To help you get work with clients through Upwork, you may want to purchase Connects or upgrade to a membership plan. There are several ways to purchase these:
- Use a credit or debit card
- Upwork accepts Visa, Discover, Diners Club, Diners Club International, Mastercard, and American Express. We also accept prepaid cards. To learn more about adding a credit card to your account, go here.
- Use PayPal
- Freelancers with a verified PayPal account can use PayPal as their billing method. To learn more about verifying and linking your PayPal account, go here. Note: A credit card needs to be added as a backup billing method if you plan to use PayPal to purchase Connects or pay for a membership plan.
- Use your Upwork balance
- Paying for a membership plan
If you have a balance available from your Upwork earnings, you can use it to pay for your membership as long as you also have a primary billing method on file. If your balance is not enough to cover the cost, we’ll charge your primary billing method. If you remove your billing method, your membership plan will be canceled (you can always re-add it).
Buying Connects
You can use your Upwork balance to purchase Connects even if you don’t have a primary billing method on file, as long as you have enough in your balance to cover the cost. You can also use a combination of Upwork earnings and your billing method if you have one on file — if your balance is not enough to cover the cost, we’ll automatically charge your primary billing method.
How do I add a billing method?
To add a new billing method to your account:
- Go to Settings > Billing & Payments
- Choose the Add a New Billing Method button
- Enter your billing information
PRO TIP
You can only have one primary billing method in use at a time, but you can add multiple billing methods to your account and switch between them as needed.
Can I change my primary billing method?
A primary billing method is your default billing method. To change your primary billing method:
- Go to Settings > Billing & Payments
- Choose Set as Primary
Note
You must add and set up an alternative billing method before changing or deleting your primary billing method.
How do I remove my billing method?
To remove a billing method:
- Go to Settings > Billing & Payments
- Choose Remove from the method you are removing
You can remove billing methods at any time. Before changing or deleting your primary billing method, you must add and set up an alternative payment method. This helps avoid interruptions to your account.
There are problems with my billing method. Does that impact my membership plan?
Yes. If we try to charge you for your monthly membership plan and the payment fails, we’ll move you to our free membership plan. Once you update your billing method, you can re-enroll in a paid membership plan at any time.
Should a membership renewal charge from Upwork to your billing method fail for any reason, you'll be immediately downgraded to a Freelancer Basic plan. To re-enroll in a Freelancer Plus plan, please resolve the issue with your billing method and upgrade again.
If you are sure the account details for your billing method are correct and there are sufficient funds in your account, contact your bank.