To help you shine in the eyes of prospective clients, Upwork created Talent Badges for freelancers. We designed these badges to highlight your proven talent and expertise.
Rising Talent
When you are new to Upwork, the Rising Talent badge will let clients know you are among the best new freelancers in the Upwork marketplace.
To become a Rising Talent, you must have great potential based on a strong background in your field(s) and early success with your Upwork clients. Agencies can also earn a Rising Talent badge, showing that they either have strong backgrounds in their industries or were started by Top Rated freelancers.
This badge is one of the ways that we help freelancers and agencies who are new to our platform establish themselves on Upwork.
To qualify for the Rising Talent Badge, you must:
- Have a 100% complete profile with signs of great experience prior to joining Upwork
- Have positive performance on Upwork, including submitting high-quality proposals and being selected for jobs
- Follow the Upwork Terms of Service
- A Rising Talent badge that displays on your profile and projects
- Reduced fees (starting at 10%) on Featured Jobs
- A one-time bonus of 30 free Connects to help you grow your business
- Ability to offer consultations to share expertise with clients
Once you have enough work history on Upwork, we will automatically replace your Rising Talent status with a Job Success Score (JSS).
Learn more about earning a Rising Talent here.
Top Rated
You can earn a Top Rated badge if you have built a strong reputation on Upwork by getting positive feedback from your clients, time after time. If you become Top Rated, you will represent the top 10% of talent on Upwork.
We update eligibility every two weeks to be sure to recognize the most current outstanding members of our marketplace. We know competition can be strong, so this is our way of giving a leg up to talent who impress their clients.
Learn more about becoming Top Rated here.
To qualify for the Top Rated badge, you must:
- Demonstrate consistent high-quality work with multiple clients
- Have an outstanding Job Success Score (at least 90%)
- Have an up-to-date and complete freelancer or agency profile
- Accurately list your current availability for new jobs
- Have a strong earnings history
- Follow the Upwork Terms of Service
- A Top Rated badge that displays on your profile and projects to all clients
- Reduced fees (starting at 10%) on Featured Jobs
- More control over your Job Success Score with feedback removal option
- Invitations to submit proposals to jobs assisted by Talent Specialists
- Our Job Digest email to make it easier for you to find jobs that are a great match
- Faster payments on hourly contracts
- Ability to offer consultations to share expertise with clients
- Premium customer support, including phone and chat
Top Rated Plus
To earn a Top Rated Plus badge, you must display proven success on large or long-term contracts. You will have built a strong reputation on Upwork by getting positive feedback time after time, including work on high-value contracts. If you become Top Rated Plus, you will represent the top 3% of performers on Upwork. You worked hard to get here, so we want to help you show it off.
Learn more about becoming Top Rated Plus here.
To qualify for the Top Rated Plus badge, you must:
- Have earned and maintained Top Rated status
- Have $10k+ in total earnings over the past 12 months ($20k+ in total earnings over the last 12 months for agencies)
- Have worked or are working on one or more large contracts in the past 12 months without negative outcomes
Note:
In order to qualify for Top Rated Plus as an individual, you must be a Non-Exclusive Agency Contractor. Learn more about the difference between Exclusive and Non-Exclusive Agency Contractors here.
- A Top Rated Plus badge on your profile and projects
- Reduced fees (starting at 10%) on Featured Jobs
- More control over your Job Success Score with feedback removal option
- Invitations to submit proposals to jobs assisted by Talent Specialists
- Our Job Digest email to make it easier for you to find jobs that are a great match
- Faster payments on hourly contracts
- Ability to offer consultations to share expertise with clients
- Premium customer support, including phone and chat
Expert-Vetted
To earn an Expert-Vetted badge, you must be invited and go through an interview process and screening with our Talent Managers. If you become Expert-Vetted, you will represent the top 1% of talent on Upwork. If you’re here, you’re among the elite on Upwork, and we want to let prospective clients know it.
To qualify for the Expert-Vetted badge, you must:
- Possess exceptional expertise in your field
- Pass a screening process by Talent Managers
- Possess strong soft skills including excellent communication
- Be identified as the top 1% of talent on Upwork
- An Expert-Vetted badge on your profile that displays to Upwork Enterprise clients
- A dedicated Talent Manager who understands your strengths and helps optimize your profile and coach you through proven Upwork strategies
- Opportunities to partner with Enterprise and Talent Scout clients, including Fortune 500 companies
- A badge that displays your Expert-Vetted status on your profile and proposals to Upwork Enterprise clients
- Ability to offer consultations to share expertise with clients
Eligibility
Upwork’s Talent Badges highlight proven or expert talent on Upwork. Learn more below about the criteria for freelancers and non-exclusive agency members.
Note:
Agencies have different criteria to qualify for Upwork's Talent Badges. Find more details about each badge in the links at the top of the chart.
| Criteria | Rising Talent | Top Rated | Top Rated Plus | Expert-Vetted Talent |
|
Job Success Score (JSS) |
No JSS |
90% |
90% |
Not required |
|
Required Expert screening |
|
|
|
✓ |
|
100% complete Freelancer Profile |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
Comply with Upwork Terms of Service |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
First contract on Upwork was more than 90 days ago |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
12-month earnings of at least $1,000 |
✓ |
✓ |
|
|
|
12-month earnings of at least $10,000 |
|
✓ |
|
* To receive and keep Top Rated status, you must have a Job Success Score of at least 90% (or have been in Rising Talent status) for 13 of the last 16 weeks.