The Upwork Top Rated and Top Rated Plus Guide

Upwork rewards its most consistent freelancers with badges: Top Rated and, at a higher tier, Top Rated Plus. These are not decorations. They tell clients that Upwork itself has vouched for your track record, which shortens the trust gap and helps you win work. Understanding what they require and what they unlock helps you set realistic goals as you grow.

A Top Rated badge tells a client you have a proven history of satisfied clients and steady, reliable work. Top Rated Plus goes further, generally recognizing freelancers who deliver on larger, more substantial contracts. To a client scanning a list of proposals, either badge is a shortcut - it says this person has already been filtered by the platform and found dependable.

Upwork sets the exact criteria and adjusts them over time, so always confirm the current requirements in your account. In broad terms, Top Rated status depends on maintaining a strong Job Success Score, keeping your profile complete and active, earning steadily over a rolling period, and keeping your account in good standing. Top Rated Plus layers on higher earnings thresholds tied to larger contracts.

• A consistently strong Job Success Score over time
• Steady earnings across a rolling recent period
• A complete, up-to-date profile and active account
• An account in good standing with no serious violations

Beyond the trust signal, the badges come with practical perks that shift over time but generally include better visibility, priority in support, and features that help you stand out. The biggest benefit, though, is conversion: clients are simply more comfortable hiring a badged freelancer, so your proposals land better and you can often command higher rates for the same work.

The path is the same as building a solid reputation generally: close contracts cleanly, keep clients satisfied, avoid disputes and dead open jobs, and stay active. Because the requirements use rolling windows, a badge can be lost if your metrics slip, so it is something you maintain rather than win once. Consistency, not a single big push, is what keeps it.

Do not obsess over the badge before you have the fundamentals. It is a byproduct of doing good work reliably for long enough. Focus on your Job Success Score and steady earnings, and the badge tends to follow. Once you have it, treat it as a reason to keep your standards high, not a finish line.