A freelance copywriter charges $19 to $45 an hour at the median on Upwork, according to Upwork's own rate page. Writers surveyed by the Editorial Freelancers Association for its 2026 rate chart report median ranges of 32 to 87.5 cents a word and $65 to $75 an hour for business and marketing writing done as work for hire. Content services that publish a price sell writing from 5 cents a word (WriterAccess) to 30 cents a word (Express Writers).
So a 1,000-word sales page or article can cost a client anywhere from $50 to $875 before any extras. Where you sit in that range depends on who you sell to, not on how well you type.
How much does a copywriter charge per hour?
$19 to $45 an hour is the Upwork median for copywriters. Upwork's guide on the same page breaks it down by experience: $20 to $30 for entry level, $30 to $50 for intermediate and $50 to $150 for expert copywriters. Its figures cover "typical hourly rate ranges of certain historical contracts worldwide."
The Editorial Freelancers Association's 2026 rate chart puts business and marketing writing higher. Its median range is $65 to $75 an hour for work-for-hire business writing and $87.50 to $125 an hour when the same writing is ghostwritten. The chart comes from a survey of its members run from November 2025 to mid-January 2026, with over 1,100 respondents.
| Who | Per hour | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Upwork copywriters, median | $19 to $45 | Historical contracts worldwide |
| Upwork guide, entry level | $20 to $30 | Upwork's own breakdown |
| Upwork guide, expert | $50 to $150 | Upwork's own breakdown |
| EFA, business/marketing (work for hire) | $65 to $75 | Median range, 2026 Rate Chart |
| EFA, business/marketing (ghostwriting) | $87.50 to $125 | Median range, 2026 Rate Chart |
| BLS, employed writers and authors | $36.98 median | May 2025 wage, not a freelance rate |
Upwork copywriter cost page, EFA 2026 Rate Chart and BLS OEWS (27-3043), all read on 22 October 2026.
The two sources measure different markets. Upwork's figure is worldwide, so it includes writers in places where $20 an hour is a very good wage. The EFA's figures come from its own members, who answered a survey about the rates they charge. Neither is a price list, and the EFA says it "neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use."
Want to sell writing as a monthly service instead of one job at a time? The LinkedIn Ghostwriting Service walkthrough lays it out step by step.
How much does a copywriter charge per word?
32 to 87.5 cents a word is the EFA's 2026 median range for business and marketing copy written as work for hire. Blog posts run 25 to 45 cents a word. Ghostwritten business and marketing copy, published under the client's name, runs 50 cents to $1.00 a word.
Content services that publish a price come in lower, because they sell volume:
| Service | Price per word | What else you pay |
|---|---|---|
| WriterAccess, Basic | 5 cents ("Flat-Rate Pricing (5¢/word)") | $49 a month platform fee |
| Verblio, hybrid (human writer with AI tools) | 6 cents | $49.50 a month platform fee after the first week |
| Verblio, 100% human | 16 cents | No platform fee |
| Express Writers | 30 cents | Managed plans start at $1,500 a month |
Each service's own pricing page, 22 October 2026. None of the pages prints a date.
At those prices, a 1,000-word piece costs $50 at WriterAccess, $160 from a fully human Verblio writer, $300 at Express Writers, and $320 to $875 at the EFA's work-for-hire range. Per-word pricing fits blogs and articles, where length is the product. It fits short, high-stakes copy badly: a headline, an ad or a sales email might be 50 words, and 50 words that sell are worth far more than 50 words of filler.
How much should a beginner copywriter charge?
$20 to $30 an hour is Upwork's own figure for entry-level copywriters, and 5 to 16 cents a word is what WriterAccess and Verblio charge clients for writing from their pools. Those are the prices a beginner is compared with, so starting near them and moving up once you can show a client's results is the realistic path.
The faster route up is a niche. A copywriter who writes only for dentists, or only for software companies, can show a client three pieces that look like the job, and that is worth more than any rate card. The freelance hourly rate calculator works backwards from the income you need, so you know your floor before you quote.
Why do copywriters charge more than the employed wage?
$36.98 an hour was the BLS median wage for employed writers and authors in May 2025, or $76,910 a year; the mean was $41.39 an hour. An employer pays that wage plus benefits and payroll tax. A freelancer has to pay all of that out of the rate.
The IRS sets self-employment tax at 15.3%: "12.4% for social security (old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) and 2.9% for Medicare (hospital insurance)." On top of the tax, a freelance copywriter spends hours finding clients, writing proposals and sending invoices, and none of those hours are billed. That is why a freelance rate of $65 to $75 an hour, the EFA's work-for-hire range, is not greedy next to a $36.98 employed wage. It is roughly what the same income costs once you work for yourself.
Should a copywriter charge per word, per hour or per project?
Per project, for most copy. The EFA chart lists hourly and per-word ranges, but a client buying a $500 sales page wants to know the total before you start. Per-word pricing suits articles and blogs, where length is the product. Hourly suits edits and open-ended work.
The case for a project price is simple. If you get faster, an hourly rate pays you less for the same result, and a per-word rate pays you more for padding. A project price pays you for the outcome. Set it by working out the hours, multiplying by your rate, and quoting the total, not the hours.
A monthly retainer is a project price that repeats. A client who needs a newsletter, four blog posts and a set of social posts every month is easier to keep than to replace. That is how LinkedIn ghostwriting is sold, and how email marketing and social media posts are usually priced too.
How much does a ghostwritten piece cost compared with a bylined one?
More, at every point of the range. The EFA's 2026 median range for business and marketing writing is 32 to 87.5 cents a word as work for hire, and 50 cents to $1.00 a word as ghostwriting, where the client puts their own name on it. Hourly, it is $65 to $75 against $87.50 to $125.
The premium pays for the voice. A ghostwriter has to sound like the client, which means interviews, drafts the client reads as their own, and the risk of getting the tone wrong in public. Full-length books are priced differently again; see how much book ghostwriters charge.
The honest hard part
The rate is not the hard part. The hard part is that the same 1,000 words can sell for $50 or $875, and a client cannot tell the difference until they read it. Your price has to be backed by samples that look like the job they need done.
The second hard part is AI. WriterAccess and Verblio both sell AI-assisted writing at the bottom of the range, and Verblio prices its hybrid writing at 6 cents a word against 16 cents for fully human writing. A copywriter who sells words by the word is competing with that. A copywriter who sells a result, such as a page that converts or a voice the client recognises, is not.
The third is that the published numbers are a partial picture. Upwork's figures are worldwide, the EFA's are a members' survey, and the content services are setting prices for their own platforms. Treat them as the visible part of the market, not all of it.
