Clients on Upwork can leave both public and private feedback for freelancers. Public feedback is visible with a $1.00 USD or higher contract payment; private feedback influences the freelancer’s Job Success Score. Feedback must be left within 14 days of contract closure, and edits or late entries require the freelancer’s approval.
We understand the importance of giving and receiving feedback. When you provide feedback as a client, you can help freelancers and agencies identify their strengths and weaknesses, or show appreciation for things they did well. You’re also sharing your experience with other Upwork users, which can help them make more informed choices about the right talent for their project.
We have created two types of feedback:
- Public — You can provide comments and star ratings which will be shown on the freelancer’s or agency's Work History. This requires a minimum net contract payment of $1.00 USD to be visible.
- Private — We use this to assess the talent or agency's job success. This is an opportunity for you to provide information to Upwork that you may feel uncomfortable sharing publicly. This feedback remains on file and cannot be edited. Note: While private feedback is not shared with the freelancer, it can impact their Job Success Score.
Leave feedback on a contract that is open
- Go to Manage work > All contracts
- Find the job you need and select the (...) button
- Select Give feedback
- Only public feedback can be submitted on open contracts. If you’d like to submit private feedback before a contract is closed, contact your freelancer directly.
Leave feedback on a contract that has ended
- Go to Manage work> All contracts
- Choose the job you need and select the (...) button
- Select Give feedback. If 14 days have passed since the contract has closed, your opportunity to leave feedback has passed and you won’t see this option.
Feedback timing
Things to know:
- If you end a contract, you’ll be asked to leave feedback right in the End Contract form. If the freelancer or agency ends the contract, you’ll still have 14 days to leave feedback. Heads-up: the 14-day window is based on UTC time, so the deadline will be midnight UTC on the final day—not necessarily midnight in your own timezone. It’s a good idea to double-check how your local time compares to UTC to avoid missing the cutoff.
- We use a double-blind system, which means feedback isn’t visible until both you and your freelancer have submitted it. This helps keep things fair and independent. If only one person leaves feedback, we’ll publish it once the 14-day window closes.
- Your freelancer won’t see your public feedback until they’ve shared theirs or 14 days have passed—but your input might still affect their Job Success Score earlier, since it updates daily
Edit feedback on a contract
If the 14-day feedback period expires before you are able to add comments, you can contact the freelancer or agency and ask them to allow you to add feedback later. We will notify you once the option to leave feedback is available.
If you left feedback but need to make a change, you can also contact them to request the opportunity to change that feedback. Remember, you cannot edit public feedback after you give it unless the other party allows the option to edit the feedback.
If you accidentally left feedback for the wrong person or left feedback that no longer applies, you can ask us to remove the feedback. We can only remove feedback for you, not edit it.
Guidelines for leaving feedback
Any feedback you leave must be genuine and follow Upwork’s Terms of Service. To maintain the integrity of the feedback system and avoid conflicts of interest, insider feedback from someone within your company is not allowed. You also cannot accept anything of value from a freelancer, such as free or reduced work, in exchange for leaving good feedback.
Feedback should be professional and relate to the contract. It cannot contain abusive or offensive language, racist or discriminatory language, explicit content or links to explicit content, your freelancer’s private contact information or other confidential information.
Frequently Asked Question
If my freelancer gives me a full refund, can I still leave feedback? Yes, you can. Here's how it works:
- If the freelancer issues a full refund before the contract is ended, you have the opportunity to leave private feedback. Public feedback will not be available in this instance.
- If the freelancer issues a full refund after the contract has ended, any public feedback you left will be removed but the private feedback will stay and will be considered in the freelancer’s Job Success Score.