Pricing
Published rates. Paid trial. No lock-in.
$12–25 per hour depending on scope and technical depth. No setup fee, no minimum term, weekly billing. Here's what sits in each tier and what the trial actually covers.
No setup fee
No minimum contract
Weekly billing
Cancel any time
Trial
Prove it works before you commit anything.
$14/hr
7–14 days · 15–20 hrs/week
- KPIs agreed in writing before the first dial
- List built and verified (up to 500 records)
- CRM pipeline configured
- Opener tested across 300+ live dials
- Daily disposition log
- End-of-trial report with full data
- You keep everything, whatever we decide
Most clients
Full-stack SDR
The complete outbound pipeline, run week after week.
$18/hr
Ongoing · 20–40 hrs/week
- Everything in Trial, continuing
- 120–180 dials per working day
- Ongoing list building and verification
- Full CRM management and hygiene
- 10–14 day multi-touch follow-up sequences
- Appointment confirmation and no-show recovery
- Friday report: dials, connects, conversations, appointments, shows, closes
- Direct WhatsApp access during working hours
Specialist
MCA deal work or FMCSA/DOT compliance support.
$22–25/hr
Ongoing · niche-specific scope
- Everything in Full-stack SDR
- MCA: underwriter-style qualification, statement collection, deal packaging, funder coordination
- DOT: audit-prep gap review, DQ file assembly, Clearinghouse query tracking, MCS-150 scheduling
- Compliance-literate outreach scripts
- Document chase and carrier follow-up
- Segmented FMCSA census list building
What these rates don't include
Third-party costs are yours and I don't mark them up: dialer or VOIP subscription (roughly $25–100/month), CRM seat if you're on a paid tier, data enrichment credits if we need them, and any list purchases. On most campaigns that's under $150/month total, and often less because HubSpot's free tier plus one VOIP line covers it.
Comparison
Freelance SDR vs agency vs in-house hire
Three ways to solve the same problem. I'm the middle column, so weigh it accordingly — there are real reasons to pick the other two.
| Freelance SDR (me) | Outbound agency | In-house SDR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $12–25/hr — roughly $1,500–3,000/mo at 30 hrs | $3,000–6,000/mo retainer | $45–60K salary + overhead (~$70K loaded) |
| Time to start | Days | 2–4 weeks onboarding | 4–10 weeks to hire and ramp |
| Who actually calls | The person you hired, every time | Rotating junior staff, often shared across clients | Your employee |
| Commitment | Weekly, cancel any time | Usually 3–6 month minimum | Employment contract |
| Scales to a team | No — one person | Yes | Yes, with more hiring |
| Sits in your office culture | No | No | Yes |
| Best when | You need proof of concept, a niche specialist, or one reliable seat | You need 5,000 dials a week yesterday | Outbound is core and permanent to your business |
Pricing FAQ
Straight answers about money
Short answers first. Tap any question to expand.
Why publish rates at all?
Because hiding pricing wastes both our time. If $12–25/hr is outside your budget you should know that in ten seconds, not after a discovery call. Every agency that makes you book a call to hear a number is doing it to anchor you higher.
What exactly does the paid trial cover?
7–14 days at the agreed hourly rate, with KPIs written down before the first dial. A typical trial: list built and verified, CRM configured, opener tested across 300+ dials, and a report at the end with dials, connects, conversations and appointments. You keep everything — the list, the CRM setup, the recordings, the data.
Do you charge per appointment or per hour?
Hourly. Pay-per-appointment sounds safer but it corrupts the incentive: a caller paid per booking books unqualified meetings, and your show rate collapses. Hourly with transparent tracking through Upwork keeps my incentive aligned with yours, which is qualified conversations, not volume.
Is there a setup fee or minimum contract?
No to both. No onboarding fee, no minimum term, no notice period. Bill weekly, stop whenever. If the campaign isn't working, a contract shouldn't be the reason I'm still there.
What sits at the top versus the bottom of the $12–25 range?
Bottom: straightforward B2B or B2C calling into a list you provide, in a market with no technical learning curve. Top: MCA deal packaging or FMCSA compliance work, where the ramp is longer, the qualification is technical, and mistakes are expensive. Most general SDR engagements land in the middle.
How many hours a week should I book?
Under 15 hours a week, outbound rarely builds momentum — you get conversations but never enough follow-up density to compound. 20–30 hours is where most campaigns start producing predictably. 40 hours is a dedicated full-time SDR seat.
How does payment work?
Upwork hourly contracts for most clients: escrow, tracked time with screenshots, work diary, and dispute protection. For clients who prefer to work off-platform after an established relationship, direct invoicing weekly. New clients: I'd genuinely rather you use Upwork, because it protects you more than it protects me.
What's the real cost comparison to a US SDR?
A US-based SDR runs roughly $45,000–$60,000 in base salary before commission, benefits, payroll tax, tooling and management overhead — call it $70,000+ fully loaded. 30 hours a week at $18/hr is around $28,000 a year with no overhead and no notice period. That's the honest arithmetic; the trade-off is you're getting one person, not a team, and I'm not in your office.