A freelance copywriter costs $65 to $125 an hour, or 32 cents to $1.00 a word for business and marketing copy, in 2026, according to the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) rate chart built from a survey of more than 1,100 working writers. Blog posts run cheaper, at 25 to 45 cents a word. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median writer salary at $76,910, so a part-time freelancer usually beats a full-time hire until you need steady weekly output.
If you are comparing a quote from Upwork, Fiverr or a referral against that range, the sections below show what each kind of copy costs, when ChatGPT or Claude plus an editor is enough, and when paying the top of the range is the cheaper choice.
The honest summary: most small businesses overpay for blog volume and underpay for the five pages that actually sell. Spend on the pages where one extra conversion pays for the writer.
Want to know whether your site copy is even being quoted by Google and AI answers before you hire anyone? Request a free audit and see where you stand.
What does a freelance copywriter charge per word, hour and page in 2026?
Freelance copywriters charge $65 to $125 per hour, 25 cents to $1.00 per word, or $62.50 to $250 per page in 2026, depending on whether the work is blog content or business and marketing copy. The EFA 2026 Rate Chart, based on a survey run from November 2025 through mid-January 2026, is the cleanest public benchmark because it reports ranges, not marketing averages.
| Type of work (EFA 2026) | Per word | Per hour | Per page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghostwriting, blog posts | 25 to 40 cents | $75 to $100 | $62.50 to $100 |
| Work-for-hire, blog posts | 25 to 45 cents | $74.50 to $87.50 | $62.50 to $112.50 |
| Ghostwriting, business and marketing | 50 cents to $1.00 | $87.50 to $125 | $125 to $250 |
| Work-for-hire, business and marketing | 32 to 87.5 cents | $65 to $75 | $80 to $218.75 |
| Copyediting, business and marketing | 3 to 4 cents | $50 to $60 | $7.50 to $10 |
Two details matter. First, ghostwriting costs more than work-for-hire because you are buying the right to publish under your own name with no credit to the writer. Second, the page rate assumes roughly 250 to 400 words, so a 1,000-word page costs three to four times the listed page rate.
What does each type of copy cost?
Costs split into four buckets, and the right budget depends on which bucket the page sits in. The numbers below come straight from the EFA chart, converted to a typical project size so you can sanity check a quote.
1. Blog posts and articles
An 800-word blog post at the EFA blog range of 25 to 45 cents a word costs $200 to $360. A 1,500-word article costs $375 to $675. Expect the low end from writers who work from your outline and the high end from writers who research, interview and fact-check on their own.
2. Business and marketing copy
A 1,000-word piece of business copy such as a service page, case study or email sequence costs $320 to $875 at work-for-hire rates, or $500 to $1,000 if you want it ghostwritten. This is the bucket where paying more is rational, because one service page can carry the conversion for a whole line of business.
3. Landing and sales pages
Landing pages are priced by the page in the EFA data, at $80 to $218.75 for work-for-hire and $125 to $250 for ghostwriting. In practice a conversion-focused landing page with research and two revision rounds lands above those figures, because the EFA page unit assumes a short page. Ask for a flat project fee that names the number of revisions.
4. Editing and polish
Copyediting business and marketing text costs 3 to 4 cents a word, $50 to $60 an hour. A 1,000-word draft costs $30 to $40 to copyedit. This is the cheapest line item in the whole process and the one most buyers skip, even when the draft came from an AI tool.
Is a freelancer cheaper than hiring a writer in-house?
A freelancer is cheaper until you need roughly 15 to 20 paid hours of writing every week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2025 median annual wage of $76,910 for writers and authors, or $36.98 an hour, before benefits, software, management time and payroll tax.
Run the math. A freelancer at $65 to $125 an hour doing 20 hours a month costs $1,300 to $2,500 a month. A full-time median-wage writer costs about $6,400 a month in salary alone. The in-house hire only wins when you need weekly output, deep product knowledge and fast turnaround.
The BLS also notes that about 65 percent of writers and authors are self-employed and that employment is projected to be flat from 2025 to 2035, with AI expected to dampen demand. For a buyer that means a deep supply of freelancers and no pressure to overpay for availability.
Platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr widen that supply. They also widen the quality range, so treat a platform as a sourcing channel and judge every writer on a paid test, not a profile.
When is ChatGPT or Claude plus an editor enough?
AI drafting plus a human editor is enough for routine, low-stakes text: product descriptions, meta descriptions, FAQ drafts and internal documentation. It is not enough for the pages where positioning, proof and brand voice decide the sale. The EFA copyediting rate of 3 to 4 cents a word means you can put a human pass on an AI draft for a few dollars per page.
The test is whether the page needs facts nobody outside your company knows. ChatGPT and Claude can structure and phrase. They cannot interview your customers, pull your real numbers or know why you lose deals. A freelancer who does that work is what the $0.50 to $1.00 per word range pays for.
Google has said it rewards helpful, original content regardless of how it is produced, so the question is quality and accuracy, not the tool. If you publish unedited AI text, you carry the risk of invented statistics. The fix is a fact check on every number before it goes live.
