayPal or Payoneer may add their own fees and exchange rate.

The free alternative: WorkIsThere

WorkIsThere has the same flow (projects, proposals, real-time chat, a workspace with progress updates and deliveries, and mutual ratings), in Spanish, Portuguese and English, for the 20 countries of Latin America. It charges no one a fee, has no paid plans and proposals are free: 4 per week plus 2 permanent ones for every finished job.

WorkIsThere doesn't process payments: client and freelancer agree on the method (bank transfer, Mercado Pago, Pix, PayPal, Payoneer, Wise…). That's why it's best to work with deposits and staged deliveries.