Start from the pay you want to keep — we’ll flip it into the rate to quote.
Most freelancers pick a rate, then watch platform fees, payment charges and tax quietly eat it. FlipYourRate works backwards: enter your target take-home and get the exact quote that survives every cut.
Free, no sign-up. Fee schedules verified against the platforms’ official pages on October 15, 2026.
Reverse pricing calculator
Upwork sets each contract’s fee individually — 10% is a common middle case. Check the exact % on your offer, then adjust below.
Optional — used to show project totals and prefill the invoice.
How the math works: platform and payment fees come off the quoted amount first; tax is then calculated on what’s left — the way most freelancers actually set money aside. Every percentage is editable.
How much does Upwork take?
Upwork no longer charges one flat rate. Since May 1, 2025, the Freelancer Service Fee is variable — 0% to 15% per contract. Here is how it actually works, and what it does to your money.
The Upwork Freelancer Service Fee, explained
- The range is 0%–15% of your earnings on each contract, including bonuses. Upwork sets the percentage contract by contract, based on factors it describes as supporting a balanced and competitive marketplace — it does not publish the exact formula.
- You see your fee before you commit. The percentage is shown when a client sends you an offer or when you submit a proposal, and it appears in your contract details and transaction history.
- Once a contract starts, its fee is locked. It will not change mid-contract, even if Upwork adjusts fees on new contracts later.
- It covers hourly, fixed-price and Project Catalog work the same way — the fee is per contract, not per contract type.
- Older contracts differ: contracts started before May 1, 2025 ran on the previous flat 10% fee, and a small number of special programs (such as Direct Contracts or enterprise arrangements) carry their own rates.
- Budget for extras separately: bidding costs Connects ($0.15 each), and the optional Freelancer Plus membership is a separate subscription — neither is part of the service fee above.
Because the fee is set per contract, two freelancers doing similar work can pay different percentages. That is exactly why the calculator above treats your Upwork fee as an editable field: run it with the fee on your contract, not a generic average. If you haven’t been offered a contract yet, 10% is a reasonable planning midpoint — directional, not a promise.
Sources: Upwork — Pricing for Freelancers and Upwork Support — Learn about the Freelancer Service Fee, checked October 15, 2026.
| You bill | Upwork fee | You receive |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | −$10.00 | $90.00 |
| $500 | −$50.00 | $450.00 |
| $1,000 | −$100.00 | $900.00 |
| $5,000 | −$500.00 | $4,500.00 |
At the top of the range the picture changes fast: a 15% fee turns a $1,000 contract into $850 before tax. And tax comes off what’s left — which is why quoting $1,000 to “earn $1,000” misses twice.
Rule of thumb: wanted take-home ÷ (1 − your fee) ÷ (1 − your tax rate) = the rate to put in the proposal.
Working an Upwork contract? Plug your contract’s exact fee into the solver and quote the rate that protects your take-home.
Open the calculatorHow much does Fiverr take?
Fiverr’s seller fee is the simplest — and steepest — of the big platforms: a flat 20% of every order. Sellers are credited 80% of the purchase amount, on every gig, at every level.
The Fiverr seller fee, explained
- You keep 80% of the purchase amount. Fiverr credits your earnings balance with 80% of what the buyer paid for the order — that 20% commission is Fiverr’s core seller fee.
- It applies to everything: the base gig price, Gig Extras, custom offers and tips are all credited at 80%. There is no volume discount and no lower tier as you earn more.
- Buyers pay their own fee on top — a 5.5% service fee, plus $3.50 on orders under $200. That comes out of the buyer’s checkout total, not your 80%, but it does make your gig look pricier at checkout.
- Getting paid out: earnings clear 14 days after an order completes (7 days for Top Rated sellers). Withdrawal fees depend on the method — per Fiverr’s Help Center, PayPal withdrawals carry no Fiverr fee, bank transfer via Payoneer is $1, and a Payoneer account withdrawal is $3.
- Optional extras cost extra: Seller Plus subscriptions and promoted-gig advertising are add-ons on top of the 20%, not instead of it.
