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Upwork, a popular freelancing platform, offers a range of use cases for both individuals and businesses. Users have utilized Upwork as a …
Starting at $49.99 per month
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What is Upwork?
Upwork headquartered in Mountain View, California offers their eponymous freelance management system (FMS).
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$49.99
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per month
Basic
Free
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Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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What is Upwork?
Upwork Video
At Upwork, we believe the best companies win with the best talent. But great people can be hard to find. Through Upwork, you can hire and collaborate with high-quality independent professionals with the exact skills you need to get the job done. Watch our short video to learn ...
Show More Upwork Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Upwork headquartered in Mountain View, California offers their eponymous freelance management system (FMS).
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.1.
The most common users of Upwork are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
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Upwork, a popular freelancing platform, offers a range of use cases for both individuals and businesses. Users have utilized Upwork as a customer acquisition channel, enabling them to create a higher number of blog posts, copy for ads, and graphics for social media and Google ads at scale. The marketplace provides the opportunity to hire contract developers for small to medium-sized projects, allowing users to prioritize marketing tasks over content creation. Upwork has also become a go-to platform for agencies looking to find clients that match their specific Amazon seller skills, while facilitating billing and invoicing processes. Freelancers leverage Upwork to build a client database and generate extra income by utilizing their writing abilities. With its hourly service model, Upwork helps businesses grow in client volume and build trust through regular screenshots.
Additionally, the platform is used for short, randomly-occurring tasks that don't require hiring permanent staff or when departments are overloaded and specific skills are needed. It solves administrative pain points by providing virtual assistance for general administrative duties and data analysis. Upwork can be a quick way to outsource tasks or projects without upfront expenditure and ensures that freelancers get paid worldwide. This has proven beneficial in boosting efficiency in workflow and roadmap by providing candidates for different project lengths and commitments. Overall, users have found that Upwork streamlines the process of finding, vetting, and managing an outsourced workforce while effectively tracking hours worked and facilitating payment activities.
Valuable platform for finding verified talent: Many users have found Upwork to be a valuable platform for finding reputable and verified designers, writers, and creative talent. They appreciate the extensive candidate pool on Upwork, stating that it almost guarantees finding individuals who specialize in the specific skills they are looking for. Convenient communication and project management: Users appreciate how easy it is to communicate with customers and keep track of billing, tracking, and conversations in one place on Upwork. They also like the messaging service available on Upwork's desktop app, browser app, and mobile app, which allows them to stay in constant contact with clients regardless of their location. Flexible payment options: Some users find it useful that Upwork offers both fixed bid and hourly options. They mention that these options are helpful for different kinds of projects and provide flexibility when working with freelancers.
Difficult to contact customer service: Many users have expressed frustration with Upwork's customer service, finding it difficult to get in touch and feeling that the company lacks transparency in their decision-making processes.
Upwork does not prioritize freelancers' best interest: Reviewers frequently mention that Upwork seems to prioritize its own interests over those of the freelance community. This has led many freelancers to feel disposable and undervalued on the platform.
High fees charged by Upwork: A common complaint among users is the high fees charged by Upwork, especially for freelancers who are just starting their businesses. These fees are seen as a significant barrier and make it challenging for both clients and freelancers to use the platform cost-effectively.
Users recommend the following when using Upwork:
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Be patient and put in consistent effort to find good clients and build a good rating. Thoroughly fill out your Upwork profile and explain your needs clearly.
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Send multiple pitches per week and bid lower than others when starting out. Take on jobs outside of your preferred skills to get the first few 5-star reviews. Start with small, quick turnover projects to build your portfolio. Ask for fair pricing to avoid charging too little.
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Use a guide and review freelancers' performance on Upwork for reliability. Conduct thorough interviews with candidates on Upwork and communicate only through the platform. Make sure to explain what you need in detail and have a clear idea of what you want.
Overall, users highly recommend trying Upwork for freelancing opportunities and finding qualified professionals. They believe that Upwork is a great platform for achieving business objectives, economic independence, and connecting with excellent freelancers quickly.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-13 of 13)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 04, 2023
My experience...Scammed by (in my opinion) Upwork freelancer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I used Upwork to hire a freelancer to help us get back a hacked and deleted facebook account. We were unfortunately decieved by the freelancer who did absolutely no work and had made us pay in advance. We naturally had the Upwork Customer service involved, but we got no help whatsoever in the dispute, even though complete evidence were presented of the fraud. In my opinion it is very sad that Upwork permit scams on their site. They also removed the review I wrote about the freelancer. Please be careful everyone...
