How to hire a freelance copywriter: rates, tests, red flags

A freelance copywriter is a writer you hire on contract to write words that get a reader to act: book, call, buy or sign up. You'll hire a freelance copywriter for a homepage, a sales email or an ad. That's a different job from a 2,000-word blog post.

This page used to face the other way.

Back in 2020 it coached new writers and told them to buy Microsoft Word. We've turned it around for the owner who's doing the hiring. You'll get real rates, a worked budget, a paid test brief you can copy, and the contract lines that matter.

Business copy runs about 32 to 88 cents a word

Freelance copywriter rates for business and marketing work run 32.0 to 87.5 cents a word, according to the Editorial Freelancers Association 2026 Rate Chart. That's the median range for the Business/marketing row in its Work-for-Hire section. Hourly, it's $65 to $75.

Those numbers come from a survey, not a sales page.

The EFA asked members what they'd charged during 2025, and over 1,100 answered between November 2025 and mid-January 2026. It's careful to say it "neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use." That's fair. A range from one association won't tell you what a writer in your town will quote, and it doesn't split rookies from veterans. It does tell you where the middle sits, which is what you need before the first call.

For a floor check, look at payroll writers. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data puts the May 2025 median for writers and authors at $36.98 an hour.

The top tenth earned $67.25 an hour or more that year.

A freelancer's rate has to cover what an employer would pay on top of a wage, like software, slow weeks and their own retirement, so it'll sit higher.

What does a freelance copywriter do for your business?

That rate buys the short, high-stakes words on your site and in your marketing: homepage headlines, service pages, welcome emails, ad text and product descriptions. Every line has one job, which is moving the reader to the next step.

A content writer is a different hire. Content writers produce longer articles that teach and rank, the kind our SEO content writing tips walk through. Plenty of writers do both, but most are better at one.

Ask which one they'd pick if they could only do one for the next year, and then look at samples of that kind, not whatever's newest in their portfolio.

Ads are their own skill again. Search ads give you a few short lines to win a click, so ask for paid search samples if that's the job. Our guide to search engine marketing shows what those ads look like.

Here's a detail that'll matter later. The EFA files this work under "work-for-hire" writing, which its definitions page says covers "web content, advertising copy, newsletters" and more, with the client keeping "all rights to the material".

US law wants one more step. We'll get to it.

Per word, per hour or per project

So how will a writer actually bill you? Most quote per project, even if they think in words or hours.

A per-word rate is easy to compare. A project fee is easier to budget, because research and calls are baked in.

What moves the price? The EFA's rates page lists "type of work, turnaround time, degree of expertise, local cost of living, training, and years of experience". In copy, two more things count: how much research the writer does, and how many rounds of changes you get.

Per-page pricing exists too. On the EFA chart a page is 250 words, and business copy runs $80 to $218.75 a page as of October 2026.

Book work is priced differently, so see our book editing cost guide if that's your project.

Example: Bayfront Window Washing prices its copy

Example: Bayfront Window Washing is a made-up company in Erie, Pennsylvania. Its owner wants a new homepage, three service pages and a three-email welcome series. We priced it with the EFA business row.

First comes a paid test, a 300-word homepage hero and intro. At 32 to 87.5 cents a word on the 2026 chart, that's $96.00 to $262.50 as of October 2026.

Then the full job: 600 words for the homepage, 400 for each service page and 250 for each email. That's 2,550 words, or $816.00 to $2,231.25. With the test, the owner budgets $912.00 to $2,493.75.

Now suppose a second writer quotes hourly and estimates 12 hours. At the EFA's $65 to $75, that's $780 to $900 as of October 2026, which looks cheaper. It isn't, necessarily. Hours can run over, while a project fee usually can't change without a conversation and a new number that both of you agree to in writing. Ask each writer what's included, how many rounds of changes you get, and what happens if the job grows.

Neither quote is wrong.

Start with work you've already seen

Once you've got a budget, look for the writer behind copy you already like. If a local firm's site or emails make you want to buy, ask who wrote them. Most owners will tell you.

Referrals come next.

Ask your web designer, your accountant or another owner in your trade, since people who see your marketing often know a writer who's done good work for someone like you.

Then there are the marketplaces. Fees, vetting and payment protection differ a lot between them, so we compared them in where to hire freelancers. We won't repeat that here.

Wherever you look, ask for 3 samples close to your job, each with a line on the goal and the result. Our SEO freelancer hiring guide makes the same point: proof beats promises.

Pay for a test brief before the real job

Those samples get you a shortlist. A paid test brief picks the winner: a small, real piece of your job that 2 or 3 writers each write for a fee.

It shows how they think, what they ask and whether they hit a deadline.

Don't ask for free spec work. Good writers say no to it, and you'd mostly hear back from the ones with plenty of empty time on their calendar, which tells you something too.

