Fiverr takes a flat 20% from every seller, no exceptions. Upwork’s fee is no longer fixed — since May 2025 it quotes each freelancer a variable 0–15% per contract, shown only at proposal time. Type the same job price into both sides and see what you’d actually keep on each, plus what to charge to hit a take-home goal.
The job
What the client pays for the job or gig — the price before either platform's cut.
Upwork
Upwork no longer publishes a fixed fee formula (changed May 2025). Type the percentage Upwork actually quoted you for this contract, shown at proposal time.
Fiverr
Fiverr charges every seller a flat commission, no tiers. Override it only if Fiverr has changed its published rate since this page was built.
Tax reserve, and a take-home target
Nothing withholds tax for a self-employed freelancer. Put in whatever share of after-fee proceeds you set aside and every figure below accounts for it. Leave it at 0 and the page behaves as if no reserve existed. We do not guess the percentage — ask a tax preparer for yours.
What you'd actually keep
Upwork
$—
Platform fee
Tax reserve
Take-home
% of job price kept
Fiverr
$—
Platform fee
Tax reserve
Take-home
% of job price kept
Price needed:
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. Starting figures are an illustrative example, not a benchmark or a claim about what either platform pays.
Selling on Fiverr and have your earnings export? The Fiverr earnings fee analyzer reads it and shows the fee actually taken and your take-home per order — nothing uploaded.
Selling digital products on Gumroad? The Gumroad sales fee analyzer reads your sales export and shows the fee actually taken and your take-home per order — nothing uploaded.
What this checks
Fiverr's cut is public and fixed: 20% off every order, no tiers — see how much Fiverr actually takes, including withdrawal fees and the tiered structure it replaced. Upwork's is not — since May 2025 it quotes a variable 0–15% fee per contract that only you can see, so no calculator can compute it for you. See how much Upwork actually takes for what changed and why. This page takes your quoted Upwork percentage as an input and runs the same job price through both cuts side by side, so the platform comparison is arithmetic on real numbers instead of a guess from an old, retired fee schedule.
It does not tell you which platform to work on, negotiate a rate for you, or file anything. The comparison is transparent arithmetic on the figures you typed.
Bidding on Upwork? The Upwork Connects ROI calculator prices what a hire costs you in Connects and writing time and the win rate you need to break even.
How much does Upwork actually take from freelancers?
Since May 1, 2025, Upwork no longer uses its old 20%/10%/5% lifetime-billing tiers. It now charges a variable freelancer service fee between 0% and 15% per contract, set by Upwork’s own pricing system per client relationship and shown to you only when you send a proposal or receive an offer. There is no public formula this page — or anyone else’s — can compute for you: type in the percentage Upwork actually quoted you for this contract, and the page runs the arithmetic from there.
How much does Fiverr take from sellers?
Fiverr charges a flat 20% seller commission on every order, with no tiers and no volume discount, and it applies to tips as well as the order price. That figure is public and has not changed in years, so this page uses it as the default — you can override it if Fiverr changes its rate. See how much Fiverr actually takes for withdrawal fees, the escrow clearance period, and the tiered structure Fiverr retired in 2022.
Should I list a job on Upwork or Fiverr?
That depends on your own quoted Upwork fee for that client, since Upwork’s fee varies and Fiverr’s does not. Enter the same job price on both sides of this calculator with your actual quoted Upwork percentage, and it reports which platform nets you more for that specific job, by how much.
What price should I charge to take home a specific amount after fees?
Pick a platform and type a take-home goal, and the page solves backwards through that platform’s fee, its withdrawal fee, and your tax reserve to the job price that would leave you with that goal. It is the reverse of the main comparison: instead of pricing forward from a job price, it prices backward from what you want to keep.
How much should I set aside for taxes as an Upwork or Fiverr freelancer?
This page will not tell you a percentage — that depends on your filing status, state, total income, deductions, and quarterly-estimate schedule, and picking one for you would be a claim about what you owe. What it does is arithmetic once you tell it your own reserve percentage: it holds that share out of proceeds after the platform fee and withdrawal fee, on each platform, so you can see what a reserve actually does to a real job’s take-home. Ask a tax preparer for your percentage.