The short answer
There are three ways platforms make money off your work: a commission on each sale, a fee per lead whether or not it converts, and subscriptions for placement or tools. Which hurts least depends on your volume and close rate — high earners feel commissions most, low closers feel lead fees most.
The one model that costs you nothing per sale is commission-free. It’s rarer, and the commission-free options tend to be newer with smaller buyer bases — a real trade-off, not a free lunch.
The real differences
| Model | How it charges | Feels worst when | Examples (verify current terms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission | % of each completed sale | Your volume is high | Fiverr ~20%, Upwork ~10% as of mid-2026 |
| Pay-per-lead | Flat fee per lead, converted or not | Your close rate is low | Thumbtack as of mid-2026 |
| Task cut | % of each booked task | Every job, always | Gig/task platforms |
| Commission-free | Nothing per sale | Fewer buyers today | Mindhyv |
Where each model wins
Commission platforms win on liquidity — Fiverr and Upwork have large, active buyer pools right now, and a percentage of steady work can beat a zero fee with no clients. If they bring you volume, the cut buys reach.
Lead and subscription platforms win for local, quote-based services where reaching ready buyers is the bottleneck — provided you convert leads well enough that the per-lead cost pencils out.
Commission-free wins on math per dollar earned. Keeping 100% of a $2,000 project instead of $1,600 or $1,800 compounds fast across a year — the catch is that a newer marketplace like Mindhyv is still building the buyer base the incumbents already have.
What it means for your take-home
Don’t compare the headline percentages — compare your annual take-home under each. A 20% commission on $40,000 of work is $8,000 a year. Put your real numbers into the commission savings calculator to see it in dollars.
For the head-to-heads, see Mindhyv vs Fiverr and Mindhyv vs Upwork, and read commission-free explained for how Mindhyv sustains itself without a cut.