The 20% fee math actually favors Fiverr for small gigs, and that bugs me

I've been team Upwork for like 4 years now, mostly because I hate Fiverr's whole vibe of racing to the bottom on price. But last week I ran the numbers on my last 12 orders and found something that surprised me. For gigs under $50, Fiverr's flat $2 minimum fee on the buyer side plus 20% on my cut actually nets me MORE than Upwork's 10% after they stack their sliding fee with the $0.15 connect bid costs. I did this in a spreadsheet after complaining to a friend in Austin about a $35 logo job, and I had to eat my words. I still prefer Upwork for bigger contracts since the 5% tier kicks in at $500, but for quick tasks like a hundred word rewrite or a simple banner, Fiverr's real take-home is better. How many of you actually track your net per hour instead of just the platform rate? That changed how I quote small jobs, and I'm curious if anyone else found the same thing.

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.hannah3d ago

Huh, I did the same spreadsheet last month and hated admitting you're right.

sean483d ago

and now i can't stop rechecking every number i plug in, it's brutal