How To Make Money On Upwork (2025 Guide)

Many freelancers sign up to Upwork with huge expectations. Often, many gave up because they couldn’t find ways to make money on the platform.

And that’s quite unfortunate, especially if you have skills that clients across the world are willing to pay for.

Since becoming an Upworker in 2015, the freelancing marketplace has become one of my major revenue-generating channels. In this article, I’ll share how you can make money on Upwork.

Why Upwork is a Good Place to Earn Online?

Upwork is arguably the largest freelance marketplace on the internet. It was the rebranded merger of Elance and Odesk in 2015. Upwork serves as an intermediary gateway that connects freelancers with clients. It allows freelancers to bid and work on jobs remotely with ease.

Whether you’re a software developer, graphic designer, or language translator, you will likely find suitable opportunities on Upwork.Today, Upwork has more than 12 million freelancers and 145 thousand key clients. It attracts freelancers seeking access to a pool of international clients. 

Although Upwork is no longer a beginner-friendly marketplace, there are still opportunities to make money. The problem is, most freelancers don’t know how to work their way up and land better-paying clients.

How to get started on Upwork? 

To kickstart your Upwork journey, you’ll need an Upwork account. Signing up is pretty easy and free.

1. Go to Upwork’s homepage.
2. Click Sign Up
3. Select I’m a freelancer, looking for work.

Then, Upwork will take you through the steps of filling out your educational background, expertise, employment histories, profile photo, and other details for your profile.

Here’s a detailed guide from Upwork. 

Setting Up for Success on Upwork

As a new Upworker, landing your first contract on Upwork might be tough. That’s because you have no client reviews, work history and a Job Success Score (JSS). Even if you’re an experienced freelancer, you start on Upwork like all new Upworkers.

So, you need to spend your first few months on Upwork to grow your profile. And working on these three areas will give you the edge over fellow Upworkers.

1. Optimize your Upwork Profile

Your profile description should be brief and concise. It gives clients a clear picture of what you do and how they will benefit when they hire you.

Avoid going into the details of every skill and qualification you possess. Clients appreciate straight-to-the-point, skimmable descriptions. 

Here’s my latest profile description.

Also, it’s best to avoid assigning several designations in different niches to a single profile.For example, some freelancers state that they are a ‘data entry | copywriter | SEO consultant| graphic designer”

While an Upworker may be adept in several skills, bearing several designations gives the impression that they lack focus. Rather, be specific about what you do in your Upwork profile. Remember, a focused profile gives the impression of a specialist, which attracts higher-paying clients.

2. Write personalized proposals

As a new Upworker, you need to apply to jobs. Writing a good Upwork cover letter greatly increases your chances of winning jobs. It’s an underrated skill that helps clients respond to your proposals amongst dozens of others. 

These are 2 winning factors for a cover letter.

Personalize

Avoid using or modifying a template. You’ll only create a typical and boring cover letter that fails to impress the client. Neither should you include redundant details, like how you’re aware that the client is seeking a graphic designer. Or how long you’ve been in the industry.

Instead, focus on the client’s problem and personalize the proposal. Find interesting points in the job description, website, or job-specific issues. Then, use them in a conversational way to engage the client.

Here’s how I wrote the cover letter by using interesting points on the client’s website.

Tip: Remember, your proposal has to stand out from your competitors, especially the first 2 sentences.

Show past relevant results

Clients are more likely to work with you if you’ve done something similar in the past.

Therefore, always list some of your past works, preferably related ones, when submitting proposals.

If you’re a graphic designer, attach some of your best works. Meanwhile, SEO experts can display search traffic, keyword rankings, and other metrics.

As a writer, I always include links to my published works.

3. Apply jobs strategically

You get 50 Connects, the credits for applying to jobs, when you sign up for Upwork. If you don’t have a strategy, you’ll end up using all those Connects before you know it. When you’re out of Connects, you have to buy them in order to apply for jobs.

So, I strongly suggest that you apply for jobs where you have a higher chance of winning.

To do that, use the filters to narrow down job options. I suggest choosing.

• Entry/Intermediate jobs
• Jobs with fewer than 5 proposals.
• Jobs where the client has at least 1-10 hires.
• Jobs that require secondary skills. (e.g. content writer for an electrical engineering company)

Also, look for

• Jobs that are tedious, but relevant to your niche
• Jobs that pay less than you desire.

Although you won’t get high-paying jobs with this method, it allows you to complete projects, get good ratings, and improve the JSS quickly. And that’s what you need to create a solid Upwork profile.

How to Increase Upwork Earnings

Treat Upwork as a long game. Despite starting on the platform by taking low-paying jobs, you can make more money as you grow. After you’ve landed several clients, you need to change your strategy.

1. Improve Job Success Score

On Upwork, you find your job success score (JSS) on the profile page. You start without a JSS, but it’s visible after completing a specific number of jobs. 

While Upwork doesn’t specify the exact algorithm for calculating the JSS, it does mention what’s important.

Specifically, Upwork looks at your

• completed projects, reviews, refunds, and cancellations.
• short-term and long-term/ongoing projects.
• Contracts with higher earnings

Ideally, you’ll want to maintain a JSS of 90% and above. It helps you to maintain a good impression and also enables Upwork’s algorithm to work in your favor.

2. Get more positive reviews

Work history is a collection of reviews and ratings on Upwork. Besides lending confidence to new clients, they contribute to the JSS. 

Reviews are given after completing and ending a contract. As such, make it a habit to ask your client to leave a review, particularly if you’ve done an excellent job. 

As you gain more good ratings, your JSS is less likely to suffer a huge drop if a job doesn’t end successfully. 

3. Raise your rate

As you get more positive reviews and are confident in your skills, gradually raise the fee you charge. For example, I started with $8/hour in 2015, but now I charge $50/hour or more.

If you’re not sure how much you should charge, do a quick search on Google.

1. Search ‘Upwork hourly rate for [your profession]. For example, “Upwork hourly rate for graphic designer’
2. Check out the results from Upwork. 
3. Increase your hourly rate.

As long as you charge within the bell curve, you should be able to land clients who are willing to pay for it. That said, don’t let the graph limit your earnings. Top graphic designers like Morgan Overholt, charge $150 per hour or more on Upwork.

Can you make money on Upwork? (With proof)

Yes.

But the question is, how much money can you possibly make on Upwork. And is it worth your time and effort? 

Yet, you can see how much most of them have earned by doing a quick search on the platform.

Choose Talent at Upwork’s search bar.

1. Key in a profession, such as graphic designer.
2. Use the Talent Badge to filter.
   • Top Rated Plus – Freelancers with $10K+earnings
   • Top Rated – Freelancers with $1K+ earnings

Understandably, different professions command their own rate, opportunities, and competitions. Also, there’s the supply vs. demand equation for each profession.

• Skilled, experienced professionals like machine learning engineers have the upper hand when negotiating fees.
• General positions, such as those of typists, face stiffer competition and hence, a rather discouraging rate.

Still, it’s possible to grow your earnings by increasing your rate as you strengthen your Upwork profile.

For example, I made $21,000 in 2024 as a content writer. It’s more than what I made in the first 3 years on Upwork. Back then, I was a newbie content writer struggling to land jobs in a highly competitive marketplace. 

Final Thoughts

Upwork is the gateway to an abundance of freelancing opportunities, but also stiff competition. It takes persistence, strategy, and being the best in what you do to build a profitable career on Upwork.

Share this around if you feel my thoughts help in charting your path on Upwork. 

This article has been updated on 8th September 2025 for comprehensiveness.