![[Freelance]](../gif/ratesH.png)
![[NUJ.LFB]](../gif/nujsma.gif "[Go to NUJ.LFB home page]")
NUJ Rate for the Job:
recent rates for Words, per 1000 / mags
Updated: 2025-09-27
These rates have been reported by members of the National Union of Journalists and others, and printed in the Freelance, newsletter of London Freelance Branch. They are sorted by publisher/publication, then by date (most recent first). TIP: Use the "Find in page" command under your browser's "Edit" or "Search" menu to be sure of finding all occurrences of a publication/publisher. AND do note the year in which the rate was reported! See also the Freelance Fees Guide, which gives general recommendations. And read the disclaimer and the key to exactly what the entries mean.
|
Work paid by the thousand words, whose primary use is in a magazine. (Generic rates for publishing groups appear at the end.) If you are interested, the archived rates are here. | ||||||
Tell us what you've been paid for Words, per 1000 / mags |
Freelance Fees Guide
|
|||||
| Publication / Programme - details & terms | Group | Year |  |
Total paid | GR |
XXXX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising Age* (2015) | 2023 |  |
1000.00 | |||
| Apollo feature, 1800 words @ £500 = | 2025 |  |
278.00 | |||
| Art News artist profile (via Freelancer Solidarity Project) 1200 words @ $400 | 2023 | |
333.00 | |||
| Art Review standard fee - reported on Twitter | 2023 | |
350.00 | GR | ||
| BBC Future online (via #FairDealForFreelancers) in-depth feature 2000 words @ £880 = | _Immed | 2023 | |
440.00 | ||
| Broccoli (US music mag) features for an annual magazine, offered in launch announcement, very competitive pitching, US-based, music-oriented, women-led | 2024 | |
500.00 | |||
| Business Insider offered on Twitter for food, fashion, homes | 2024 | |
333.00 | |||
| Business Insider lifestyle-focused personal essays - starting at $220 for 500 words, says editor on Twitter | 2024 | |
440.00 | |||
| Business Insider offered by editor Louise Ridley in a call for pitches | 2024 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Business of Fashion 800 words, a feature on beauty business, 800 words @ $800 = | 2025 | |
1000.00 | GR | O | |
| Chronicle of Philanthropy* (2015) | 2023 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Climate Home News report on manufacturing of clean energy technologies (especially wind turbines and solar PV) in South East Asia | 2024 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Columbia Magazine book review (via Freelancer Solidarity Project) 750 words @ $850 = | 2023 | |
1333.00 | |||
| Companion (is this the Gail's Bakery mag?) (reported to journoresources.org.uk) reported pieces | 2025 | |
1300.00 | O | ||
| Complex offered on Twitter for stuff about memes, internet personalities, and streamers , - up to | 2024 | |
300.00 | |||
| Container magazine Twitter call for pitches critically exploring technology and its creative uses | 2024 | |
300.00 | |||
| Crafts 1200 word feature with multiple perspectives @ £400 = | 2024 | |
333.33 | |||
| Cyclist 700-word magazine feature with three interviews - fee includes magazine and online use | 2025 | |
300.00 | GR | ||
| Dazed Digital 500 words @ £125 = | 2023 | |
250.00 | |||
| Declassified UK 1000 words (2020) | 2024 | |
400.00 | |||
| Document 2250 words for $2000 - reported on Twitter | 2023 | |
888.00 | |||
| ENDS report news analysis or features | _HM | 2024 | |
350.00 | GR | |
| Fabulous magazine offered on Twitter for Life Story section | 2023 | |
350.00 | |||
| Foreign Policy* feature, unspecified length (2018) | 2023 | |
5500.00 | |||
| Fortune* 800-word reported story @ $400 = | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| Good Housekeeping Money (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 700 words @ £250 = | _Hearst | 2023 | |
357.14 | ||
| Good Housekeeping Money (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 2200 words @ £770 = | _Hearst | 2023 | |
350.00 | ||
| Good Tape offereed on Twitter, pre-launch, for a new magazine about podcasting | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| Grazia (via #FairDealForFreelancers) | _Bauer | 2023 | |
500.00 | ||
| Guardian magazine | _GMG | 2025 | |
400.00 | ||
| In These Times up to | 2024 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Insider (via #FairDealForFreelancers) US feature 1600 words @ $800 = | 2023 | |
