Freelance markup and direct hire fees, priced for the employer
Creative Circle fees and markup for employers hiring a freelance or full time marketer
Search Creative Circle fees and you find freelancers asking how much the agency keeps. This page answers the other side of that question: what a US employer is invoiced each week for a freelance designer or marketer, what a full time placement costs, and the week the freelance markup passes the fee you would have paid to hire the person outright.
One week, content marketer
40 hours
- Freelancer is paid at $55/hr
- $2,200
- You are invoiced at a reported 50%
- $3,300
- Markup in that week
- $1,100
- A month of a live role here
- $149
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The short answer
Creative Circle charges employers two ways and publishes neither price. Freelancers are billed at an hourly rate, invoiced weekly, with a markup over their pay that industry reporting puts at about 30 to 75 percent. Full time hires cost a one time 15 to 30 percent of first year salary, reported. The service is contingency based, candidates pay nothing, and a full time hire who leaves inside 90 days is replaced at no extra cost.
30 to 75%
freelance markup, reported
15 to 30%
direct hire, reported
90 days
replacement, published
The weekly invoice shows hours and one bill rate. The pay rate and the markup between them are not on it.
What is written down
How Creative Circle bills clients, published and quoted
Creative Circle describes its pricing structure in its own client brochure. Five things are stated plainly. The two numbers that decide your bill are left to the agreement. If you are weighing other ways to fill the seat, the Creative Circle alternative for marketing hires covers that.
Freelancers billed hourly, invoiced weekly
Freelance and team build work is billed at an hourly rate and invoiced every week. You see one bill rate. The pay rate underneath it is not on the invoice.
Freelancers on their payroll, with benefits
Creative Circle employs the freelancer while they work for you and pays them, including benefits. Payroll taxes, insurance and benefits are part of what the markup carries.
Full time hires cost a percentage of first year salary
A permanent placement is a one time fee set as a percentage of the new employee first year salary. The percentage is quoted per search. Industry reporting puts it at about 15 to 30 percent.
90 day replacement
If a full time hire does not work out in the first 90 days, Creative Circle replaces them at no additional cost. The promise is a replacement candidate, not money back.
100 percent contingency
No fee is owed until a candidate is placed. Briefing them, reviewing profiles and interviewing costs nothing.
The markup and the conversion terms
Neither the spread between pay and bill rate nor the fee to hire a freelancer full time is on the website. Both live in the client agreement you sign.
Freelancers
Creative Circle markup, what one freelance week is invoiced at
Three freelancers at round example pay rates, 40 hours each, across the reported markup range. The big number is your weekly invoice. The smaller one is the part of it that is markup, which carries payroll taxes, insurance, benefits and the agency margin.
Production designer
paid $40/hr
Content marketer
paid $55/hr
Senior art director
paid $75/hr
Individual freelancers have posted spreads closer to 80 to 100 percent on Glassdoor and Quora. Those are single reports, not a rate card, but they are a reason to ask for the pay rate on every freelancer you are billed for. How a markup splits between payroll cost and agency margin is worked out in staffing agency markup rates for a marketing contractor.
The number nobody works out
The week freelance markup passes a direct hire fee
Keep a $55 an hour content marketer on a freelance contract and the markup builds every week. Hire the same person full time at $110,000 and a reported 20 percent fee is $22,000, paid once. This is when the running cost overtakes the one time cost.
Past that week, a freelancer you meant to keep is the most expensive way to employ them. Before it, the markup is buying flexibility you may genuinely need.
30% markup
34
weeks
$660 markup a week
50% markup
20
weeks
$1,100 markup a week
75% markup
14
weeks
$1,650 markup a week
Full time hires
Creative Circle direct hire fees by creative and marketing role
A one time percentage of first year salary, paid after the hire starts. Creative Circle quotes it per search, so the three columns are the reported range on round example salaries.
| Role and salary | At 15% | At 20% | At 30% | The 20% fee as months of a $149 listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic designer$70,000 | $10,500 | $14,000 | $21,000 | 93 months |
| Content marketing manager$95,000 | $14,250 | $19,000 | $28,500 | 127 months |
| Creative director$150,000 | $22,500 | $30,000 | $45,000 | 201 months |
Replacement is not a refund
The published promise is that a full time hire who does not work out in the first 90 days is replaced at no additional cost. You get a new search. The fee you paid stays paid, so ask whether your agreement also allows a credit if you decide not to refill the role.
Contingency means no fee for trying
Creative Circle states it is 100 percent contingency based. Briefing a recruiter and reviewing profiles costs nothing. Running a search in parallel with your own job post is the low risk way to compare the two. Recruiter percentages across the market are on our marketing recruiter fees page.
Try before you hire
Creative Circle freelance to full time, the cost of keeping someone
Creative Circle offers freelance to full time hiring, and the conversion terms sit in your client agreement, not on the website. So instead of guessing one number, here are three. Twelve weeks of a $55 an hour content marketer at a reported 50 percent markup is $13,200 in markup alone. Then add whatever the agreement charges to move the person onto your payroll at $110,000.
| Conversion fee | Total to keep them | As $149 listing months |
|---|---|---|
| None, waived | $13,200 | 88 |
| 10% of salary | $24,200 | 162 |
| 20% of salary | $35,200 | 236 |
Across staffing, conversion fees commonly fall as contract hours rise. If you already expect to keep the person, agree that schedule before the first week, or post the permanent role and skip the freelance months.
The honest test
Is Creative Circle worth it for hiring a marketer?
