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Clients pay nothing on top of the contract. Talent pays 10% of what leaves escrow. No subscription, no proposal credits, no connects.
0%
Nothing on top, ever
10%
Only once you are paid
The rate is set to cover the cost of moving money safely, not to take as much as the market would bear. On a $8,000.00 payout the fee is $800.00, and the largest single slice of it has already been spent collecting the money:
| Where it goes | On a $8,000.00 payout |
|---|---|
| Card processing2.90% + $0.30 per charge — paid by us, never added to your client's contract | $232.30 |
| Bank payouts to every membereach squad member's share leaves escrow separately, to the cent | included |
| Escrow, reconciliation and the audit trailheld funds, an append-only ledger, and a balance that always reconciles | included |
| Disputes, arbitration and chargebacksan unresolved $15 chargeback is most of the margin on a small contract | included |
An international card costs Stripe an extra 1.50% — $120.00 more on this payout. We absorb that rather than passing it on, and it is the main reason the fee is not smaller: below roughly 5% it stops covering the cost of taking the payment at all, and a rate that thin has to be raised later.
Not a subscription
Nothing monthly, and nothing to stay listed.
Not charged up front
Only when money actually reaches you from escrow.
Not on your client
Clients pay 0%, so your rate is your quote.
Rates checked against each platform's current published fees. Structures differ, so read the detail rather than the headline number.
| Platform | Client side | Talent side |
|---|---|---|
| Squadrie | 0% — never a fee on top | 10% on released payouts |
| Fiverr | 0% | 20% of every order |
| Upwork | up to 7.99% client marketplace fee | 0–15%, varies per contract |
| Toptal | marked-up rate + monthly subscription | 0% — the margin is inside the rate |
| Contra | 0% | 0% commission |
Nothing on top of the contract value. A $24,000.00 contract costs $24,000.00. You fund the milestones you approve, and that money sits in escrow until you release it. There is no client subscription, no posting fee, and no listing fee.
When escrow releases to a member, and never before. It is charged on money that actually reaches you — not on the contract value, not when you apply, and not when a milestone is funded. A $8,000.00 milestone release leaves $7,200.00 for the squad after the 10% fee.
On the payout, so it is identical in effect either way. A squad's milestone is allocated to members to the cent, and the fee applies to the released amount rather than on top of it — members never owe anything out of pocket.
No fee is taken on money that never reached a member. A refund returns the full amount, and a dispute resolved in the client's favour returns the disputed portion in full.
Yes — the 10% fee applies to released payouts.
Because escrow and disputes have to be paid for by someone, and platforms that charge nothing fund it another way: ads and promoted listings, credits you buy before you can apply, or a margin quietly folded into the rate you are quoted. We would rather show you one number and take it only when you are paid.
Because below about 5% the fee stops covering the cost of taking the payment. Card processing alone is 2.90% + $0.30 domestically and adds 1.50% on an international card, and we pay that rather than your client. A 5% fee works out at roughly 2% of a domestic contract and well under 1% of an international one — not enough to fund escrow, a dispute room, or a single chargeback, so it would have to go up later. We would rather be honest about the number now than raise a price we already published.
Because the client side is where marketplaces usually get greedy, and the fee is easiest to bear where the money is being earned rather than spent. It also means a client can budget a contract as exactly the contract, with no surprise at checkout.
The fee is stated in the terms of service, and both read from the same number.