The pricing trap on Fiverr is assuming the gig price is your pay. Price a gig at $100 and you bank $80 — before tax, before withdrawal and currency costs. To actually keep $100 you must price at $125, and with a 20% tax rate on top, the solver’s answer is $156.25.
Sources: Fiverr Help Center — How Fiverr works for freelancers and Fiverr Help Center payout-method tables, checked October 15, 2026.
| Gig price | Fiverr keeps | You receive |
|---|---|---|
| $50 | −$10.00 | $40.00 |
| $100 | −$20.00 | $80.00 |
| $250 | −$50.00 | $200.00 |
| $1,000 | −$200.00 | $800.00 |
The flip: want to keep $80? Price $100. Keep $200? Price $250. Keep $800? Price $1,000. The pattern is always target ÷ 0.8 — then gross up again for tax.
Fiverr’s preset in the calculator sets the 20% for you, so all you add is your tax rate.
Selling on Fiverr? Start from the payout you want and let the solver find the gig price that survives the 20% cut and your tax.
Price a Fiverr gigInvoice generator
Won the work at your flipped rate? Turn it into a clean, professional invoice in under a minute. Fill in the details, check the live preview, and download a ready-to-send invoice file. Nothing is uploaded — it’s generated in your browser.
Downloads as a self-contained invoice file you can open in any browser, attach to an email, or print to PDF from there.
Freelance pricing questions, answered
The questions freelancers actually search for — with the numbers, not vibes.
What should I charge as a freelancer?
Start from the take-home pay you need, not from what competitors charge. Decide what you must actually keep from a project (or an hour), then gross it up for the three cuts that come out before the money is yours:
quote = take-home ÷ ((1 − platform fee − payment fee) × (1 − tax rate))Charging exactly what you want to earn is the most common beginner mistake: on Fiverr you’d land 20% short before tax, and on a 15% Upwork contract with a 25% tax rate you’d keep just $63.75 of every $100 you meant to earn. Run your own numbers in the reverse solver.
How much does Upwork take?
A variable Freelancer Service Fee of 0% to 15% per contract. Upwork sets the percentage for each contract, shows it to you before you propose or accept, and locks it for the life of that contract. Contracts started before May 1, 2025 used a flat 10%. Full breakdown in our Upwork fee guide.
How much does Fiverr take?
20% of every order. Sellers are credited 80% of the purchase amount — gigs, Gig Extras, custom offers and tips alike. So a $100 gig pays you $80 before tax, and to keep $100 you need to price at $125. Full breakdown in our Fiverr fee guide.
How do I calculate my rate after platform fees and tax?
Work backwards in the same order the money flows. Fees come off the quoted amount; tax comes off what’s left. Example — keep $1,000 on Upwork at a 10% fee and a 20% tax rate:
$1,000 ÷ (1 − 0.10) ÷ (1 − 0.20) = $1,000 ÷ 0.72 = $1,388.89Check it forwards: 10% of $1,388.89 is $138.89, leaving $1,250; 20% tax on $1,250 is $250; $1,250 − $250 = exactly $1,000. The solver above runs this round-trip check on every calculation and shows it.
Should I use my marginal or effective tax rate?
Use whichever rate reflects what you truly set aside from each payment. Your marginal rate (your top bracket) is the safer planning number; your effective rate (total tax ÷ total income from last year’s return) is closer to reality for steady earners. Many freelancers also add a small buffer for social-security/self-employment taxes where those apply. When in doubt, price with the higher rate — a pleasant surplus at tax time beats a shortfall. This page offers general information only, not tax advice.
Why not just add the fees on top of my rate?
Because percentages don’t add the way intuition says. If fees and tax total 30%, adding 30% to your target under-recovers: you need to divide by (1 − 0.30), i.e. add about 42.9%, to end up whole. On a $1,000 target that’s the difference between quoting $1,300 (and keeping $910) and quoting $1,428.57 (and keeping $1,000). Division is the whole trick — and the reason this tool exists.
Does FlipYourRate store my numbers?
No. Every calculation and the invoice generator run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or saved anywhere — close the tab and it’s gone.