One freelance copywriter has told you they charge per word, and another has told you they have a day rate of £750, so you might be left wondering… what the hell do UK Freelance Copywriters charge, and how does it all work?
Well, before you spiral into a never-ending Google search (once you hit that third page, you know things are getting desperate), let’s take a look at what UK Freelance Copywriters are charging, why they’re charging that way, and how it impacts both the freelancer and the client.
(Deep breath!)
Let’s go…
The TL;DR for what UK freelance copywriters charge
Before you go calling a freelancer a cheeky fucker because you’re accustomed to the crazy notion of pricing per word and assume that they’re trying to make you a Sports Direct sized MUG, it’s worth noting…
There isn’t really a ‘standard price’ or even a solid benchmark because of the amount of factors that go into how freelance copywriters can charge for their services.
You can usually expect a UK Freelance Copywriter to charge by one of three ways:
💸 An hourly or daily rate
💸 On a project basis
💸 Per word (shudders)
Before I go banging my head off a wall like I’m Dobby the house elf, why don’t we get into why the way that UK freelance copywriters charge even matters in the first place.
There’s a lot of ‘how’ before you get to the ‘why’…
I’m not speaking in riddles, I promise.
What I mean by that is that unlike regularly employed people, freelance copywriters have to consider the full scope of work and how they’re providing it to give you a quote.
And that goes far beyond the final deliverable. It includes:
👀 The full scope of work (from research to final draft)
👀 Edits and amends
👀 Admin and comms (including calls)
👀 The time required
👀 Deadlines (e.g., shorter deadlines usually mean additional fees)
And we’ve not even touched upon the other differences that matter… but we’re literally going to right now, so you don’t have to wait in suspense.
What are the other considerations for what UK freelance copywriters charge?
Well, interestingly, quite a few factors come into play, like:
💭 Age: For example, a ProCopywriters 2021 Survey found that the 60+ age group charged the highest average day rates.
💭 Location: London and the South East were found in the same survey to be the top regions in the UK for income, though income is also rising in the Midlands and North England (cost of living has really thrown a giant spanner into the works, hasn’t it?)
💭 Socioeconomic: Yeah, again – cost of living crisis, Brexit, a pandemic… there’s no telling what society or the economy has in store, but you can guarantee that it’ll impact a freelancer’s pricing when they have to adapt to these changes.
So… which way should UK freelance copywriters charge for their work?
I’ll tell you plain and simple – not per word.
Not only has it been shown in surveys like the annual ProCopywriters ones to be the least popular method for pricing, it’s also useless for both parties.
It means you’re treating words like commodities and the writers using this method for pricing may be more prone to writing more to get a better price (though they’ll still be short-changed compared to any other pricing method).
Copywriters aren’t journalists and you can’t expect top tier copy on per-word pricing.
Now, here’s the lowdown on the other options and how they might work – pros and cons included, of course:
Hourly rate
Ad-hoc work or projects that might have an unforeseeable scope are often more suitable for hourly rates, as a project fee is difficult to pin down when the full breadth of work isn’t certain.
However, hourly rates fall victim to pricing based on efficiency, rather than output – if a copywriter chooses to take several days to complete a project rather than several hours, they’re rewarded more for time invested than the output you receive.
Similarly, if a freelance copywriter is particularly efficient and speedy, they’re getting penalised for their efficiency as the less time it takes them to complete the work, the less they’ll be paid.
Hourly rates can vary from £30 all the way up to £100 per hour… so they’re also pretty unpredictable.
Day rate
Day rates are the perfect balance between an hourly rate and project-fee, as clients can provide more specific parameters for work than with hourly rates but there’s flexibility, too.
Rather than a freelance copywriter having to get approval for every single element of the work that needs doing, a day rate can be agreed on and also the number of preferred days (if working with a specific budget) to have greater adaptability.
Plus, a greater variety of work can be performed because of this flexibility!
If a client is seeking out support for a large project, though, such as full website copy, a project-fee may make more sense as it relates to the final output of work and skill required, as opposed to time taken (which can get trickier and pricier when accounting for edits).
Psst – A 2023 survey from ProCopywriters found that the average day rate for freelance copywriters was £433 (moving up to between £500-£800 for senior copywriters).
Project-based fees
This is my preferred way of charging for most work, as it encompasses the whole scope of work, time required, and deliverables in one neat package.
(You can find out more about my reasoning for my pricing on my FAQs page, if you’re interested.)
It’s an upfront way to convey to the client exactly what they’re receiving without the unknown of how long a project will take, as if it was hourly or day rate pricing, there may still be some uncertainty about the final cost.
The client knows what they’re paying, how they’re paying it, and exactly what is being delivered to them. The freelancer can also split this fee into a deposit before starting the project and the remainder on completion!
Well… there you have it!
Freelance copywriters have a variety of pricing methods at their disposal, but it’s important to always retain some flexibility.
After all, some projects are better suited to a day rate and others more suited to a project fee – it’s about adapting to the scope of work and the requirements of the client in a way that matches your method of working, too.
And remember… per word pricing is the work of the devil.
