What Upwork proposal insights are: the short answer
Proposal insights is a panel on your submitted proposal's page that shows how your proposal and skills stack up against everyone else who applied to the same job, plus a read on how the client is behaving. It is part of the Freelancer Plus plan. Everything below on what the panel contains comes from Upwork's own help center article on proposal insights, which was updated the day before this post was written. Upwork changes these features often, so check that page if you are reading this much later.
What proposal insights show, per Upwork's help center
| Insight | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Total submitted proposals | How many organic proposals the job has, broken down into how many the client has opened, shortlisted, and responded to with a message |
| Average bids | Average bid amounts, including the average bid the client responded to with a message and the average from Top Rated freelancers |
| Applicant stats | Average total earnings and jobs of the freelancers who submitted proposals |
| Top skills | The most common profile skills among freelancers who applied |
| Refresh rate | Updates hourly, so it is not live to the minute |
Upwork also lets you edit your bid or your profile directly from the insights section of the proposal page. That matters, because insights are only useful if you can still act on them, and the window to change your terms closes once the client accepts or rejects your proposal.
Who gets proposal insights
Upwork's help center says you get proposal insights when you upgrade to Freelancer Plus, and that they are not included in Agency Plus. If you are on the free Basic plan you will not see the panel at all.
Whether that alone justifies the subscription is a separate decision. My view: insights are a nice extra, not a reason to subscribe on their own. Freelancer Plus is usually a Connects decision first. The break-even math is in [is Upwork Freelancer Plus worth it](/blog/is-upwork-freelancer-plus-worth-it).
Why the numbers never match the job post
This is the question that confuses people most, and Upwork answers it directly. The job post and the insights panel count different things.
Job post count versus proposal insights, per Upwork's help center
| Job post ('Activity on this job') | Proposal insights | |
|---|---|---|
| What it counts | A range of relevant proposals the client is currently considering | Organic proposals submitted by freelancers |
| Client invitations | Includes invitations the freelancer replied to | Excluded, including unanswered and replied invitations |
| Withdrawn, declined, archived | Excluded | Not stated separately |
| Applicant averages | Not shown | Include every freelancer who submitted a proposal, not just the ones the client messaged |
The practical upshot: if the client invited a handful of freelancers and they replied, those people are real competition but they are invisible in your insights. The opened, shortlisted and messaged breakdown only covers organic applicants. Read insights as 'how I compare with the open crowd', not 'everyone the client is talking to'.
How to read each number (the Signal Order)
Inside Upwork Income Club we read the panel in a fixed order we call the Signal Order, because the numbers are not equally useful. This is my judgment on how to weight them, not an Upwork rule.
- Client behavior first: opened, shortlisted, messaged. This tells you whether the client is actually hiring. Many proposals with almost none opened is a client who has not started reviewing, or never will. Some messaged means the job is live and decisions are being made.
- Average bid the client messaged second. This is the closest thing on Upwork to the client's real budget, because it reflects who they chose to talk to rather than what everyone asked for.
- Overall average bid and Top Rated average third. Useful context, but the overall average includes every low bid on the post, so it drags your sense of the market down if you anchor on it.
- Applicant earnings, jobs and top skills last. These tell you who you are up against. If the top skills do not include something the job clearly needs and your profile shows it, that is your angle.
When to change your bid, and when not to
The trap with insights is treating them as a signal to undercut. Seeing that you are above the average bid feels like a reason to drop your rate. Usually it is not.
- You are above the overall average but close to the average the client messaged: leave your bid alone. The client is already talking to people at your level.
- You are well above even the messaged average and the client is actively responding: either strengthen the proposal so the price reads as justified, or decide this client is not your buyer. Cutting your rate to match is the last option, not the first. See [how to negotiate your rate on Upwork when the budget is too low](/blog/how-to-negotiate-your-rate-on-upwork).
- You are below the messaged average: you may be underpricing. That is worth knowing for your next proposals even if you leave this one alone.
- The client has opened little or nothing: do not edit anything. There is no market signal yet, only an inactive client.
If you do change your bid, the mechanics and time limits are in [how to edit or withdraw an Upwork proposal](/blog/how-to-edit-or-withdraw-an-upwork-proposal). If you are already in conversation with the client, tell them about the change rather than letting them discover it.
Pair insights with the 'About the client' section
Insights tell you about the competition. The 'About the client' section on the job post tells you about the buyer, and Upwork documents two of its signals clearly.
- Payment method verified: shown on the first line of 'About the client'. Per Upwork, if a client's billing method is not verified it cannot process payments to you until they verify, and hourly contracts do not get Upwork Hourly Protection in the meantime.
- Hire rate: how often the client has hired a freelancer after posting a job. Upwork's example is that a 50% hire rate means they hired for half of the jobs they posted.
Put the two together before you spend more effort. A job with a verified client, a solid hire rate and messages going out is worth sharpening your proposal for. A job with an unverified client, a low hire rate and nothing opened is a job to stop thinking about. The full pre-bid checklist is in [how to spend Upwork Connects without wasting them](/blog/how-to-spend-upwork-connects-without-wasting-them), and the red flags are in [how to avoid Upwork scams and bad clients](/blog/how-to-avoid-upwork-scams-and-bad-clients).
Use insights across proposals, not just one
Upwork's own suggestion is to use insights to plan future proposals, not only to tweak the current one. I agree, and I think that is where the real value is. A single job's averages are a small sample and can be skewed by a few unusual bids. The pattern across many jobs in your niche is far more reliable.
- Log the average bid the client messaged on every job you apply to in your niche, alongside your own bid and whether you got a reply.
- Note which top skills keep showing up among applicants. Skills everyone lists do not differentiate you. Skills the jobs need and few applicants list do.
- Review the log after a few weeks, not after every proposal. One job's data is noise, a month of it starts to show you where your rate sits.
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Frequently asked questions
What are Upwork proposal insights?
A panel on your submitted proposal's page that compares your proposal with others on the same job. Per Upwork's help center it updates hourly and shows total proposals with how many the client opened, shortlisted or messaged, average bids (including the average bid the client messaged and the Top Rated average), applicants' average earnings and jobs, and their top profile skills.
How do I get proposal insights on Upwork?
Upwork says proposal insights come with the Freelancer Plus plan. They are not included in Agency Plus, and they are not shown on the free Basic plan.
Why does the proposal count in insights differ from the job post?
Upwork says they count different things. The job post's 'Activity on this job' shows a range of relevant proposals the client is considering, including client invitations that were replied to, and excludes withdrawn, declined or archived ones. Proposal insights only count organic proposals submitted by freelancers and do not track invitations.
Do the average applicant stats only include freelancers the client messaged?
No. Upwork's help center states the average applicant stats include all freelancers who submitted a proposal. Bids are separately broken down into the average the client responded to with a message.
Should I lower my bid if I am above the average?
Not automatically. My view is the average bid the client actually messaged matters more than the overall average, which includes every low bid on the post. If you are close to the messaged average, leave your bid alone. If you are far above it, strengthen the proposal or move on before cutting your rate.
Are proposal insights real time?
No. Upwork says insights update hourly, so a recently posted job can look quieter than it really is.
Last reviewed by David Iya on October 4, 2026