450.00 | |||
| Literary Hub reported feature (via Freelancer Solidarity Project) 1500 words @ $300 | 2023 | |
200.00 | |||
| London Review of Books 800-word online feature @ £200 = | 2024 | |
200.00 | |||
| Magic at the Margins (US food newsletter) seeking pitches on Twitter, offers - (max $1000 per piece) | 2023 | |
1000.00 | |||
| MIT Technology Review (reported to journoresources.org.uk) up to | 2025 | |
2000.00 | O | ||
| Mix Interiors 800-word feature @ £320 = | 2024 | |
400.00 | |||
| Momus features 3500 words @ $650 - reported on Twitter | 2023 | |
185.00 | |||
| Nature reporting and writing | 2023 | |
1600.00 | GR | ||
| New Civil Engineer features | _EMAP | 2023 | |
500.00 | GR | O |
| New Humanitarian (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 2050 words @ $820 = | 2023 | |
360.00 | |||
| New Internationalist offered on Twitter for comment pieces | 2023 | |
270.00 | |||
| New Scientist minimum rate for UK authors, stated in Twitter call for news pitches | _Assoc | 2025 | |
510.00 | ||
| New Scientist (via #FairDealForFreelancers) film reviews 600 words @ £306 = | _Assoc | 2023 | |
510.00 | ||
| New Statesman international reporting | 2024 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Noon Health (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 1200 words @ £500 = | 2023 | |
416.67 | |||
| NUJ Branch 450 words @ £175 | _TU | 2024 | |
389.00 | O | |
| Physics World news and analysis - publication has exclusive web and print rights for one year | 2024 | |
380.00 | GR | ||
| Physics World feature, research included one 4-hour interview and two written interviews - publication has exclusive web and print rights for one year | 2024 | |
430.00 | |||
| Poetry Wales (reported to journoresources.org.uk) 1500 word reviews @ £350 = | 2025 | |
233.00 | |||
| Positive News offered in Twitter call for pitches | 2024 | |
300.00 | |||
| Prism (reported to journoresources.org.uk) | 2025 | |
500.00 | |||
| Private Eye HP Sauce section page lead, had to deliver on spec with no guarantee of publication or payment | 2025 | |
528.00 | O | ||
| Private Eye 280 words @ £60 = | 2024 | |
214.00 | GR | ||
| Private Eye Article on the Ushaw College arson | 2023 | |
360.00 | |||
| Private Eye Nooks and Corners section - article on two Victorian rectories - Apuldram House and Hornblotten House | 2023 | |
150.00 | |||
| Private Eye 220 words on the Mission Church (St Anne) @ £175 = | 2023 | |
795.00 | |||
| Prospect feature | 2024 | |
500.00 | |||
| Prospect magazine short 670-word article for the magazine (and online) at £200 = | 2025 | |
300.00 | GR | ||
| Radio Times (via #FairDealForFreelancers) interview feature 950 words @ £500 = | _Immed | 2023 | |
526.32 | ||
| Rail feature, 2000 words @ £500 | _Bauer | 2025 | |
250.00 | GR | |
| Rooted in Rights (reported to journoresources.org.uk) 599-word blog @ $400 = | 2025 | |
800.00 | |||
| runher (reported to journoresources.org.uk) up to | 2025 | |
2000.00 | |||
| Saga (via #FairDealForFreelancers) features 1200 words @ £600 = | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| Stylist online piece | _DCT | 2024 | |
180.00 | ||
| TechRuns blog (based in Nigeria) per blog post, offered on Twitter - $150-$200 for 750-1000 words, so up to | 2023 | |
267.00 | |||
| Teen Vogue | _CondN | 2025 | |
350.00 | ||
| The Architects Journal feature - FBS, no extra web use, no expenses, not taxed at source | _Ziff | 2023 | |
400.00 | GR | |
| The Atlantic New York offered to Virgina Woolf in 1938 £120 for 12,000 words - in 2024 money = | 2024 | |
564.00 | |||
| The Investor Money (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 500 words @ £250 = | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| The Journalist feature | _TU | 2025 | |
350.00 | ||
| The Journalist short feature | _TU | 2023 | |
425.00 | O | |
| The Lancet World Report (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 1700 words @ £750 = | _RE | 2023 | |
441.18 | ||
| The Musicians (union magazine now annual) | _TU | 2024 | |
555.00 | O | |
| Time magazine (via #FairDealForFreelancers) feature | 2023 | |
890.00 | |||
| Time Out offered on Twitter, up to | 2024 | |
250.00 | |||
| Trails magazine (reported to journoresources.org.uk) up to | 2025 | |
2000.00 | |||
| Tribune online article (also hosted by Jacobin), 2000 words @ £75 = | 2023 | |
37.50 | |||
| UnHerd (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 1600 words @ £700 = | 2023 | |
