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More Connects to win more of the work you love

katbenjamin
Community Member

UPDATE: This is already live. You’ll see these free Connects added to your account at the start of your next billing cycle. You can find this date on your Memberships and Connects page under User Settings.

 

 

 

In December, we’re upgrading Connects to provide you free monthly Connects and bonus Connects for interviews you win. You’re doing amazing things on Upwork, and more Connects means more chances to do the work you love. 

 

We’ve seen a huge surge in client activity, and our work marketplace is full of opportunities for all the incredible talent on our platform. We can’t wait to watch you use these Connects to win your share of these opportunities, form stronger relationships with clients, and grow your career on Upwork.

 

We introduced paid Connects to keep spam from crowding out your proposals and help you win the jobs you want. But we want to ensure connecting with clients is exciting and affordable, so we’re changing our program to provide you with the Connects you need to build deeper relationships and unlock the best opportunities.

 

Here’s exactly what you can expect:

 

Freelancer Basic Plan

Receive 10 free Connects per month (according to billing cycle)

Freelancer Plus Plan

Receive 80 Connects per month (70 + 10 free Connects)

(according to billing cycle)

Connects Rollover Limits

 The Basic and Plus roll over limit is now 200 Connects

Interview Requests 

Freelancers receive free Connects (the number may vary) when they win an interview with an established client on Upwork**

 

 

In December, you’ll see these free Connects added to your account at the start of your next billing cycle. You can find this date on your Memberships and Connects page under User Settings. You’ll also receive an email when your Connects are available for use.

 

These changes will create more opportunities for everyone in our community, and we’re continuing to explore other ways to show our appreciation for everything you do. Your success is our success, and we’re proud to provide a home where you can do the work you love, form lucrative relationships, and build an amazing independent business.

 

Learn more about how Connects work here

Update 7/23/2021: Note that when Connects are awarded for interview requests this will show up as two transactions in the Connects History. There is no change to how these are awarded, this is simply done for accounting purposes.

** Updated 1/2/2023

2,370 Comments
goodcheapfast
Community Member

What about extra credits (free) to top talent? 

richard_wein
Community Member

Oh, for heaven's sake. More unnecessary complications, and giving out so many free connects just undermines the point of the last set of changes, especially given that they already made it cheaper to make large numbers of proposals. We should just go back to the old, simple system of 30 free proposals per month (and $2 for each extra proposal). If that resulted in too many proposals, then they should have just reduced the number of free proposals from 30 to some lower number.

richard_wein
Community Member

"More Connects to win more of the work you love"

 

If more connects really meant more work, then why not give people as many free connects as they want, since more work is good for everyone?

 

The truth is that more connects doesn't mean more work (on average), since everyone else will have more connects too, and there'll just be more proposals chasing the same number of jobs. That means we'll have to write more proposals to get the same number of jobs that we were getting before (on average). Alternatively, people might make the same number of proposals as before while spending less on connects, which would be fine if that's the case, but it still won't mean "more of the work you love".

ebwinter
Community Member

Thank you for this change, Upwork. I appreciate having a few free connects each month in addition to the ones I have to pay for.

 

However, I agree with the many other freelancers who would like to see more and see the cost of Connects as an obstacle to finding work. I see the benefit of Connects - there's a value to having a "cost" to applying or some kind of currency to that motivates freelancers to apply thoughtfully and only to jobs where they would be a good fit. But given that we already pay a signficant share of our earnings to Upwork, and that those of us who are relatively new to the platform often have to apply to MANY jobs for each contract we win, ten really does feel like a drop in the bucket. I

 

So thank you again for the help, but please consider increasing the number as many others have suggested!

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Miguel,

 

Thanks for your question. With the upcoming change we intend to reward top talent on the platform for successful proposals and being interviewed. Additionally, Rising Talent freelancers already get a on-time bonus of 30 Connects and we are testing the impact of awarding connects to Top Rated talent when they reach Top Rated status. We'll be sharing more information about it in the new year.

b52fe7b9
Community Member
Great news , thanks for giving free connects the upwork team
854bff1c
Community Member

Finally, Something I was looking for. 

 

span_urska
Community Member

so true

kariithi_sammy
Community Member

Great!

243918ee
Community Member
Agreee