One practical split works well. Use AI for first drafts of the long tail, and pay a freelancer at the business and marketing rate for your homepage, service pages, case studies and sales emails. Both of those choices are cheaper than a monthly retainer for volume nobody reads.
How do you compare copywriting quotes?
Compare quotes on cost per usable word after revisions, not on the headline rate. A $0.25 per word writer who needs three rounds of rewrites costs more than a $0.60 per word writer who lands it in one. Ask four questions: what is included, how many revisions, who owns the work, and what happens to the rate on rush jobs.
Use the EFA figures as a reality check. A quote under 25 cents a word for original business copy sits below the EFA floor, so ask what is being left out. A quote above $1.00 a word is above the top of the EFA ghostwriting range and should come with named expertise, such as medical, legal or technical depth.
Request a paid sample of 300 to 500 words before you sign for a full project. Paying $100 to $500 for a test costs less than discovering a mismatch after a $3,000 content package. Keep the test close to your real work, such as a draft of your top service page.
For larger bundles, compare against related buying decisions. Our guides on how much email marketing management costs and whether a virtual assistant is worth it for marketing use the same method of pricing each task separately.
What should you not pay a copywriter for?
Do not pay a premium rate for work that is really research, strategy or project management, and do not pay for volume you cannot measure. If a writer is also choosing keywords, building outlines and coordinating images, those hours belong at the consultant rate or in a separate line item, not buried in a per-word fee.
Skip keyword stuffing, auto-generated location pages and bulk blog packages. Google and Search Console reports will show whether those pages earn impressions. In Search Console data we reviewed, high-volume templated pages earned very few impressions, while pages carrying original numbers earned more.
If your goal includes being cited in AI answers, pay for original facts instead of word count. The pages that get cited carry numbers a reader cannot find elsewhere, which is the argument we make in how to get cited by ChatGPT.
When you want help turning writing spend into press coverage and citations, the page for our services explains how that work is scoped.
Which option should you choose?
Use this table as a decision aid. Costs come from the EFA 2026 Rate Chart and the Bureau of Labor Statistics where a figure exists.
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Best for | Our recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write it yourself | Your time | Founder voice posts, early stage | Fine for one or two pages if you edit hard |
| AI draft plus copyedit | 3 to 4 cents a word for the edit | Descriptions, FAQs, long tail | Good value if a human checks every fact |
| Freelance blog writer | 25 to 45 cents a word | Steady informational content | Hire for consistency, test first |
| Freelance business copywriter | 32 cents to $1.00 a word | Service pages, sales pages, email | Pay up for the pages that convert |
| In-house writer | $76,910 median salary (BLS) | Weekly output, product depth | Only when volume justifies a salary |
| Agency | No neutral survey exists | Campaigns that need strategy and design | Compare three written quotes |
Frequently asked questions
How much does a freelance copywriter charge per hour in 2026? The EFA 2026 Rate Chart shows $65 to $75 an hour for work-for-hire business and marketing copy and $87.50 to $125 for ghostwriting. Blog work runs $74.50 to $100. Those ranges come from a survey of more than 1,100 writers, so they describe what working freelancers actually charge, not what a listing advertises.
How much does a 1,000-word blog post cost? At the EFA blog range of 25 to 45 cents a word, a 1,000-word post costs $250 to $450. Ghostwriting a business or marketing piece of the same length costs $500 to $1,000. Budget the higher figure when the writer must do original research or interview your team.
Is it cheaper to hire a full-time copywriter? Not usually. The BLS reports a 2025 median wage of $76,910 for writers and authors, about $6,400 a month before benefits. A freelancer doing 20 hours a month at $65 to $125 costs $1,300 to $2,500. Hiring in-house makes sense only when you need weekly output and deep product knowledge.
Can ChatGPT replace a copywriter? For descriptions, FAQs and first drafts, yes, if a human edits for facts. For homepage, service and sales copy it falls short, because it cannot supply your customer proof or real numbers. A copyedit at 3 to 4 cents a word is a cheap safeguard on any AI draft before publishing.
What is a fair price for a landing page? The EFA chart lists $80 to $218.75 per page for work-for-hire and $125 to $250 for ghostwriting, but those assume a short page. A conversion-focused landing page with research and revisions often costs more. Ask for a flat fee that names the revision count and what is included.
Should I pay for a paid test before hiring? Yes. A paid sample of 300 to 500 words costs roughly $100 to $500 at EFA rates and shows voice, accuracy and speed before you commit to a larger package. It is cheap insurance against an expensive mismatch, and it also tells you how many revision rounds a writer needs to reach your standard.
The short version
Copywriting is priced by the type of work, not by the hour on the clock. Blog posts run 25 to 45 cents a word, business and marketing copy runs 32 cents to $1.00 a word, and editing runs 3 to 4 cents. Pay the top of the range for pages that sell, use AI plus an editor for the long tail, and skip anything you cannot measure.
If you would like a plain read on how your pages perform in Google and AI answers, get your free audit and decide where the writing budget should go.
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