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what it is
Upwork runs an online marketplace where businesses hire freelancers for work like coding, design, marketing, and customer support.
how it gets paid
Last year Upwork made $788M in revenue. Upwork Basic was the main engine at $355M, or 45% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 2% in FY 2025; adjusted EBITDA was $225.6M (29% margin), up 35% vs. FY 2024. GAAP EPS fell vs. 2024 largely because 2024 net income included a ~$140M deferred-tax valuation allowance release.
what just happened
Q4 2025: revenue $198.4M (+4% vs. Q4 2024); GAAP diluted EPS $0.12 (vs. $1.03 in Q4 2024, which included the same tax benefit noise).
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
30/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
~23.7x trailing P/E on FY2025 GAAP EPS $0.84 (price moves daily)
23.1% return on capital — every dollar works hard here
FY2026 guide: revenue $835M–$850M · non-GAAP EPS $1.43–$1.48
xvary composite: 47/100 — below average
What they do
Upwork runs an online marketplace where businesses hire freelancers for work like coding, design, marketing, and customer support.
Upwork wins because it puts buyers and sellers in one place, then handles messaging, contracts, time tracking, invoicing, and payment. That bundle matters—you run the job there, not just the lead. Scale shows up in metrics like active clients and GSV per client in each earnings release.
How they make money
$787.8M
FY 2025 revenue · +2% vs. FY 2024 (Nasdaq/GlobeNewswire, Feb 9, 2026)
Total company revenue
$787.8M
+2%
The products that matter
freelancer-client matching
Core Marketplace
785K active clients (Dec 31, 2025)
Client count and GSV per client are the demand levers management cites each quarter—track them vs. prior periods in the official tables.
core revenue engine
higher-touch project support
Managed Services & Other
AI-related GSV > $300M annualized (Q4)
The Feb 9, 2026 release highlights AI-related gross services volume surpassing $300M annualized in Q4—verify definitions in the earnings materials, not third-party scrapes.
growth support
unit economics
Gross Margin
77.8%
Gross margin: what is left after direct costs. In plain English, Upwork keeps about $0.78 of each $1 before operating expenses. That gives you room for profit. It does not give you automatic demand.
high-margin model
Key numbers
~23.7x
trailing P/E
Using FY2025 GAAP EPS $0.84 and the hero price as a snapshot—recalculate when the quote or the next annual EPS print changes.
$0.84
FY2025 GAAP EPS
Down vs. $1.52 in 2024 because 2024 included a large non-cash tax benefit—read the footnote in the Feb 9, 2026 release.
23.1%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money invested in the business → so what. Upwork generates 23.1 cents for every dollar tied up in operations.
77.8%
gross margin
Gross margin → money left after direct costs → so what. A 77.8% margin says software economics are doing the heavy lifting.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 10 / 100
- long-term debt $10M (1% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for UPWK right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
FY + Q4 2025 · Feb 9, 2026
Q4 revenue $198.4M · GAAP EPS $0.12 · FY revenue $787.8M
Source: Upwork Q4/FY 2025 release (GlobeNewswire/Nasdaq, Feb 9, 2026). FY GAAP net income $115.4M; free cash flow $223.1M. Compare non-GAAP EPS to the guidance tables if you track consensus.
$198.4M
Q4 revenue
$0.12
Q4 GAAP EPS
29%
FY Adj. EBITDA margin
the number that mattered
Record FY revenue with 29% adjusted EBITDA margin shows operating leverage even when GAAP EPS looks “down” vs. the tax-distorted 2024 print.
source: Upwork Inc. Q4/FY 2025 results (Feb 9, 2026) · investors.upwork.com
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What could go wrong
Upwork sells the idea of a two-sided network. Right now, the hard part is that one side just got smaller.
med
active-client decline keeps compounding
Active clients fell 6% vs. prior year in Q4 2025. For a marketplace, fewer clients is not background noise. It is the cleanest signal that demand is not broadening.
This runs straight through the roughly $690M Marketplace Services line shown on this page. If the core audience keeps thinning, the stock stays cheap for a reason.
med
AI changes what freelance work is worth
Management talks about a $1.3T addressable market. The catch is that AI does not only create new projects. If lower-end tasks get automated faster than new work appears, volume pressure shows up first in a marketplace like this.
That would make the 6–8% growth target harder to hit even with a 77.8% gross margin and a profitable model.
med
the buyback flatters EPS while the network stays weak
A $300M repurchase matters at a roughly $2B market cap. It can improve per-share results. But buybacks do not recruit clients, win projects, or deepen marketplace liquidity.
If operating momentum stays soft, investors will treat the repurchase as support for EPS, not proof of a stronger business.
The risk picture is not complicated. Upwork already proved it can make money. It still has to prove the network can grow again.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
Q1 2026 earnings window
Expected May 4–6, 2026. The number that matters is not just EPS. It is whether active clients stop sliding.
metric
active-client trend after the 6% drop
Here is the thing: marketplaces survive messy quarters. They do not survive a shrinking network forever.
trend
the 6–8% growth target
If revenue lands inside guidance while clients are still down, monetization is carrying the story. If guidance slips too, the thesis gets thinner fast.
capital return
$300M buyback execution
Meaningful repurchases help if operations stabilize. If the network keeps weakening, buybacks become a cushion, not a catalyst.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
30 / 100
This business can still surprise you. in human-speak, analysts do not see the next few quarters as easy to model because client trends and monetization are pulling in different directions.
risk rank
3
Safer than 50% of stocks on this scale. Translation: the balance sheet is fine. The stock path is the part that gets messy.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for UPWK is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$20
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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