--- title: Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its... description: Upwork's stock fell sharply after the company cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations, with CEO Hayden Brown citing... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its marketplace | daily.dev og:description: Upwork's stock fell sharply after the company cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations, with CEO Hayden Brown citing... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mZNq3iK5O.png og:image:alt: Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its marketplace og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its marketplace **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary Upwork's stock fell sharply after the company cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations, with CEO Hayden Brown citing accelerating AI-driven automation, labor market weakness, and declining Google SEO traffic. Active clients dropped 4% to 763,000 and gross services volume fell around 4%, even as AI-related work grew 22% to a $330m annualized run rate. Analysts including Needham, Goldman Sachs, RBC, and Scotiabank cut price targets, and rival Fiverr reported similar declines two weeks earlier. A study on Upwork's own data found writing and image freelancers lost jobs and earnings after ChatGPT's release, and Upwork cut a quarter of its workforce in May. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Upwork cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations? Upwork lowered its full-year revenue forecast from $760m-$790m to $730m-$750m even after reporting Q2 revenue of $191.7m ahead of expectations. CEO Hayden Brown cited a faster pace of AI-related automation, continued labor market weakness, and further deterioration in Google SEO traffic as the causes behind falling active clients and gross services volume. _Follow how AI reshapes freelance and knowledge work through daily.dev's coverage of the broader AI disruption story._ ### How is AI affecting demand for freelance writing and coding work on platforms like Upwork? A study using Upwork's own data found that writing-related freelancers saw monthly jobs fall 2% and earnings fall 5.2% after ChatGPT's release, with image-related freelancers losing even more work. Upwork management also disclosed that roughly 10% of its gross services volume faces adverse exposure to AI-driven automation, concentrated in routine tasks like basic writing, translation, and simple coding. _Developers weighing AI's effect on freelance coding demand can track this trend alongside daily.dev's AI tooling coverage._ ### Can AI agents like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor hire freelancers directly on Upwork? Yes, Upwork has launched an integration that allows AI agents operating within Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor to hire human freelancers directly through its platform. The company frames this as evidence that AI is splitting the freelance market rather than eliminating it, with clients using freelancers to finish or fix work an AI tool started. _Developers integrating AI agents into real workflows can keep pace with tooling shifts like this via daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@shahbaz7** · 1 upvotes > Upwork has become very greedy. > > The connects required for applying to a job have skyrocketed from 2-4 to 20-30. > > The service fee for bigger clients jumped back to 10% from 5%. > > The job invites have become negligible because you need to spend connects to turn on the availability button and spend connects to boost proposals. > > It's become a pay-to-win game. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [What ClickUp’s mass layoff tells us about the future of work](https://daily.dev/posts/what-clickup-s-mass-layoff-tells-us-about-the-future-of-work-nfno6tyoi) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Kenya bet its graduates on gig work in 2022. ChatGPT launched that year](https://daily.dev/posts/kenya-bet-its-graduates-on-gig-work-in-2022-chatgpt-launched-that-year-qgzdj4wua) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [\#230 – Adrian Sticea on Navigating the Decline of WordPress Work on Upwork and the Rise of New Opportunities](https://daily.dev/posts/230-adrian-sticea-on-navigating-the-decline-of-wordpress-work-on-upwork-and-the-rise-of-new-oppor-ilbkx4ohv) · WP Tavern · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#future-of-work](https://daily.dev/tags/future-of-work) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its marketplace","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o"},"datePublished":"2026-08-12T12:50:51.489Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:07:11.636Z","description":"Upwork's stock fell sharply after the company cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations, with CEO Hayden Brown citing...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b5139c2e6ca0782d36fd70f83b7be163?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b5139c2e6ca0782d36fd70f83b7be163?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":2,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}],"keywords":"future-of-work","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Upwork cuts full-year forecast as AI pressures its marketplace"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Upwork has become very greedy.\nThe connects required for applying to a job have skyrocketed from 2-4 to 20-30.\nThe service fee for bigger clients jumped back to 10% from 5%.\nThe job invites have become negligible because you need to spend connects to turn on the availability button and spend connects to boost proposals.\nIt’s become a pay-to-win game.","datePublished":"2026-08-12T18:38:51.614Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mZNq3iK5O#c-dT3nE5LcA","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Shahbaz Ahmad Siddiqui","url":"https://daily.dev/shahbaz7","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0wN8WvVK--/f_auto/v1722097587/avatars/avatar_g2gB9vXOh9MXsB10ydU35"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/upwork-cuts-full-year-forecast-as-ai-pressures-its-marketplace-mznq3ik5o#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Upwork cut its full-year revenue guidance despite beating second-quarter expectations?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Upwork lowered its full-year revenue forecast from $760m-$790m to $730m-$750m even after reporting Q2 revenue of $191.7m ahead of expectations. 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Developers weighing AI's effect on freelance coding demand can track this trend alongside daily.dev's AI tooling coverage."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Can AI agents like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor hire freelancers directly on Upwork?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, Upwork has launched an integration that allows AI agents operating within Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor to hire human freelancers directly through its platform. The company frames this as evidence that AI is splitting the freelance market rather than eliminating it, with clients using freelancers to finish or fix work an AI tool started. Developers integrating AI agents into real workflows can keep pace with tooling shifts like this via daily.dev."}}]} ```