**Clients & Fixed Price Contracts

All milestones must be a minimum of $5 each. This is to help maintain the fairness and integrity of the Upwork marketplace as well as to help combat abuse of the milestone system to solicit free work.

Clients will see an error message if they attempt to fund a milestone for less than $5:

FAQ's

Why can’t I fund a milestone with less than $5?

Upwork doesn’t support milestones that are less than $5 on fixed-price contracts. This minimum is being introduced as part of our effort to maintain the fairness of the Upwork marketplace as well as to help combat abuse of the milestone system to solicit free work.

My project requires very small milestones. Can I request an exception to this minimum?

Unfortunately, you cannot request an exception to this minimum. If you wish to continue setting milestones that are less than $5, you can choose to pay an “Opt-Out Fee” to work with Upwork freelancers outside of the platform. To learn more about the Opt-Out Fee, please see Section 7 of the User Agreement. To request this option, please email optoutfee@upwork.com.

There is a limit of no more than 200 milestones per contract as large contracts create performance issues for the site. Clients who have reached 200 milestones will not be able to add new milestones to the contract. They will need to close the current contract and create a new contract with their freelancer if they wish to continue working with them.

Clients will receive a non-dismissable error alert if they try to add milestones after 200:

Clients will receive in-product warning messages when their milestones hit 190 and then again when they hit the 200-milestone limit:

To start a new contract after the 200 milestone limit:

• Clients can follow steps under the Rehire a Former Freelancer page, OR
• Freelancers can follow steps under the Propose Another Contract

FAQ's

Why can’t we have more than 200 milestones?

When a contract reaches a high number of milestones we have noticed it affects our site’s functionality. Limiting milestones to 200 per contract will help Upwork run more smoothly, which will benefit all our users. Clients and freelancers can always agree to additional milestones under a new contract.

For Fixed Price contracts, the transactions include what is charged to the client as well as the sending and releasing of escrow funds. This will create several entries in the transaction history that appear to be duplicate transactions, if not understood clearly.

Offer Sent to Freelancer and/or Milestone Funded (aka Escrow Funding)

When a client creates a FP contract offer (once FL accepts, it becomes a contract) or simply funds a milestone within an already created contract, there are typically 3 charges displayed in OBO (2 if a monthly processing fee).

James, a client, funds Milestone 1 $240 for his freelancer, Bob. Here’s how James’s transaction history looks in OBO from top to bottom:

1. Funding request - invoice to fund escrow for milestone; the money is removed from the client’s Upwork account and added to escrow
2. Paid from - payment for escrow funding of milestone; the money is added to client’s Upwork account by charging the full amount (including processing fee, if applicable) to the client’s billing method
3. Payment processing fee - processing fee for escrow funding payment; the money is removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to Upwork

At the end of those 3 transactions - $6.60 goes to Upwork for the processing fee, $240 are in Milestone 1 via escrow, and James was charged $246.60. Bob can now see the $240 in the contract and will begin his work.

Payment Released to Freelancer (Escrow Release)

Bob finished his work for Milestone 1 one day later and submits his work through the contract. James takes a look at it and approves all work submitted.

James releases the funds in Milestone 1 to Bob. Here’s how James’s transaction history looks in OBO from top to bottom:

1. Paid from escrow - escrow deposit released to client’s balance to pay freelancer; the money is added to client’s Upwork account from the escrow account, Milestone 1
2. Invoice for - payment debited from client’s account and paid to freelancer; the money is removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to freelancer’s Upwork account

At the end of those 2 transactions - the $240 James put into Milestone 1 previously moves from James’s account to Bob’s Upwork account.

If a FP Offer and/or Contract with Pending Milestone is Canceled:

If a Fixed Price offer is rejected by the freelancer or cancelled by the client before acceptance, the charge for the offer will be refunded back to the client’s billing method.

If a client ends a contract with an unreleased milestone, as long as the freelancer approves, funds will also refund back to the client’s billing method.

James hired another freelancer, Ichabod. Ichabod wasn’t able to complete the work in time for when James needed it, so James canceled the contract.

From top to bottom, here’s how the transactions appear in James’s account:

1. Funding request - money removed from the client’s Upwork account being added to escrow
2. Paid from - money added to client’s Upwork account by charging the full amount (including processing fee, if applicable) to the client’s billing method
3. Payment processing fee - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to Upwork
4. Credit for - money added to client’s Upwork account due to contract cancellation
5. Refund to - money removed from client’s Upwork account and added back to their billing method (including processing fee, if applicable)
6. Refund for - money added to client’s Upwork account from Upwork due to canceled payment which results in canceled processing fee

The main line to look for here is the “Refund to” line to ensure the money went back to the client. If not, check out the **Refunds KB page and view Refund Not Found map.

Payment Released Higher than Escrow Deposit

James hired another freelancer, Charles. Charles did just a fantastic job on the project, James wanted to give him double pay! When releasing funds from a milestone, the client has the job to add more money, which is what James did here.

From top to bottom, here’s how the transactions appear in James’s account when he releases the milestone with the added funds:

1. Paid from escrow - money added to client’s Upwork account from the escrow account, Milestone 4
2. Invoice for - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to freelancer’s Upwork account; this money is what was originally in escrow
3. Invoice for - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to freelancer’s Upwork account; this money is what the client added in addition to the original milestone amount
4. Paid from - money added to client’s Upwork account by charging the full amount (including processing fee, if applicable) to the client’s billing method for what they added; another $450
5. Payment processing fee - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to Upwork for that additional $450 added

The client will be charged the “extra” amount within 24 hours and those extra funds will be released to the freelancer after the 5 day security period.

Client Releases Escrow Deposit to Freelancer & Issues Bonus

If James had issued a bonus to Charles rather than adding more money to the milestone when releasing it, it shows up a bit different.

From top to bottom, here’s how the transactions appear in James’s account when he releases the milestone with the added funds:

1. Paid from escrow - money added to client’s Upwork account from the escrow account for the milestone
2. Invoice for - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to freelancer’s Upwork account; this money is what was originally in escrow
3. Bonus for - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to freelancer’s Upwork account; this money is what the client added as a bonus after releasing the milestone
4. Paid from - money added to client’s Upwork account by charging the full amount (including processing fee, if applicable) to the client’s billing method for what they sent for a bonus; another $500
5. Payment processing fee - money removed from client’s Upwork account and sent to Upwork for that additional $500 added

The client will be charged that bonus amount within 24 hours and those extra funds will be released to the freelancer after the 5 day security period.

To add or edit milestones on a fixed-price contract, clients need to click the “Add or Edit Milestones” button.

Once they click the button, a drawer opens where they can make changes to multiple changes before submitting the milestone changes to the contract. They can add, edit, reorder and/or delete milestones.

Clients can reorder milestones using the drag-and-drop capability on the left side of each milestone.

Clients can see their work-in-progress changes on a fixed-price contract using the “Show changes” toggle in the upper right corner.