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The 2024

Freelancer Rates Report

Insights into day rates and project lengths amongst the largest elite freelance community from the most-trusted global contractor sourcing and management platform.

Overview

2023 marked an average year-on-year increase of approximately +0.1% in day rates for freelancers, reaching an average of £379 per day. Across all disciplines, the average project length stood at 24 working days, translating to just under 5 weeks. This was a -0.8% year-on-year decrease

Notably, significant variations exist among disciplines, with the top-earning fields being Strategy (£497 average per day), Market Research (£488) and Data (£473). In terms of project lengths, Client Services boasted the longest average, with freelancers being booked for just over 9 weeks (46 working days).

This report delves into the day rates across 15 disciplines on the YunoJuno platform, highlighting common day rate ranges, overall averages, and a breakdown by experience. Each category is accompanied by data on project lengths, exploring the most prevalent roles within those disciplines, their average rates, and contract lengths.

Bar chart showing average day rate and contract length for freelancers in different industries. Strategy shows the highest day rate at £497 per day and Studio the lowest at £314 per day. Client Services shows the highest contract length at 46 days and Photography the lowest at 9 days.

Insights by discipline

Click on the icons to the right to explore day rates insights by discipline

Average day rate

From a comprehensive dataset encompassing 98,000+ bookings, applications and approvals, spanning across various disciplines, experience levels and contract lengths, the 2023 average day rate stood at £379, reflecting a +0.1% year-on-year increase

Ranking within the top 10% across industries exhibits some variability, but, on average, contracts earned approximately £647 per day, marking a +0.5% year-on-year increase

Graphic showing the trend in average freelance day rate in the UK year-on-year. Average day rate is up 0.1% year on year to £379 per day.

Average contract length

The average project length decreased slightly by -0.8% to 24 working days. This expanded dataset provides enhanced depth and insight into our freelancers’ engagement. In 11 out of the 15 disciplines, there was a decrease in average contract length.

Contracts within the top 10% not only experienced a notable increase compared to the average, but also secured engagements that were 250% longer than the norm. However, there was a decline of -2.5% year-on-year.

Graphic showing the trend in average freelance contract length in the UK year-on-year. Average contract length down 0.8% year on year to 24 days.

Working with freelance professionals brings us invaluable benefits. The flexibility in contract duration allows us to bring in contractors precisely for project needs, ensuring the right expertise at the right time. Their fresh perspectives and new ideas inject vitality into our projects. Importantly, the freelance model helps us maintain our current teams size, making it a more agile and appealing solution in today’s dynamic business climate.

Amy Alford
Senior Creative Operations Manager

Methodology

Data

The data from this report is drawn from approximately 287,000+ freelance records on the YunoJuno platform from the full calendar years from 2021 – 2023. This year we have included data for bookings, applications and approvals in order to give the report additional depth and insight into all of our freelancers.

Note: All charts contain all the records, apart from booking related charts that only contain booking data.

All client and freelancer comments and quotes are from active participants within the YunoJuno network.

Operating as a global company, our clients collaborate with contractors from over 150 countries. While our expansive reach spans the globe, for simplicity, we'll reference currency in £, reflecting our roots in London.

Glossary

Year-on-year growth: Calculated the yearly growth from 2021 -2023.

Average day rates: Calculated by compounding roles relevant to each industry and calculating the average rate charged.

Average contract booking length: Calculated by compounding roles relevant to each industry and measuring the average length of each successful booking.

Contributors

Report team

Report Design
Jackie Bain
Graphic Designer
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Data Analysis
Michael Cooper
Analytics Consultant
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Report Creation
a man with a beard
Koysor Abdul
Designer and Webflow Developer
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Editorial
Kat Shepherd
Senior Marketing Manager, YunoJuno
Editorial
Katey Gregory
Content Marketing Lead, YunoJuno

Client contributions

Amy Alford
Senior Creative Operations Manager
Jennifer O’Dowling
Project Manager Executive

Freelancer contributions

Annabelle Margolis
Freelance Senior Copywriter
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Sean Burton
Geospatial Data Analytics Consultant
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Martin Hon
Creative Designer
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Jase Warner
Creative Web Developer
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Francesca de Bassa
Art & Film Director
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Gurpinder Sidhu
Freelance Qualitative Research Director
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Trevor Price
Freelance Photographer, Videographer & Video Editor
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Zara Janjua
Broadcast Journalist
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Sophie Parker
Brand Communications & PR Strategist
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Simon Caine
Senior Social Media Community Manager & Content Creator
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Holly Steer
Marketing & Brand Strategist
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