On Upwork, you can get paid for doing what you’re passionate about. With fixed-price contracts, you’ll get paid after you submit your work. Here is how it works and when to expect your payments.
Pro tip:
You can follow this process on your financial dashboard by going to Manage finances > Financial overview.
To help ensure that your payments for fixed-price contracts are dependable and secure, clients must place funds into escrow for each milestone and project or consultation purchase.
If the client has a verified billing method, funds in escrow may be protected by Upwork Fixed-Price Protection. Learn more about eligibility for protection and how it can help.
When you submit a milestone or project deliverable directly from your contract, you’re also requesting to be paid by selecting Submit work, then Submit. You can find your contract by going to Deliver work > Your active contracts.
If you submit deliverables through another method, such as email or in Upwork Messages, be sure to request payment by selecting Submit work, then Submit in the contract. This starts the 14-day review process, which is measured using Universal Time (UTC). You don’t have to upload the work again, but you may want to include a message to your client.
Submit a milestone:
Submit a project deliverable:
After you submit work, your client has 14 days to review it, with the days measured according to the UTC time zone. During this time, they may:
- Ask you to make changes. You’ll make changes and resubmit the work, and the review process will start over
- Approve the work and direct us to release the payment from escrow to your pending payments. They can ask us to release the full amount, a partial amount, or more than what they deposited in escrow
- Reject the work and request an escrow refund. You can approve or dispute their request. Learn more about disputing non-release of a milestone payment
- Do nothing. If your client does not take any action, we’ll automatically release funds from escrow to your pending payments after the 14-day review period ends
- Where the funds show on your Financial overview dashboard during and after review:
- During the 14-day review period, funds show in the In review section until the client reviews
- If your client requests changes, funds move back to Work in progress
When your client approves, or the 14-day review period ends with no client action, funds move to the Pending section for a five-day security period
Once your client directs us to release payment to you, or the 14-day client review period ends, the five-day security period begins. This security period applies to bonus payments too. This period is measured according to UTC, not your local time zone.
During this time, you’ll see the funds in the Pending.
Once the five-day security period ends according to the UTC time zone, your funds move into the Available section.
For your convenience, you can withdraw payments from your available funds on our platform in several ways:
- Select Available on your Financial overview dashboard and then select Get Paid Now
- On your Upwork home page, select Get Paid from the sidebar and then select Get Paid Now
- Set up automatic withdrawals. We will automatically send your available funds to your withdrawal method on the schedule you select
Learn more about setting up your payment method or automatic withdrawals.
Processing time
The time it takes for your payments to show up in your withdrawal method varies depending on the withdrawal method you choose. It can take up to eight business days. If you haven’t received your funds in eight business days, please let us know.
If you’re a U.S. freelancer with a debit card on file, you may be eligible for Instant Pay. This lets you withdraw payments from available funds directly to your debit card after the five-day security hold. This can speed up the process of getting your payments but does not let you skip the security period. We charge a $2 USD fee for these transactions.
Frequently Asked Questions
The timing depends on when you submit work and how quickly your client reviews it. After you submit a milestone, a client has 14 days to approve, reject, or request changes.
After your client releases your funds, we have a five-day security hold. Then, funds moved between Upwork and your personal account are subject to processing time. Processing time can vary depending on your withdrawal method but can take up to 8 days.
You can follow this process on your contracts by going to Reports > Overview.
To submit your work for review:
- Go to Deliver work > Your active contracts
- Find the contact you wish to submit a deliverable on and select Submit work
- Write a brief message to your client to explain what you’re submitting
- Upload your deliverable, if you haven’t already sent it through another method, and select Submit. (If you already sent the work to the client through another method, you do not have to upload it again, just select Submit)
If you submit deliverables to your client through another method, such as email or directly through Upwork Messages, be sure to request payment by selecting Submit Work and Submit in the contract. This starts the 14-day review.
When your client releases a milestone or final payment on a fixed-price job, it immediately shows as pending in your Upwork available balance. Your pending payments become available after a five-day security period.
To check your pending and available payments, go to Manage finances > Financial overview. You can also see available payments by selecting Get Paid in the sidebar on your Upwork Home page.
There is inherent risk in payment processing, driven by the potential for fraud, disputes and chargebacks. The five-day security period is designed to help reduce that risk for everyone involved and is part of maintaining a secure payment platform.
When your payment arrives depends on your withdrawal method, but it can take up to eight business days. If you haven't received your payment after eight business days, let us know.
If you’re a U.S. freelancer with a debit card on file, you may be eligible for Instant Pay. This lets you withdraw payments from available funds directly to your debit card after the five-day security hold. This can speed up the process of getting your payments but does not let you skip the security period. We charge a $2 USD fee for these transactions.
All of your contracts are paid to your agency. You’ll need to arrange payment from your agency directly.
Fixed-price contracts do not qualify for faster payments that skip the five-day security period. If you have both hourly and fixed-price contracts, only the payments for your hourly contracts are included in faster payments when eligible. The payments also process according to Universal Time (UTC), not your local time zone.
