Nine Freelancing Platforms Head-to-Head
Upwork the Granddaddy of Sites
When you first get started on Upwork you can quite easily fall into the trap of feeling like a kid in a candy store with so many clients and jobs to apply for. Apply — big red flag — because the reality is when you’re applying for something so is everybody else. So you need to get competitive. The biggest pro here is that they have some crazy numbers like 150,000 active clients looking to hire people like you and me with huge diversity in the jobs offered.
The Reality of Competition
In the past there have been jobs for everything from cat cartoon thumbnail design to full-on lawsuit assistance. So if you have a skill no matter how weird or niche, odds are someone wants to hire you on Upwork for it. Now for the ugly stuff — the competition is out of control with 18 million freelancers all fighting over jobs. You’ll find yourself obsessively refreshing job listings every 10 minutes and applying to anything instantly.
It ends up becoming a game of who can be the first and underprice themselves the most — stressful and a little soul crushing. The bidding system is also confusing and expensive. You’ll find yourself actually spending money to get more connections so you can apply for more jobs.
Upwork Fees and Crowds
You’re paying to get visible on this platform and what’s more outrageous is that Upwork takes a hefty 10% as a flat fee on whatever you earn. So the question is do they actually want their freelancers to make money or not. That’s why Upwork gets the more crowded than the family water park on weekends award because it’s crammed and chaotic. Overall good for total newbies but once you have some experience it’s time to swim in less crowded waters.
Exploring People Per Hour and Briy
The next platform is People Per Hour which has apparently been around since 2007 so it’s a bit of an oldie. They claim to have over a million clients but honestly who knows how many of those are actually active.
Complex Fee Systems
Another con on this one is the crazy confusing fees that require an actual math degree to decipher. They charge variable fees of 20% on jobs under $250, then it drops down to 7.5% up to $5,000 and then goes down to 3.5% after that — and that’s per client. So if you take on a new client you start back at the 20% tier. Complicated and ludicrous. Adding the fact that they have millions of freelancers competing fiercely for business plus reports of awful customer service — that’s why People Per Hour gets the most ridiculous fee system award.
A Niche for Influencers
Briy is a newer platform focused mainly on influencers and freelancers. Serving an untapped market is a plus and the UI is also really easy to navigate. However there doesn’t seem to be many clients actually on board yet, at least actively hiring. They also have confusing variable fees that start at 25% before dropping down to 8% as you make more money. Briy gets the award for the most confusing to pronounce — it seems that most people call it Briy but with that spelling honestly who knows. It’s a cool concept but very niche.
The World of Fiverr
High Variety and Packages
Fiverr is good and bad, strange and wonderful all at the same time. The variety is wild — where else can you buy custom adult coloring books and level up your League of Legends skills in one place. They also have a huge base of buyers, more than 5 million a year. As a freelancer, Fiverr makes it easy for those buyers to browse and purchase your services. On average only maybe 2 or 3 days in the whole month go by without receiving any orders. The rest of the time earnings can range from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand a day, though this does depend on your service.
The Stealth Tax Office
Fiverr encourages selling services in packages rather than hourly. As a buyer and a freelancer, packages are great because you know exactly what you’re getting and what you’re paying up front — none of that hourly uncertainty. Of course the extremely high competition means sellers end up racing to the bottom price-wise, and the fees are 20% on everything including tips, which is brutal. So Fiverr definitely gets the stealth tax office award for basically being the IRS of freelancing sites. Overall Fiverr is good for getting started and finding some flexible income and you can turn it into a full-time job if you want. However putting all your eggs in one basket isn’t advisable, especially as you really have very little control over your account.
Exclusive and Global Platforms
Elite Skills on TopTool
For those with elite skills, there’s TopTool. This super exclusive platform says they only accept the top 3% of freelancers. The buyer rates are great with an average of $80 an hour according to one review, and clients need to put down a hefty $500 deposit just to post a job so you know they’re serious. On the flip side getting accepted is really tough, but if you do manage to get into the cool kids club, TopTool takes 0% commission from your earnings since they add their fee on top of your rate that the client sees.
Contest Models and Legacy Names
TopTool gets the coolest party I wasn’t invited to award because 97% of us won’t make it in. Definitely try your best to get in if you can but don’t stress if you don’t, because most of us won’t realistically make it anyway. Moving on — Freelancer.com touts itself as the biggest global online marketplace with millions of clients and jobs posted. But despite the high numbers, the competition is still steep and they actually have these bizarre contest-style listings where freelancers do work speculatively and only the winners get paid — which sounds exploitative. Their fees are around 10% on average but with lots of variability. Freelancer.com gets the most 1998 website name award — they probably just got lucky snagging that domain name, which is likely great for SEO. It’s fine for total newbies but too much to deal with for experienced freelancers.
Issues with Guru and Ripple
Predatory Models
Next is Guru. At first glance with 1.5 million freelancers and 800,000 clients, Guru seems decently populated. But things get ugly fast. The first red flag is that they have a subscription and commission model. You pay a subscription fee for access to features like simply messaging potential clients, but they also take a 5 to 9% cut of what you earn on top of that.
Corporate Greed and Aesthetics
Guru is definitely getting the worst aesthetics award too because the site looks straight out of 1998. In simple terms, don’t walk — run away from Guru and its predatory nonsense.
Niche Marketing Gigs
Next is Ripple — a smaller platform focused on marketing gigs. A notable plus is that they don’t take any commission fees. Their client pool also seems vetted and high quality since you have to apply first before using it. The biggest gripe here is that they’re exclusive so you might not get approved, and there are fewer clients compared to larger platforms. Cool concept but a bit too niche.
The Game Changer
Why I Love Contra
Last but not least — Contra. Contra is a freelancer-first platform that seems to truly understand freelancer needs. No commission fees, attractive minimum rates, and protections around getting paid. They even have portfolio reviews and community support via Slack.
A Future for Freelancers
The only con is that they’re still gaining traction, but based on their exponential growth so far, Contra is going to be a game changer. Contra gets the most likely to bail you out of jail award because they actually truly have your back. More people discovering their platform faster would be a genuinely good thing.
Strategy for Success
Those are the picks for the best and worst freelancing platforms. There is a bit more of a strategy for how to use these sites without losing your mind. The first tip is to focus on only one or two platforms max as a newer freelancer. Create a system where you regularly apply to a set number of jobs per week that fit your skills and rate. Be realistic — better to under promise and overdeliver to yourself.
Stay focused and stick with your platforms for at least two to three months to give yourself an honest chance of getting traction. Jumping around randomly using every site possible is the best way to overwhelm yourself without results. Slow and steady wins the race. Read More