Four situations where the fee is fair value and a job board cannot do the same job.
Design and production work
Art direction, packaging, motion, UX and production are where the Creative Circle bench is deepest. A marketing job board is not built to find a senior motion designer for a three week sprint.
Capacity this week, on someone else payroll
A launch, a leave cover, a hiring freeze. A payrolled freelancer with benefits handled is a product a job post does not sell, and paying a markup for six weeks of it is often the right call.
Nobody can review portfolios
If no one on your team has two hours a week to read applications and portfolios, the fee buys screening time you do not have. That is the core of what the percentage pays for.
You want the 90 day replacement
A replacement search at no extra cost is real insurance on a hard to fill creative role. It is not a refund, but it means a failed hire in month two does not restart the bill.
The case where it is poor value is a permanent marketing seat you can screen yourself, especially an operator role such as growth, lifecycle or demand generation rather than design. Staffing fees from the other big firm in this category are priced the same way on our Robert Half fees page.
Side by side
Creative Circle pricing against a marketing job post
| Creative Circle | MarketerJob post | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A curated freelance bench, recruiter screening and payrolled contractors | A marketing role in front of marketers looking for one |
| Published price | None. Hourly bill rate and placement percentage quoted per engagement | $149 a month Starter, $299 Featured, $999 Unlimited |
| Freelance content marketer at $55 an hour | About $2,860 a week billed at a reported 30 percent markup, $3,850 at 75 percent | Not offered. You hire and pay the person yourself |
| Full time content marketing manager at $95,000 | Reported $14,250 to $28,500 once | $149 for each month the role is live |
| Guarantee | 90 day replacement on full time hires, published | None. You are buying reach for the role |
| Design and production roles | A real strength | Not the focus, this is a marketing board |
| Best for | Freelance creative capacity staffed within days | A permanent marketing seat you can screen yourself |
Asked before signing
Creative Circle fees, the questions employers ask
How much does Creative Circle charge employers?
Creative Circle charges employers an hourly bill rate for freelancers, invoiced weekly, and a one time percentage of first year salary for full time hires. It publishes neither number. Industry reporting puts the freelance markup at about 30 to 75 percent over pay and direct hire fees at about 15 to 30 percent of salary.
Does Creative Circle charge a fee?
Yes, to the employer only. Creative Circle is 100 percent contingency based, so no fee is owed until it places someone. Then the employer pays either the weekly hourly invoice for a freelancer or a one time placement fee for a full time hire. Freelancers and candidates do not pay Creative Circle to be placed.
What is Creative Circle markup on freelancers?
Creative Circle does not publish its markup. Industry ranges for creative staffing run about 30 to 75 percent over the freelancer pay, covering payroll taxes, insurance, benefits and margin. Individual freelancers have posted examples closer to 80 to 100 percent. At 50 percent, a content marketer paid $55 an hour costs you $82.50.
How much does Creative Circle take from freelancers?
Creative Circle does not take money out of a freelancer pay rate. It pays the freelancer an agreed hourly rate and bills the client a higher one, and the gap is its markup. That gap is not shown to either side, which is why freelancers often ask about it and why employers should ask for the bill rate breakdown.
How does Creative Circle bill clients?
Freelance and team build work is billed at an hourly rate and invoiced weekly, according to the Creative Circle client brochure. The freelancer stays on the Creative Circle payroll, including benefits. Full time placements are billed once, as a percentage of the new employee first year salary, after the hire starts.
What is the Creative Circle guarantee?
Creative Circle publishes a 90 day replacement on full time hires: if the person does not work out in the first 90 days, it replaces them at no additional cost. That is a new search, not a refund of the placement fee, so check whether your agreement also offers a credit.
Can I hire a Creative Circle freelancer full time?
Yes. Creative Circle offers freelance to full time hiring. The conversion terms are set in your client agreement and are not published. Across staffing, conversion fees commonly fall as contract hours rise, so agree the schedule in writing before the freelancer starts if you might keep them.
Is Creative Circle worth it for hiring a marketer?
Creative Circle is worth it for freelance design and production capacity you need staffed within days, and for searches nobody on your team can screen. For a permanent marketer you can interview yourself, the markup on a $55 freelancer passes a $22,000 placement fee in about 20 weeks at a reported 50 percent, and a job post costs $149 a month.
Can you negotiate Creative Circle rates?
Staffing bill rates and placement percentages are routinely negotiated. Ask for the pay rate and bill rate on each freelancer, the placement percentage, the conversion schedule and what the 90 day replacement covers, in writing, before work starts. Volume, exclusivity and longer assignments are the usual levers.
How to read the figures: only the MarketerJob price is a published rate card. Creative Circle publishes how it bills, the 90 day replacement and that it is contingency based, in its client brochure. Markup and placement percentages are industry ranges, single freelancer reports are labelled as such, and pay rates and salaries are round examples. Creative Circle is a trademark of its owner and is named only for comparison.
Hiring a marketer you plan to keep?
Put the permanent role in front of people who only look at marketing jobs. A Starter listing is $149 a month with no markup and no percentage of the salary, and you stop it the month the role is filled.
Keep going
Related pages for this budget
Creative Circle alternative
Other ways to fill a marketing seat, and which fits which kind of need.
Robert Half fees
Placement, contract markup and the temp to hire double charge.
Onward Search alternative
Another creative and marketing staffing firm, against a flat job post.
Job posting cost
What each major US hiring platform charges to advertise a role.