Upwork and Fiverr fees explained — and what UK businesses pay instead

Why freelance platform fees are so hard to pin down

Ask most people what Upwork or Fiverr charge and you will get a rough percentage, usually a few years out of date. That is not entirely their fault. Both platforms have changed their fee structures more than once in the last two years, and the number that gets quoted often depends on which side of the transaction you are asking about.

The freelancer and the business hiring them are typically charged separately, at different rates, and the freelancer's rate can even shift depending on their history with that specific client. It adds up to a system that is technically transparent, in that the fees are published, but genuinely difficult to calculate before you commit to a project.

How Upwork's fees work

Upwork moved away from its old tiered system in 2025. Previously, freelancers paid 20% on the first $500 billed to a client, 10% up to $10,000, and 5% beyond that. That has been replaced with a variable service fee set per contract, ranging from 0% to 15%. The exact rate is shown before the freelancer accepts the job, and most freelancers report paying somewhere around 10%.

Businesses hiring on Upwork pay a separate marketplace fee, typically between 3% and 10%, depending on their plan tier and payment method. Basic plans tend to sit at the lower end; Business Plus accounts, aimed at companies hiring more frequently, are often charged nearer the top of that range. There is also a one-off contract initiation fee that can apply each time a business starts a new engagement with a freelancer.

Upwork's fees are asymmetric

The freelancer's rate is set per contract and is not something either side can predict in advance with certainty. The business's rate depends on which plan they are subscribed to. That means two companies hiring the same freelancer for the same project can end up paying different amounts, and the freelancer may see a different service fee depending purely on which client they are working with.

How Fiverr's fees work

Fiverr's structure is simpler, if not necessarily cheaper. Freelancers, referred to as sellers, are charged a flat 20% commission on every completed order, including tips. There is no sliding scale and no reduction for repeat clients or high earners; a seller keeps 80% of the order value regardless of history or order size.

Businesses, as buyers, pay a separate service fee at checkout, commonly around 5.5%, sometimes with an additional small fixed fee on lower-value orders. This is added on top of the price the freelancer sets, so the amount a business pays and the amount a freelancer receives are calculated from two different starting points.

What SME Bridge charges instead

We use a flat, published rate that does not change based on plan, contract history, or payment method. Businesses pay a 7.5% fee per payment. Freelancers pay a 12.5% fee per payment. That rate is the same whether you are on our free tier or a paid membership; the paid plans add priority matching and visibility, not a different fee.

There is no separate contract initiation charge, no sliding scale based on how long you have worked with someone, and no difference in rate depending on which plan the other party happens to be on. What you see on our pricing page is what you pay.

A worked example

Here is how a £1,000 project compares across all three, using each platform's typical published rates. Upwork's business fee varies by plan, so the range below reflects that.

No platform wins on every single line of this table, and we would rather show that plainly than pretend otherwise. Upwork's freelancer fee can land lower than ours. Fiverr's business fee can land lower than ours too. What we do offer is a rate that does not move: no algorithm setting your fee per contract, no plan tier changing what the other party pays, and no guessing which number applies to your specific project until you are already partway through it.

Why predictability matters more than the headline number

For a small business booking a handful of freelance projects a year, the real cost of a platform is not just the percentage taken. It is the time spent trying to work out what that percentage actually is, and the risk of budgeting for one figure and being charged another.

A flat rate means a business can quote a project cost to their own client with confidence, and a freelancer can price their work knowing exactly what they will take home, regardless of who they are working with or how long the relationship lasts.