What are copywriters charging in 2023?*

We just published our seventh annual survey of copywriters, and can now share our insights into copywriter day rates.

These figures are based on the reporting of 520 commercial writers who responded to the survey we ran in February 2023, asking about their previous year of working as a copywriter.

Freelance copywriter day rates

£433 was our overall average day rate for freelance copywriters in 2023.

This is up from £387 in 2021.

And £379 in 2020.

Copywriter day rate comparison

How do our findings compare to other sources?

Here are a few figures we’ve found quoted online – along with their origin:

• £315–£475 for new freelancer copywriters – Freelance UK
• £500-£800 for senior freelance copywriters – Freelance UK
• £303 for copywriters – The 2023 YunoJuno Freelancer Rates Report
• £376 for content writers – The 2023 YunoJuno Freelancer Rates Report

Copywriter day rates compared to experience

How much more do experienced copywriters earn?

Here are the reported day rates of freelance copywriters with…

0–2 years of experience (25 respondents): £322

3–5 years of experience (51 respondents): £369

6–10 years of experience (73 respondents): £426

11–15 years of experience (7 respondents): £426

16–20 years of experience (44 respondents): £441

21–25 years of experience (31 respondents): £465

26-30 years of experience (17 respondents): £538

31+ years of experience (17 respondents): £531

Copywriter day rates compared to job title

Commercial writers work under a variety of job titles.

Are some types of copywriter more richly rewarded?

While it seems that UX Copywriters are earning significantly more than other copywriters, we only heard from 5 people who primarily identify themselves by this title. This lack of data can easily skew the numbers, particularly when we’re comparing against job titles with far greater representation (which is more likely to balance out any high earners).

UX Copywriter (5 respondents) – average day rate: £675

Brand Writer (122 respondents) – average day rate: £455

Content Strategist (116 respondents – average day rate: £446

Creative (125 respondents) – average day rate: £443

Copywriter (45 respondents) – average day rate: £442

Content Designer (117 respondents) – average day rate: £441

Content Writer (183 respondents) – average day rate: £409

Copywriter day rates compared to learning and development investment

How much does your learning and development impact your income?

Here are the average day rates of copywriters compared to their investment in their professional development:

£100 or less (135 respondents): £398

£100–£500 (136 respondents): £417

£501–£1,000 (49 respondents): £484

£1,000–£5,000 (25 respondents): £500

Is there a direct link between copywriter day rates and professional development?

Our survey shows a gradual increase in copywriter day rates as their investment in professional development increases.

This could be because copywriters can charge more after learning specialist skills, or they may have greater confidence to charge higher rates because their skills are backed by training, and credentials that they can demonstrate.

Of course, there may be no causal link between day rates and training; it could be true that copywriters who charge more just happen to be the same copywriters who invest more in training.

Disclaimer

Our data has obvious limitations. For starters, we only know how much copywriters report charging. And while we have some context (experience, location, etc) we don’t have a complete picture of every respondent. The other big limitation – for all comparisons – is the relative lack of data we have for some areas. The overall data set is 520 copywriters, but we had just 5 respondents who exclusively call themselves ‘UX Writers’, for example. For these reasons, please use these numbers as an addition to other resources or references you may have, but we do not encourage anyone to rely on this information to inform important decisions.

*Our survey asked questions about copywriters’ experiences and income in 2022, so these figures may have shifted in the first half of 2023.

What do you think about our findings?

Is your rate in line with the various averages?

Are there any other day rate comparisons you’d like to see from our survey data?

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash