Upwork fees for African freelancers

As an African freelancer, Upwork charges you a service fee of 0% to 15% per contract. You’ll see your exact rate when you submit a proposal or receive an offer, and that rate stays fixed for the duration of the contract.

But the service fee isn’t the only cost to consider. Depending on where you’re based and how you use Upwork, you may also pay for Connects when applying to jobs, an optional Freelancer Plus membership, withdrawal fees, and, in some countries, taxes on Upwork’s charges.

This guide breaks down Upwork fees for African freelancers from the moment you apply for a job to the moment your earnings reach your bank account. Let's look at the fees

What Are the Upwork Fees for African Freelancers?

1. Upwork Freelancer Service Fee

The Upwork Freelancer Service Fee is the main fee deducted from your earnings. For new Marketplace contracts, Upwork currently charges between 0% and 15% per contract, including bonuses. The exact percentage is shown before you submit a proposal or accept an offer. Once the contract begins, the rate is fixed for that contract.

Upwork says it determines the rate using factors that support a competitive marketplace, including client demand, freelancer supply, and job category.

You don't have to calculate the percentage yourself. Upwork shows the applicable rate before you commit to the contract, and you can also find it in your contract details and transaction history.

For example: If you complete a $1,000 contract with a 10% service fee, Upwork takes $100, leaving you with $900 before withdrawal fees, taxes, and other applicable charges.

How the Upwork Service Fee Changed

Upwork previously used a tiered fee structure based on how much a freelancer earned from a client. Freelancers paid 20% on the first $500, 10% on earnings between $500.01 and $10,000, and 5% on earnings above $10,000. Upwork later moved to a flat 10% service fee before introducing its current variable structure for new Marketplace contracts in May 2025.

Today, new Marketplace contracts can have a service fee between 0% and 15%, while contracts established before May 2025 generally retain the previous 10% fee. If you have several Upwork contracts with different service fee percentages, check when each contract began and the rate shown in its details.

2. Upwork Connects

Connects are used to submit proposals for jobs on Upwork. Not every job requires the same number of Connects, so the cost of applying can vary from one opportunity to another.

Purchased Connects currently cost $0.15 each. Upwork may also provide Connects through certain offers, activities, or promotions.

For example, if a job requires 10 Connects, applying for it uses $1.50 worth of Connects. If you apply to 20 jobs that each require 10 Connects, you would use 200 Connects, equivalent to $30 when purchased at $0.15 each.

This means Connects are a cost of finding work on Upwork, not a fee deducted from your earnings after you win a contract. Want to learn how to get free Upwork Connects? Read our blog.

3. Freelancer Plus

Freelancer Plus is an optional Upwork membership that provides additional tools and Connects.

The plan includes 100 Connects each month after the first month, plus features such as real-time job alerts, proposal and client insights, profile customisation tools, and access to Upwork's AI assistant.

Upwork does not currently publish one universal Freelancer Plus price that applies to every freelancer. Instead, the price available to you is shown in the Membership section of your Upwork account.

If you're considering the subscription, compare its cost with the value of the additional Connects and features you expect to use. You don't need Freelancer Plus to get started on Upwork.

4. Upwork Direct Contract Fees

If you already have a client outside Upwork, you can bring that client onto the platform through Direct Contracts.

For freelancer-initiated Direct Contracts, Upwork charges a 5% Freelancer Service Fee. Active Freelancer Plus members pay 0% on these Direct Contracts.

For example, on a $1,000 Direct Contract, a freelancer without Plus would pay $50 in service fees and have $950 remaining before withdrawal costs. An eligible Freelancer Plus member would pay $0 in Freelancer Service Fees on that contract.

Direct Contracts have a different fee structure from standard Marketplace contracts, so don't assume the 0% to 15% Marketplace rate applies to them.

🔗ICYMI, we wrote a blog on how to create an Upwork profile that gets you clients.

5. Upwork Withdrawal Fees

Once you've earned money on Upwork, you'll need to withdraw it using one of the payment methods available in your country.

For many African freelancers, Direct to Local Bank is one of the most relevant options. Upwork currently charges $0.99 per withdrawal through this method.

Direct to Local Bank is available in several African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Togo, and Benin. The available currency, withdrawal limits, and other conditions vary by country.

Your bank or payment provider may also charge additional fees, so the $0.99 Upwork fee isn't necessarily the total cost of receiving your money.

Other withdrawal options may include PayPal, Payoneer, M-Pesa, Direct to U.S. Bank, and wire transfers, depending on your location.

For example, M-Pesa is available to freelancers in Kenya, while Direct to Local Bank supports local-currency withdrawals in several African markets.

If you use a U.S. Dollar Wire Transfer, Upwork currently charges $50 per transfer, and your bank or intermediary bank may charge additional fees.

For freelancers with a tax address outside the United States, Upwork also introduced a $2.99 fee for Direct to U.S. Bank withdrawals from September 1, 2026.

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6. Taxes on Upwork Fees

Taxes are separate from Upwork's own fees and depend on the country where you live or do business. Upwork may be required to collect VAT, GST, sales tax, or other indirect taxes on the services it provides to freelancers. These taxes can apply to services such as Connects, Freelancer Plus, and the Freelancer Service Fee.

For example, Nigerian freelancers are currently charged 7.5% VAT on applicable Upwork services, including the Freelancer Service Fee, Connects, and Freelancer Plus.

So if a Nigerian freelancer has $100 in Upwork service fees, 7.5% VAT adds $ 7.50, bringing the total cost of those fees to $107.50.

This is separate from any income tax you may owe on your freelance earnings. Your personal tax obligations depend on the tax rules that apply to you.

How Much Do African Freelancers Actually Keep?

The easiest way to understand your Upwork costs is to follow the money from the contract to your bank account.

Suppose you complete a $1,000 Marketplace contract and your Freelancer Service Fee is 10%. Upwork deducts $100, leaving $900.

If you're in Nigeria and applicable VAT is charged on the service fee, that tax would add another $7.50. If you then withdraw the remaining balance through Direct to Local Bank, Upwork charges $0.99 for the withdrawal.

That means your final amount can be lower than the original $1,000 contract value, even before considering any additional charges from your bank or payment provider.

The exact calculation will depend on your service fee, country, tax obligations, withdrawal method, currency, and payment provider.

For that reason, when deciding what to charge an Upwork client, don't calculate your rate based only on the project price. Factor in the costs that will affect what you actually take home.

Final Thoughts

Once you’ve done the work and earned your money, getting paid shouldn’t add another layer of complexity. With Raenest Upwork FastTrack, you can receive your Upwork earnings in under an hour directly into your Raenest account, making it easier to manage your freelance income. From there, you can hold funds in supported currencies, convert when you need to, and manage your global earnings through your Raenest account.

Don't have a Raenest account? Create a one today because knowing what you earn is only half the equation. You should also have a clear, reliable way to receive it.