This article explains the Top Rated Plus program on Upwork, which recognizes freelancers and agencies who excel on large, long-term contracts. Benefits include a special badge, faster payments, priority support, and more. Eligibility requires maintaining Top Rated status, meeting earnings thresholds, and completing high-value contracts without negative outcomes. – AI helped create this summary
Top Rated Plus is our way of highlighting freelancers and agencies who consistently perform on large contracts at the highest level. You put in the effort and we want to make sure you're recognized for it.
Benefits
As a Top Rated freelancer or agency, you’ll have a dedicated badge on your profile and proposals. It will display on your profile and on your projects on Project Catalog™. You’ll also get the following additional perks:
- 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
- Priority customer support
Become Top Rated Plus
You can earn Top Rated Plus status by building an impressive reputation on Upwork with both large and longer-term contracts. As with Top Rated status, you must have a proven history of success with multiple clients, delight your clients with your work every time, and contribute to a safe and vibrant marketplace by knowing and following the Upwork Terms of Service.
PRO TIP
If you've already earned Top Rated status and want to learn more about becoming Top Rated Plus, check My Stats to find a breakdown of your progress so far.
Note:
If you direct or accept payments outside of our payment system, or repeatedly communicate off Upwork before a contract is in place, you'll lose your Rising Talent, Top Rated, or Top Rated Plus badge. You won’t be eligible to earn them again for a period of six months. You can protect your reputation and standing on Upwork by adhering to our Terms of Service. Learn more about Circumvention and why it’s against the rules here.
Criteria
In addition to earning and maintaining Top Rated status, Top Rated Plus must have the following qualifications:
Criteria for individual freelancers and non-exclusive agency members:
- Total earnings over $10,000 in the past 12 months
- Worked or working on one or more large* contracts in the past 12 months without negative outcomes.
- You must earn funds on your large contract within the past 12 months for it to remain qualified. Otherwise, it does not qualify for Top Rated Plus.
- Maintained Top Rated status
Criteria for agencies and their exclusive agency members:
- Agencies have total earnings over $20,000 in the past 12 months
- Worked or working on one or more large* contracts in the past 12 months without negative outcomes (<10% for agencies)
- Maintained Top Rated status
Note:
Freelancers working with an agency can be a non-exclusive agency member or an exclusive agency member to be awarded the Top Rated Plus status. All exclusive agency members in an agency, who are eligible to get the Top Rated Plus badge, will inherit the agency's Top Rated Plus badge too! Learn more about the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive agency members here.
A large contract must occur without interruption (rate changes are allowed, pauses are allowed). Sums of different contracts with the same client do not qualify as a large contract.
*Large Contracts
The criteria for a “large contract” is specific to the contract category. We base these amounts on the opportunities currently available on Upwork. For example, in certain categories, a large contract might be one with earnings of $5,000 but in others it might be a $20,000 or $30,000 contract.
For now, we define large contracts as shown below.
Freelancers
| Category | Large Contract Amount |
|---|---|
| Accounting and Consulting | $10,000 |
| Admin Support | $10,000 |
| Customer Support | $20,000 |
| Data Science and Analytics | $10,000 |
| Design and Creative | $5,000 |
| Engineering and Architecture | $5,000 |
| IT and Engineering | $10,000 |
| Legal | $5,000 |
| Sales and Marketing | $10,000 |
| Translation | $5,000 |
| Web, Mobile and Software Development | $15,000 |
| Writing | $5,000 |
Agencies
| Category | Large Contract Amount |
|---|---|
| Accounting and Consulting | $20,000 |
| Admin Support | $20,000 |
| Customer Service | $20,000 |
| Data Science and Analytics | $20,000 |
| Design and Creative | $10,000 |
| Engineering and Architecture | $10,000 |
| IT and Networking | $20,000 |
| Legal | $10,000 |
| Sales and Marketing | $20,000 |
| Translation | $10,000 |
| Web, Mobile and Software Development | $30,000 |
| Writing | $10,000 |