What Upwork consultations are: the short answer
Upwork consultations are paid one-on-one video meetings where a client books time with you to get expert advice. You publish a consultation listing with a price per 30 minutes, your available hours and what you will send afterwards, and the client books a slot and funds it before the meeting happens. After the call you deliver the follow-up documents you promised, such as a meeting summary, a project plan or a time and cost estimate, and the client has 14 days to approve payment before it releases automatically.
The rules below come from Upwork's own help center articles on setting up, managing and buying consultations, checked on the day this post was written. Upwork changes features like this often, so if you are reading this much later, check those pages before relying on a specific rule.
Who can offer consultations on Upwork
Consultations are not open to every account. Per Upwork's help center, an individual freelancer needs one of these talent badges:
- Rising Talent. If you do not have it yet, see [how to get the Upwork Rising Talent badge](/blog/upwork-rising-talent-badge-how-to-get-it).
- Top Rated. The requirements are broken down in [Upwork Top Rated badge requirements](/blog/upwork-top-rated-badge-requirements).
- Top Rated Plus.
- Expert-Vetted. See [Upwork Expert-Vetted explained](/blog/upwork-expert-vetted-badge).
For agencies, only Agency Managers who are exclusive agency members and have earned a qualifying badge through the agency can create consultations. If you are weighing which account type to run, [agency vs freelancer account](/blog/upwork-agency-account-vs-freelancer-account) covers the bigger tradeoff.
How to set up an Upwork consultation, step by step
Go to Find work > Your services and select Create a consultation. The setup runs through six screens:
- Overview. Pick the category that best fits, then choose up to five areas of expertise, which are the topics clients can ask you about. You can add custom topics too.
- Price and scope. Choose 30-minute meetings, 60-minute meetings or both, and set your rate per 30 minutes. Write a description of the advice you give, select which documents the client gets afterwards (you need at least one to qualify for Payment Protection), and set how many days you need to deliver them.
- Availability. Connect a Google or Microsoft calendar, set available hours manually, or both. Apple iCal is not supported. Set a minimum booking notice (one hour is the shortest) and how far ahead clients can book. Availability changes apply across all your consultations.
- Client requirements and FAQ. Ask for the information you need to prepare, as free text, multiple choice or file uploads, and mark the essentials as mandatory.
- Gallery. An intro video (under 60 seconds is best), up to 20 images (JPEG or PNG, max 10MB each, 4:3 ratio) and up to two PDFs (max 2MB each, only the first three pages show).
- Review and publish. Agree to the policies and publish.
You can create up to three consultations, each in any available work category. If you already sell fixed-scope packages, the setup will feel familiar. It sits next to [the Upwork Project Catalog](/blog/how-to-set-up-an-upwork-project-catalog-that-sells) under the same Your services menu, and the gallery video can reuse what you made for [your Upwork video introduction](/blog/upwork-video-introduction).
The rules that decide whether you get paid
Most of the risk in consultations lives in four timers. Know them before your first booking.
Upwork consultation policies, per Upwork's help center
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Client cancels more than 24 hours before | Client gets a full refund |
| Client cancels within 24 hours, or does not show | Client gets no refund and you are paid |
| You cancel more than 24 hours before | Client is refunded and cannot leave you feedback |
| You cancel within 24 hours | Client can leave feedback, which may affect your Job Success Score |
| Either side is more than five minutes late | The other side can treat it as a no-show |
| Client does not submit mandatory requirements within 24 hours of buying | Upwork auto-cancels and refunds the client; you are not paid and late-cancellation protection does not apply |
| You submit after the call | Client has 14 days to approve, then funds release automatically |
Payment Protection for you as the freelancer applies if the client cancels less than 24 hours before the start time, or if you are less than five minutes late and send the documents you agreed to within your delivery window, or if the client opts out of the documents and approves payment without them. If a client no-shows, Upwork says you request payment and write that the client was a no-show in the text box.
Rescheduling works up to 24 hours ahead. If you need to move a call, message the client first with a proposed time, then reschedule from the consultation's Overview tab. Clients can also reschedule themselves into any open slot after your minimum booking notice.