Keep the test to about 300 words. Here's the brief we'd send:

1. Goal: what the reader should do next (call, book, buy).
2. Reader: who they are and what worries them.
3. Offer: one service, its price range and its proof (reviews, years, guarantees you really give).
4. Tone: 2 lines of copy you like and 1 you don't.
5. Deliverable: 2 headline options and an intro, about 300 words in all.
6. Deadline, fee and one round of changes.
7. Ownership: the test is yours once paid, in writing.
8. AI: say whether AI tools may be used, and how.

When the drafts land, read them out loud. Then paste each into our readability checker to compare sentence length and grade level side by side.

Clear beats clever on a homepage.

Who owns the copy, and can it be AI-written?

You own freelance copy only once the writer signs it over in writing. Under 17 U.S.C. 101, commissioned work counts as "work made for hire" only in nine listed categories, such as a translation. The parties also have to "expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them".

Website and email copy from an outside writer usually doesn't fit those nine. So the safe route is a transfer, and Section 204(a) says a transfer "is not valid unless" it's "in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed".

That's the trap in the word "work-for-hire" on a rate card. It describes a deal; it doesn't move the copyright.

AI adds a second question.

In its January 2025 report on AI and copyright, the U.S. Copyright Office said AI output is protected "only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements". It added: "but not the mere provision of prompts." The Office's AI page lists that report as Part 2. So copy a writer only prompted may not be protectable by anyone, you included.

Google doesn't ban AI copy. Its generative AI guidance says "It is critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content" before publishing. Pages made in bulk "without adding value" can fall under its scaled content abuse policy. Our guide to generative engine optimization covers how AI search reads your pages.

Put these lines in the contract:

• Copyright in all delivered copy is assigned to your business on full payment.
• The writer discloses which parts, if any, were drafted with AI tools.
• The writer confirms the copy is original and not copied from other sources.
• Scope, word counts, rounds of changes and a kill fee if you cancel.

This is our reading of the statute and the Office's report, not legal advice. Have a business attorney in your state check the contract before you sign.

Would you rather hand the whole job to a team? We write website and email copy for owners across the US; here's what our content team does. It's our own service, so weigh it as you'd weigh any pitch.

W-9 first, 1099 at $2,000

Before the first payment, ask a US freelancer for a Form W-9. The IRS says the W-9 gives you their "correct Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)" for an information return.

That return is usually a 1099-NEC. The IRS 1099 instructions raised the reporting line to $2,000 for tax years beginning after 2025, and it's due by January 31. Card and payment-platform payments go on a 1099-K from the processor instead.

One more check.

A freelancer stays a contractor when you control the result, not how they work. The IRS contractor or employee page weighs behavioral, financial and relationship facts, and says there's no "magic" number of factors. If your writer starts to look like staff, ask a tax professional.

Red flags that should end the talk

Paperwork won't save a bad hire, though, and most bad hires show their hand before the contract. Watch for these:

• No samples close to your job, or samples with no context.
• Text you can find word for word on another site.
• "It depends" with no number after two questions.
• Refusing a paid test or a written contract.
• A vague answer about AI tools.
• Promises of page-one rankings or a set number of sales.

Copied text is the easiest to catch.

Paste a few odd sentences into a search engine inside quotes. If they turn up elsewhere, our post on stopping content theft shows what to do next.

Ranking promises are a red flag for writers too. Google's own page on hiring for SEO says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."

Our take: pay for the test, and read the contract more carefully than the samples. A writer who's glad to sign over copyright and explain their AI use is usually the one worth hiring. If you'd like us to price your copy job, get a quote from DigitalTreed.

How we made this guide: Our team read both copyright sections, the Copyright Office's AI report and three IRS pages on October 27, 2026, and quoted each one word for word. We read the EFA 2026 Rate Chart and pulled the May 2025 BLS wages through the official data API ourselves. Then we priced the made-up Bayfront job from those numbers. You'll find each source linked right beside its fact.

First published July 2020. Rewritten October 27, 2026: the post now speaks to the business doing the hiring. It adds dated rates, a worked budget, a paid test brief, copyright and AI clauses, 1099 steps and red flags.

Sources

• Editorial Freelancers Association: 2026 Rate Chart
• Editorial Freelancers Association: Editorial services definitions
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, May 2025, writers and authors (27-3043)
• 17 U.S.C. 101, definitions (work made for hire), Cornell LII
• 17 U.S.C. 204, execution of transfers of copyright ownership, Cornell LII
• U.S. Copyright Office: Part 2 of the AI report released (January 29, 2025)
• U.S. Copyright Office: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
• Google Search Central: Google Search's guidance on using generative AI content
• Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
• Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?
• IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (12/2026)
• IRS: About Form W-9
• IRS: Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?