How to bid on Freelancer: a practical guide
Updated 23 October 2026
To bid on Freelancer, open a project that fits your skills, set a price inside the client's budget and a realistic deadline, then send a short proposal written for that client. Bid early, skip scams and crowded listings, and spend your limited bids where you can win.
How bidding on Freelancer works
Clients post a project with a description and a budget. Freelancers send a bid: a price, a delivery time and a short proposal. The client reads the bids, messages the people they like and awards the project.
Every bid uses one of your limited bids. Freelancer gives each membership a bid allowance that refills over time: Plus has 100 bids a month and refills about one every 7.3 hours; Premier refills about one every 30 minutes. Run out, and you can't bid until bids refill, so where you spend them matters.
How to bid on a Freelancer project, step by step
- Read the whole brief. Note the deliverable, deadline, budget and anything the client asks you to include.
- Check it fits. Is it in your skills, is the budget realistic, and are there already dozens of bids?
- Set your price inside the client's range, matched to the scope.
- Choose a delivery time you can actually hit.
- Write a proposal for this client (see the structure below), then submit.
- Follow up quickly when the client replies; the conversation is where projects are won.
How to write a proposal clients reply to
Short and specific beats long and generic. A structure that works:
- Their problem first. One or two lines showing you read the brief.
- Your approach. How you'd do it, in plain steps.
- One piece of proof. A relevant example, result or review, nothing invented.
- A question. Something real about the project; it invites a reply.
- Price and timeline. Confirm them and say what's included.
Want a ready-made structure? Use our Freelancer proposal template, with examples.
Which projects to skip
- Likely scams: requests to move to WhatsApp or Telegram, pay a fee upfront, or do "test tasks" for free.
- Tiny budgets that don't match the work.
- Crowded listings that already have 50 or more bids.
- Stale posts more than a few days old.
- Work outside your skills. It hurts your profile and wastes a bid.
How to price your bid
Stay inside the client's budget. Going far below it signals inexperience; going above it usually gets skipped. For fixed-price projects, aim for the part of the range that matches the scope; for hourly projects, bid your real rate and explain what the client gets for it.
Round numbers read as confident. Avoid odd figures that look like you're undercutting by a cent.
Make your profile do some of the work
- A clear headline and summary in the work you bid on.
- Portfolio items that match your target projects.
- The Verified badge: in our experience verified profiles get noticeably more client messages, and some high-budget projects require it.
- Skills that match the projects you want, so the right ones show up for you.
Let MoreGigs handle the bidding
MoreGigs does all of this for you around the clock: it skips poor fits, writes a tailored proposal from your real profile for every good match, prices it inside the client's budget and paces bids to your plan. Read how Freelancer auto bidding works, or check your profile for free.
Frequently asked questions
- How many bids do I get on Freelancer?
- It depends on your membership. Each plan has a bid allowance that refills over time: Plus gives 100 bids a month, about one new bid every 7.3 hours, and Premier refills about one bid every 30 minutes. Free accounts get far fewer.
- Do Freelancer bids refill?
- Yes. Bids come back gradually up to your plan's limit rather than all at once, so spreading your bids out keeps some available for good projects.
- How do I get more bids on Freelancer?
- Upgrade your Freelancer membership for a larger allowance and faster refills. Being selective also helps: every bid you don't waste on a poor fit is one you keep.
- What should I write in a Freelancer proposal?
- Open with the client's problem in your own words, say how you'd tackle it, show one relevant example, ask a short question and confirm price and timeline. Keep it specific and short.
- How fast should I bid on a new Freelancer project?
- As soon as you can do it well. Clients often read proposals as they arrive, so an early, relevant bid has a better chance of being read than a late one.
- Why am I not getting replies on Freelancer?
- The usual reasons are generic proposals, bidding on crowded or poorly matched projects, prices far outside the budget and a thin profile. Fix the proposal and be pickier about where you bid.
- Does the Verified badge help on Freelancer?
- In our experience, verified profiles get noticeably more client messages, and some high-budget projects only accept bids from verified freelancers.
MoreGigs is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Freelancer.com. You're responsible for how you use your Freelancer account and for following Freelancer's own terms.