437.50 | |||
| Vanity Fair On Jewellery (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 800 words @ £560 = | _CondN | 2023 | |
700.00 | ||
| Variety up to | 2024 | |
750.00 | |||
| Vice | 2023 | |
1000.00 | O | ||
| Vogue Business feature on beauty business, 800 words @ £400 = | _CondN | 2025 | |
500.00 | ||
| Voyagers Voice Twitter call for pitches on sustainable travel to Sri Lanka | 2024 | |
250.00 | |||
| Wired Technology and Science* features (2015) | _CondN | 2023 | |
2000.00 | ||
| Wired US (via #FairDealForFreelancers) feature | _CondN | 2023 | |
440.00 | ||
| You magazine (via #FairDealForFreelancers) features 1800 words @ £1000 = | _Assoc | 2023 | |
555.56 | ||
| @TechInformed | 2023 | |
250.00 | |||
| BBC Travel, US desk (via #FairDealForFreelancers) 1200 words @ $600 = | _BBC | 2023 | |
450.00 | ||
| cntrlmedia.com / Freelance Writing Jobs promised on Twitter, minimum from subscription work-offer list | 2023 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Courier Media (via #FairDealForFreelancers) | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| Ernest Hemingway book reviews in 1936, as the National Writers Union / Freelance Solidarity Project points out | 2024 | |
22595.00 | |||
| Latitude Media climate reporting - offered on Twitter, up to | 2024 | |
900.00 | |||
| Mill Media bottom end - example, theatre review or protest report | 2024 | |
175.00 | |||
| Mill Media mid-range - example, involving a visit and several phoners | 2024 | |
200.00 | |||
| Mill Media top range - example 5000 words involving court reporting and dozens of interviews @ £2500 = | 2024 | |
500.00 | |||
| NBC News reported feature (via Freelancer Solidarity Project) 1700 words @ $550 | 2023 | |
324.00 | |||
| Rest of World newsletters stories about the impact of technology in countries outside the west - advertised on Twitter - from | 2023 | |
1000.00 | |||
| The Journalist 750 words @ £265 = | _TU | 2024 | |
353.00 | ||
| The Nation (since merged into the New Statesman book reviewing rate offered to E M Forster in 1922, and declined , terms - £10 - now worth | 2023 | |
479.00 | |||
| Twitter call for pitches lifestyle features | 2024 | |
380.00 | |||
| Twitter call for pitches culture features | 2024 | |
500.00 | |||
| Twitter call for pitches foreign exchange reporting | 2024 | |
350.00 | |||
| Twitter call for pitches faith and justice features | 2024 | |
550.00 | |||
| Twitter call for pitches | 2024 | |
550.00 | |||
| Unnamed magazines @write_jobs on Twitter calls for pitches on exploration, hidden worlds - up to - treat with caution! | 2023 | |
2000.00 | |||
| Unnamed magazines @write_jobs on Twitter calls for pitches of spooky stories - treat with caution! | 2023 | |
1000.00 | |||
| Write Jobs+ on patreon.com promised rate on Twitter for features on gun violence | 2023 | |
2000.00 | |||
| Write Jobs+ on patreon.com promised on Twitter for pitches on beer | 2023 | |
500.00 | |||
| Key to the rates, by column: |
||||||
| 1 Publication / Programme, any details of work and licence | ||||||
| 2 Owner at the time the rate was reported, where known | Group | |||||
| 3 The year in which the rate was reported | Year |
|||||
4 Currency: either or  or (US) | |
|||||
| 5 Amount paid (total of basic licence and extra licences for web use, database resale...) | Amount |
|||||
| 7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it: | GR |
|||||
| or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement: | HA |
|||||
| 8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor: | | 50.00 | X |
|||
| or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised: | | 1500.00 | O |
|||
Other recent rates:
| Type of work: | In the "sector": (click or tap below!) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Words, per 1000 | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Words, other | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Photography | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Broadcasting | News | Local | Other including podcasting | ||||
| Shifts | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
| Other: | Cartoons | Crosswords | Illustration | Punditry | Retainer | Teaching | Tip-off | Translation | ||||||
| Recently reported rates | all from the past few months |
||||||
Have better rates? Submit them (we won't tell it was you)
Joining the NUJ and getting a Press Card