- Their site looks good
- In my experience, they allow scamming on their site, freelancers ripping clients off
- In my opinion, their Customer Support don't take disputes seriously
- In my experience, Upwork removes written reviews
July 18, 2023
Upwork can be a great resource, but it's the Wild West and there are plenty of ways to waste time and money!
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Upwork when we have short, randomly-occurring tasks that we need completed and it's not worth hiring a permanent staffer. For instance, when we need seasonal customer outreach calls made, or if we need some graphic design work done for some marketing material.
- Huge selection of talent.
- Good at presenting the skillsets of the freelancers.
- Easy to understand and use user interface.
- Mobile app works decently well.
- Biggest issue: In my experience, about 1/3rd of Upwork freelancers are running some sort of hustle where they overbill and under-deliver.
- Second biggest issue: In my experience, most of the Upwork freelancer's English is pretty bad.
- Third biggest issue: In my experience, a lot of the Upwork freelancers come from cultures who's expectation of quality work do not match those of my country.
September 22, 2022
Upwork creates and aide in business Efficiency!
Our company utilizes Upwork for our workflow shortages, and for short/long-term projects different departments may need assistance with. Upwork allows us to find candidates for different project lengths and commitments while also boosting efficiency in our workflow and roadmap. We have utilized Upwork for basic data entry needs, and for interim product owners and scrum masters while looking for more permanent replacements.
- Short term staff replacement.
- Helpful with projects.
- Business Growth.
- Workplace efficiency.
- Billing notices.
September 13, 2022
I feel as Upwork tried to destroy our business.
We used Upwork as part of our customer acquisition channel.
- Big project database.
- Communication with customer is easy.
- In my opinion the worst customer service. It is impossible to contact them via phone, and they are not transparent about their decisions.
- I feel they don't have the freelance community's best interest in mind. Their focus is on the companies that pay. Freelancers are disposable.
- They charge ridiculous fees to the freelancers that are the ones that need the money the most because they are the ones starting their businesses. It is like if your employer charges you for coming to work.
September 13, 2021
Upwork - Easy Freelancer Software
Our organization's business model is based on a hourly service to our clients instead of a flat rate. Upwork has been a great tool in helping our business grow in client volume, since the large client base is built on trust by taking screenshots every 10 minutes. This proves to the client that we are working on them, and not goofing off.
- Periodic screenshots - Upwork takes screenshots every 10 minutes which the client can view and feel confident in progress that is being made.
- Upwork messaging - The desktop app, browser app, and mobile app all feature a messaging feature that lets you stay in contact with the client at all times.
- Time Zone sync - Clients are across multiple time zones and it gets confusing adding manual time if you forget to track time.
We use Upwork to find and sort clients for our organization. Upwork makes the screening of potential clients easy as well as communication with potential leads. We use Upwork to communicate with current clients and collect payment as well. All of our employees use Upwork to track time for client work and to communicate with clients. One of the most beneficial features is the billing, makes collecting invoices so much easier and it is automatic.
- Finding clients
- Screening clients
- Collecting payment
- Tracking time
- Application occasionally has bugs.
- Better messaging integration to the application.
April 23, 2020
Great platform to bring together service providers with business owners in the most agile way
It is used by departments independently, rather than a top-bottom approach. Our company lead and managed a significant amount of its wor through outsourcing and that's exactly where UpWork comes into play. UpWork makes it possible to find a vast range of skills in pretty much any area from graphic design to software development or simply translation. Hence, our organization uses UpWork within departments according to rather spontaneous needs, different departments having different business needs.
- Outsourcing
- Services Platform
- Contract
- It is a bit hard to distinguish good, high-quality service providers from the mass, huge amount of population. Due to high competition, even high-quality services are forced to lower prices and this can be realized only once the service is completed. So UpWork has room for improvement to distinguish quality from the mediocrity.
- Even though it is supposed to increase the overall quality, the entry barrier is a mechanism to prevent quality service to enter into the free market, too. So, rather than simply disallowing new memberships, there must be a better way to filter good service providers.
November 06, 2019
Upping the Freelancer Game
We use it to hire talent, from creative personnel to developers. For any skill we need or any job too tedious to be done by the core team, we outsource through Upwork. The external team fluctuates a bit, due to changing needs, but we also have a core team of freelancers who stay for a few months at a time.
- It provides access to talent across the globe -- location is no longer an issue.
- The feedback/rating system helps with choosing the right candidate.
- The escrow system is great for us to feel safer. It can be scammed still, but only to an extent.
