Short answer: you can build your own client base alongside a platform, but you should not move a client you met there into side payments while the platform's rules still apply. Upwork's help center describes paying each other outside the platform, after meeting there, as circumvention that can lead to account suspension, and it offers a conversion fee as the legal way to take a relationship off. This page is general information, not legal advice. Read the current terms of any platform before you act, because they change.
What the rules say, in plain terms
Upwork's support pages say that when a client and a freelancer meet on Upwork, they are expected to keep paying through it, and that paying outside it without the conversion fee breaks the terms. One community post from Upwork describes a 24 month period for this, though that wording comes from a past version of the terms, so confirm the present length on the live page. The conversion fee is a one time payment that lets the pair work off the platform, calculated from the freelancer's rate, and clients pay it. A relationship that is past the period can move off without it.
Fiverr and others have their own versions of this rule. Look for words like "circumvent," "off-platform" and "conversion" in the terms and in the help center before you send a single link.
Why it matters beyond the rule
A platform account carries your reviews and your income. Losing it for a few hundred dollars of side work is a bad trade. A client can also report you, since the platform may ask them questions as well. The cost of getting this wrong is far higher than the fee you were avoiding.
What you can do honestly
- Use the conversion option when a client wants it. If a client says they want to hire you directly, ask them to look at the platform's conversion process and decide. Many clients pay it because the fee is small next to the project.
- Wait out the period on long relationships, if the terms say there is one.
- Keep a public profile that is yours. A website with your work, a LinkedIn profile and an email on your own domain are allowed. You are not hiding. Anyone who looks you up can find you.
- Send new people to your own channel. Someone who finds your work outside the platform is not a platform client. Keep a clear record of where each client first came from.
The better move: do not depend on one source
Freelancers who feel trapped on a platform usually have one source of work. Start small: choose a type of client you serve well, find 20 of them directly, and contact them with a short note. For example, a fictional bookkeeper named Kofi Mensah has worked with online shops on Upwork. He lists 25 online shops of 5 to 30 staff and writes this to each:
Subject: Month end bookkeeping for your shop
Hi Nadia, I do monthly bookkeeping for online shops: reconciling Stripe and Shopify payouts, sales tax summaries for your accountant, and a one page report by the 8th. I have done this for shops with 5 to 30 staff for four years. If your books are behind, I can start with a cleanup of the last quarter at a fixed price.
Kofi Mensah, kofi@mensahbooks.example
221 River Rd, Columbus, OH 43215. Reply "stop" and I won't write again.
The first email needs a real name, a mailing address and a way to opt out under CAN-SPAM, with 10 business days to honor a request. Our guide Upwork alternatives for freelancers compares other places to find clients, and how to get your first five clients as a freelancer is a gentle place to start.
A 30 day plan
- Week 1: set up a one page site and an email on your own domain.
- Week 2: list 25 businesses like your best past clients.
- Week 3: send ten emails, follow up once.
- Week 4: count replies and calls, and keep the platform for what it does well, which is a steady stream of new buyers.
Use the platform for what it gives you and build the second source in parallel. Rocketship can find those 25 businesses by name from a description of your best client, email them from your own Gmail and follow up for you. Start the 7-day trial, card required to begin.