📢 Update — Early Access
Important: This post describes our planned fee structure for when Intellix Hub introduces fees in the future. During early access, the platform is completely free — 0% platform fees. You keep 100% of everything you earn. Fees will be introduced later with reasonable advance notice to all users.
Pricing is a statement of values. How you charge people reveals what you actually think about them.
When we were building Intellix Hub, we spent a long time looking at how other marketplaces structured their fees. What we found was depressing. Most platforms treat pricing as a hidden lever — something to be obscured, layered, and gradually cranked up once users are locked in.
The problem with how everyone else does it
The typical marketplace fee structure looks something like this: charge the professional a percentage of each transaction — usually sliding scale, so the harder they work, the higher the effective rate. Then charge the client a separate service fee on top. Then sell premium placement to professionals who want to be seen. Then add a subscription tier for features that should come standard.
By the time you add it all up, a professional on some platforms loses 25–30% of their earnings. A client pays the agreed rate plus an extra fee they didn't fully account for. And the marketplace earns money at every layer of the transaction, often more from selling visibility than from actually facilitating good work.
We thought about whether that was fair. It wasn't. So we simplified.
What we chose instead
Intellix Hub charges a flat 15% platform fee, deducted from the professional's payout when a deliverable is released. That's it. No client-side fee. No subscription. No connect credits. No premium placement you have to pay for. No sliding scale that penalises you for working more.
How the numbers work
The client always pays exactly what they agreed to. No surprise checkout fees.
What 15% actually covers
We're not just taking a cut and wishing you luck. The 15% funds four things:
- Escrow and payment infrastructure: Running Stripe Connect — the technology that holds client funds securely until work is approved and then releases them to professionals — is not free. Stripe charges per transaction, and building a compliant escrow system on top of that requires real engineering work.
- Dispute resolution: When something goes wrong between a client and a professional, someone has to step in and help resolve it fairly. That's us. It takes people, time, and judgment.
- Matching and search infrastructure: Surfacing the right professional to the right client, maintaining search relevance, running the algorithm — this is ongoing infrastructure work, not a one-time build.
- Platform maintenance and security: Keeping the platform online, secure, and improving. Patching vulnerabilities, deploying updates, running the servers, maintaining compliance.
How we compare
Here's an honest look at how Intellix Hub's fee structure compares to alternatives:
| Platform | Fee model | What you actually pay |
|---|---|---|
| Intellix Hub | Flat 15% on professional payout | 15% — that's it. No client fee. |
| Traditional staffing agency | 25–40% markup on contractor rate | Plus recruiter fees, onboarding costs, 90-day guarantees that rarely apply |
| Upwork | 5–20% sliding scale (higher for new relationships) | Plus 3–5% client service fee, plus Connect credits to apply for jobs |
| Fiverr | 20% professional fee | Plus 5.5% buyer fee at checkout |
Why transparency builds trust
Hidden fees create distrust. When a client gets to checkout and discovers an extra 5% service charge they didn't factor into their budget, they feel tricked. When a professional sees their final payout and it's lower than expected because the sliding scale kicked in, they feel penalised for being successful.
We believe that when people know exactly what they're paying and why, they make better decisions — and they trust the platform more. That trust compounds. It's what turns a single transaction into a long-term working relationship.
A simple, unchanging fee also means professionals can quote clients confidently. You know your rate, you know the fee, you set your price accordingly. No mental arithmetic every time you send a proposal.
What this means for you
If you're a professional:Factor the 15% into your quoted rates. A $100/hr rate on Intellix Hub means $85/hr in your pocket. Price for the value you deliver, not for what you think the client wants to pay — and set your rate knowing exactly what you'll take home.
If you're a client:The price you agree to is the price you pay. There's no extra service fee at checkout. When a professional quotes you $5,000 for a project, you fund $5,000 into escrow, $4,250 goes to the professional, and $750 goes to Intellix Hub for making the whole thing work.
That's the deal. Straightforward, on purpose.