Comparison

Compare fees.

Sourced, dated figures from each platform’s own published pages, next to Actuallize’s live schedule. Numbers change — every cell carries its date, and we re-check them. If one is wrong, email hello@actuallize.com.

Compare Actuallize with

Competitor figures last checked 2026-09-05. Actuallize uses the configured fee schedule.

Fee charged to the professional

Actuallize: 1% first project, 0.5% after
Upwork: Variable freelancer service fee (the fixed 10% tier ended May 2025); commonly cited around 10%

Fee charged to the client

Actuallize: None — the number on the brief
Upwork: Marketplace fee commonly cited around 5%, plus a contract-initiation fee of $0.99–$14.99 per contract

Fee on clients you bring yourself

Actuallize: 0.5% from day one via your invite link
Upwork: Direct Contracts: 5%, or $0 with Freelancer Plus at $20/month (fee-free Bring Your Own Client ended February 2025)

Cost to bid

Actuallize: Nothing. No Connects, no bids
Upwork: Connects — a paid credit spent on most proposals

Who rules a dispute, and what it costs

Actuallize: A person, at no arbitration fee
Upwork: Mediation, then arbitration through a third party at a fee paid by the parties (an Upwork community thread describes about $291 to contest a $300 job)

Payout / withdrawal fees

Actuallize: Payment costs (card, bank and payout charges, set by the payment processor — not by Actuallize) on their own line, at cost; no withdrawal fee
Upwork: Vary by payout method, billed separately

Fees by platform, as published on each platform’s own site on 2026-09-05; Actuallize from the live schedule.
Fact	Upworkas published 2026-09-05	Fiverras published 2026-09-05	Contraas published 2026-09-05	Freelancer.comas published 2026-09-05	Actuallizelive schedule
Fee charged to the professional	Variable freelancer service fee (the fixed 10% tier ended May 2025); commonly cited around 10%	20% of the order	Free plan: a per-payment fee of up to about $29 on payments over $500; $0 with Contra Pro at $29/month	10% project fee	1% first project, 0.5% after
Fee charged to the client	Marketplace fee commonly cited around 5%, plus a contract-initiation fee of $0.99–$14.99 per contract	Buyer fee 5.5% plus a small fixed fee on orders under $200	$19 flat per contract	Not captured in our 2026-09-05 read — check their fees page	None — the number on the brief
Fee on clients you bring yourself	Direct Contracts: 5%, or $0 with Freelancer Plus at $20/month (fee-free Bring Your Own Client ended February 2025)	Not offered	$19 per contract, charged to the client	Not offered	0.5% from day one via your invite link
Cost to bid	Connects — a paid credit spent on most proposals	Not applicable; sellers may pay for promoted gigs	No bid credit published	Bid limits by membership tier; paid tiers raise the limit	Nothing. No Connects, no bids
Who rules a dispute, and what it costs	Mediation, then arbitration through a third party at a fee paid by the parties (an Upwork community thread describes about $291 to contest a $300 job)	Not published as a fee — check their Resolution Center pages	Not published — check their help pages	Not published — check their dispute pages	A person, at no arbitration fee
Payout / withdrawal fees	Vary by payout method, billed separately	Not itemised in seller materials	Not published in our read	Withdrawal fees vary by method	Payment costs (card, bank and payout charges, set by the payment processor — not by Actuallize) on their own line, at cost; no withdrawal fee

Sources: each platform's fees, help-centre and pricing pages, read 2026-09-05: Upwork's freelancer service-fee and Direct Contracts articles; Fiverr's seller and buyer fee pages; Contra's pricing page; Freelancer.com's fees page; an Upwork Community thread on arbitration costs. Actuallize's figures are the live schedule in the product.

Run the numbers →

Sources

Every figure on this site that is not Actuallize’s own — the tables above, the “what the client never pays” panel, and the numbers in the founder’s note — comes from one of these. Competitor pages were read on 2026-09-05. Freelancer-facing blogs and forum posts are marked as such; treat them as directional, not audited.

Upwork — freelancer service fee and client marketplace fee
Upwork's own fees help-centre pages, read on the date above.
Upwork — Direct Contracts (bring a client to Upwork)
Upwork support article, updated February 2025: fee-free Bring Your Own Client ended; Direct Contracts cost 5% unless on Freelancer Plus.
Upwork Community — “Dispute arbitration, where freelancers lose”
A freelancer's account of about $291 in arbitration costs to contest a $300 job. A forum post, not an Upwork rate card.
Fiverr — seller and buyer fee pages
Fiverr's own help-centre pages for the 20% seller fee and the 5.5% buyer fee, read on the date above.
Fiverr — annual report
Fiverr's published annual report puts its take rate at 31.8% once promoted-gig spend and Seller Plus are counted.
Contra — pricing page
Free plan per-payment fee, Contra Pro at $29/month, and the $19 per-contract client charge.
Freelancer.com — fees and membership pages
The 10% project fee and the bid limits by membership tier, read on the date above.
GigRadar — Upwork fees analysis
A freelancer-facing blog's estimate of the effective rate (16–34%) once Connects, subscriptions and promoted listings are counted. Unaudited.
GigRadar — AI proposals on Upwork
Clients' estimate that most proposals on open-bidding sites are machine-written. A freelancer-facing blog, unaudited.
Design Week — “From ghosting to money worries”
Report on a survey of 715 freelancers (November–December 2024): 72% had been ghosted by a client, 71% paid late.
Creativebrief — “Ghosting, late payments and a crisis of confidence”
The same survey, reported with its method and sample.

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