- The error messages are quite prevalent. The system isn't fail-safe.
- I signed up to receive notices about partial disruptions, etc, and I get a handful of notifications weekly.
- The mediation services that help with the return of escrow are not always just.
December 02, 2018
Expands your network to around the globe
We've been using Upwork to prospect new clients and offer our services abroad. It helps us expand to another markets in North America and Europe.
- It has a lot of job opportunities (single projects)
- Great amount of companies searching for developers and designers
- The search tool is awesome, offering tools and filters to display exactly what you are looking for
- They could offer better pricing for small companies
- Change the way they handle company accounts (who are offering services), it's somewhat confusing
- Since there are so many developers, they could better distinguish job offerings from individuals to companies
June 27, 2018
Quality work for a fair price
We use Upwork to find people who are specialized in a certain kind of work that we need help on and do not have time to train our in-house team on. We are using Upwork specifically for the needs of the marketing team. We have hired Upwork contractors to work on things like Google Analytics, design, coding etc.
- Great interface. It is easy to navigate around and find the type of work you need
- Able to read reviews of others who have worked with the individual
- Safe and fair payment for both sides of the job
- Upwork is in a difficult business where their success depends on the reliability of the people who use the product. I think if they continue to focus on their customer service they will be going in the right direction.
- It would help to have the option to communicate more with them prior to hiring.
- More payment methods.
I have been using the Upwork freelance hub since 2012 (back when it was oDesk and Elance). Upwork offers good exposure to clients looking for contractors (freelancers). Over the years, Upwork has bettered itself, making it easier to bring together contractors and clients to work on projects big and small. It is a paid service, but I find I enjoy the security that comes with vetting contractors and clients to work together to get great things done.
- Messaging service is available in a browser, Windows, and Android, so I can communicate with clients wherever I go.
- Project searching is very powerful, which makes it easy for me to find projects to bid on.
- Scaled project fees make great sense for long-term commitments.
- Ratings and feedback system make it easier to spot good clients.
- Tech support is active and always responsive.
- Scaled project fees make it hard to get started with some clients.
- Kinda wish we could chat with clients before making a bid, but it seems to make sense the way it is right now.
I use Upwork to get short-term freelance gigs. I used to train companies on a specific project management software and it's a very specialized skill. I have a profile on sites like Upwork and companies contact me for help with their business. It's basically just a way to get leads and easy work for your spare time. I still have my full-time job, but I can make $50 just by jumping on a call with someone and telling them what I know. It's also a great way to connect with other businesses and grow your personal brand. There is some issues with stuff like their "job success score." It goes down if you mostly only do one time jobs.
- High volume of leads with little effort on your part
- Decent rates and a wide variety of work
- You have a profile so you can brand yourself there and it is easy to get started.
- Job Success score has nothing to do with "job success." It is a arbitrary number that punishes freelancers like me that aren't doing services where a company would use me again and again. Also, they punish you for leaving jobs open even though most clients want to leave the job open in case they have followup questions.
- Not enough follow up to try to get clients to leave reviews. You are punished if they don't leave feedback.
- The platform is price sensitive, this may be a smart move but it also turns a lot of top freelancers away.
Upwork is used in our company as a quick way to outsource when all departments are overloaded with enormous numbers of tasks or projects. This allows us to focus on developing more strategy or more important tasks in order to maintain business objectives. This also helps us if we are in short of some particular skills needed to finish the job (for example, content translation to a different language).
- Reaching out to talent for short-term projects: It is a quick an easy way to have extra manpower for your project, all you have to do is create an account on Upwork and post your project online.
- Easy to manage your freelancer's performance: once you have found the right freelancer, you would need to direct them to finish your project as you require. Using Upwork, you will be able to monitor your freelancer's work online. Working hours are recorded and screenshots can be requested through Upwork's software (need to install Upwork on your computer).
- Easy to make a payment to your freelancer: You can make payment to a freelancer half way around the world through Upwork which makes it extremely convenient for both freelancers and project owners.
- More payment methods: at the moment, an online transfer is available as the only payment method to freelancer. It would be nice if both project owners/freelancers could choose other payment methods (such as gift card or discount of a particular product/service).
- It would be great if Upwork can have a quick test for project owners to use to test the potential freelancer (for example, quick language test to make sure the freelancer is capable of translating a particular document).
- Giving points to freelancer: some freelancer that do particularly well on a task could be rewarded by project owners and those points could be converted into some prizes to encourage a freelancer (currently only reviews are available).