In this article, you'll learn how to send an offer to a freelancer or agency on Upwork. You can review and update project details before sending an offer, and the freelancer can accept, request changes, or decline. Offers can be modified or withdrawn if not yet accepted. - AI helped create this summary
Once you’ve found the right freelancer or agency for your project, hiring them is simple.
Important to know:
Keep in mind that you are entering into a contract with your freelancer or agency, so it’s important to check that the project description and rate (or total amount and milestones) are up-to-date and complete.
To hire a freelancer or agency
- Go to All job posts from your dashboard and select a job post
- Locate the freelancer or agency you’d like to hire
- Select the Hire button
- Send an offer
Once you’ve selected Hire, you can update the offer to include the project title, description, and payment terms.
For agencies, your offer is sent to a single member of the agency. All contracts with an agency member will be paid to the agency, not the freelancer named on your contract — the agency’s payments to their team are handled privately outside of Upwork.
As an Enterprise client, you can adjust custom fields, such as selecting an onboarding plan, adding a P.O. number, or setting an end date on the contract.
After the offer is sent to the freelancer or agency, they can take one of three actions:
- They could accept the offer, and you will have a contract
- They could decline your offer and withdraw their proposal
- They could message you to discuss alternative terms
Each time you submit an offer, the freelancer or agency has 30 days to accept. If they take no action, the offer will be revoked.
You can confirm that your new contract is active by going to View contracts on your dashboard and checking the list of contracts. If it is an hourly job, your freelancer can’t log time until the start date.
Change or Withdraw an Offer
We understand that sometimes things change. If you change your mind after making an offer, you can withdraw or change it — if the freelancer or agency hasn’t already accepted it. This includes changing from hourly to fixed-price, or fixed-price to hourly. If your offer has already been accepted, you will need to end the contract under the View contracts page on your dashboard.
To change or withdraw your pending job offer
- Go to All job posts from your dashboard and select a job post
- Find their pending offer and choose See Offer
- Go to (...) options menu > Modify Offer
Resend a canceled offer
If you withdraw an offer by mistake, change your mind, or the freelancer accidentally declines it, you can easily send a new one.
- Go to your conversation with the freelancer in your messages
- Find the message that contains the offer and select View offer
- Open the offer’s menu (...) and choose Make new offer
- Update the offer terms and select Send offer
Hourly contracts are billed weekly based on time that your freelancer logs in their Work Diary. In most cases they are covered by Upwork Hourly Protection.
Fixed-price contracts are billed by milestone and are based on deliverables. You make a payment in advance — we hold it in escrow and release it to your freelancer as they complete milestones. They’re covered by Upwork Fixed-Price Protection.
To learn more about the differences, go here.