Instant consultations: the meet-now option
If you hold Top Rated or Top Rated Plus and have already sold at least one consultation, Upwork lets you turn on instant consultations. You switch it on from the Find Work preferences area on desktop, or from the Consultations section of your profile on mobile, and choose how many hours you want to be online.
The catch: when a request comes in, you have one minute to accept, decline or message the client. Miss it, and Upwork turns off your meet-now availability. My take is to only switch it on for blocks where you are genuinely at your desk with nothing else open. A string of missed requests helps nobody.
How to price an Upwork consultation
Upwork does not publish a recommended consultation rate, and I am not going to invent one. What I would do instead is anchor it to your existing hourly rate and then decide which job the consultation is doing for you.
- If it is a paid discovery call for bigger projects, price at or slightly above your normal hourly rate and make the deliverable a project plan with a time and cost estimate. The client is paying you to scope the work they will hire you for next.
- If it is a stand-alone advice product, price it as a premium over your hourly rate, because the client is buying concentrated expertise, not hours of execution, and the 24-hour rules mean you carry some scheduling risk.
- Whichever you choose, do not undercut your own hourly rate. A cheap consultation trains clients to expect cheap everything else. If you have not set that base rate with confidence yet, start with [how to set your Upwork hourly rate from scratch](/blog/how-to-set-your-upwork-hourly-rate-from-scratch).
Use the consultation as the front door to a contract
The real value of a consultation is not the 30 or 60 minutes you bill. It is that a client who paid to talk to you has already self-selected as serious, and you get an hour to understand their problem before anyone else does. Upwork's own flow supports this: after the call, you can go to Your active contracts, open the consultation contract, and choose Propose a new contract from the Order Details section.
- Read the client's requirements within 24 hours. Upwork says you can cancel inside that first window without affecting your Job Success Score, and the client gets a full refund. Use it if the fit is wrong.
- Run the call like a scoping session. Upwork's own tips suggest noting what you presented, the questions the client asked and the recommendations you gave. Those notes become the document.
- Make the follow-up document end with next steps. Upwork recommends including next steps if you plan to work together again. That is your proposal, already half-written.
- Propose the contract from the workroom while the call is fresh. Split it into funded milestones or an hourly contract with a weekly limit, using [fixed price vs hourly contracts](/blog/upwork-fixed-price-vs-hourly-contracts) to pick.
The same preparation habits from [how to prepare for an Upwork client interview](/blog/how-to-prepare-for-an-upwork-client-interview) apply here, with one difference: this time you are being paid for the meeting, so the client expects advice they can act on even if they never hire you again. Give it to them. That is what makes the next contract an easy yes.
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Frequently asked questions
Who can offer consultations on Upwork?
Per Upwork's help center, individual freelancers with a Rising Talent, Top Rated, Top Rated Plus or Expert-Vetted badge. For agencies, only Agency Managers who are exclusive agency members and have earned a qualifying badge through the agency can offer them.
How do I set up a consultation on Upwork?
Go to Find work > Your services and select Create a consultation. You choose a category and up to five areas of expertise, set 30- or 60-minute lengths and a rate per 30 minutes, pick the documents you will deliver, set your availability, add client requirements and a gallery, then publish.
How many consultations can I create on Upwork?
Up to three, in any available work category. Availability settings are shared, so changing your hours on one consultation updates all of them.
What happens if a client cancels an Upwork consultation?
If the client cancels more than 24 hours before the meeting, they get a full refund. If they cancel within 24 hours or do not show up, they are not refunded and you are paid.
What if the client does not show up to my consultation?
If the client is more than five minutes late, you can treat it as a no-show. Upwork says you request payment and write that the client was a no-show in the text box.
Do I have to send documents after an Upwork consultation?
To qualify for Payment Protection you need to send the documents you listed within the delivery time you set, unless the client opts out of documents and approves payment without them. You must list at least one document type when you set the consultation up.
What are instant consultations on Upwork?
A meet-now option for freelancers with Top Rated or Top Rated Plus who have already sold a consultation. When a request comes in you have one minute to accept, decline or message the client, or Upwork turns your availability off.
Last reviewed by David Iya on October 8, 2026
