RateCard is the independent benchmark for contractor and freelancer rates by skill, seniority, and metro. Real submitted rates, verified and anonymized, so you stop overpaying or losing talent to lowball offers.
Launching soon. Early members who contribute a rate get free benchmark access for that category.
Built for hiring managers, agency owners, and anyone who pays contractors. Here is how RateCard will work at launch:
Enter what you pay or charge: skill, seniority, metro, rate, hourly or project. Verified by work email, anonymized on display.
Your contribution unlocks the benchmark for that category: p25, p50, p75, p90, trend over time, metro comparisons.
Paid plans search all skills and metros instantly. Export clean PDF and CSV summaries for offer letters and client pricing.
Make offers backed by data, price agency work correctly, and never lose a great contractor to a guess again.
Percentiles from verified submissions, with sample sizes, so you can see exactly what the market pays.
| Skill / Metro | p25 | p50 | p75 | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior React dev, Austin | $95/hr | $120/hr | $150/hr | 214 |
| Brand designer, Chicago | $75/hr | $100/hr | $135/hr | 168 |
| Fractional CFO, NYC | $200/hr | $275/hr | $375/hr | 92 |
| Copywriter, remote US | $60/hr | $85/hr | $120/hr | 301 |
Illustrative sample of the launch format. Real benchmarks publish once each cell reaches minimum sample size.
Every submission makes the dataset better. A new entrant cannot backfill years of rate history.
Upwork reports exist to sell Upwork. RateCard aggregates what buyers and contractors actually pay across every channel, verified and anonymized.
Hourly, retainer, and project rates broken out separately. A senior rate in Austin is not the same as a junior rate in Boise, and the benchmarks show it.
Every verified submission improves every benchmark. The history compounds over time, which is the moat: no competitor can retroactively collect it.
The base tier answers your question. The top tier pays for itself on a single hire.
Cancel anytime. Annual plans refunded pro-rata in the first 60 days. Benchmarks are only as good as their sample sizes, and every figure shows its sample count.
From verified submissions by buyers and contractors: what they pay or charge, by skill, seniority, metro, and engagement type. Submissions are verified by work email and anonymized. Seeded public data is clearly labeled until verified submissions replace it.
Submissions are rate-limited per user, statistical outliers are flagged for review, and benchmarks only publish once a cell reaches minimum sample size. Duplicate patterns from the same employer are deduped.
Yes. Rates are verified by email domain but never displayed with a name, company, or contact. Benchmarks show only aggregated percentiles and sample counts.
Contribute one verified rate and unlock the benchmark for that skill category, free, ongoing. It is the growth loop: your data makes the product better for everyone.
Coverage grows with submissions. Launch covers major US metros and common contractor skills; every submission expands it. Suggest a category and we prioritize it as submissions arrive.
Join the waitlist. Early members who contribute a verified rate get free benchmark access for that category at launch.
No spam. One launch email, plus the quarterly State of Rates report if you opt in.