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Upwork

Upwork

Overview

What is Upwork?

Upwork headquartered in Mountain View, California offers their eponymous freelance management system (FMS).

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Upwork, a popular freelancing platform, offers a range of use cases for both individuals and businesses. Users have utilized Upwork as a …
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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Plus

$49.99

Cloud
per month

Basic

Free

Cloud

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Data Entry Work Demo for BEGINNERS | Make Money Online

YouTube
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Product Details

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 ...
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Upwork Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

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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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(67)

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!

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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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

(1-23 of 23)
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Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • We have gotten close to 50% of all of our clients through the platform.
  • Upwork backs the work done through the platform, so no matter what the client or person you are working with does, you get paid for the work that you do. You aren't left hanging after doing hours of work for a client and then never getting paid for it.
  • Made it easy to communicate with clients from different parts of the world and set up partnerships and agreements in an easier fashion. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a unique skill set.
Alan Bloxham | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Upwork takes a cut from revenue, but it's not devastating. After maintaining a large contract for a long time, that percentage they take is lessened.
  • This percentage they take, however, makes us not want to add clients we find outside of Upwork to that platform.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Using Upwork provided high quality low cost products.
  • Allowed us to meet strict deadlines with its responsive community.
  • Allowed us to be responsive in our business, rather than going through other 3rd parties with specialties.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Positive ROI in the form of cheaper labor.
  • Positive ROI in the form of quickly finding a consultant.
  • Negative ROI in the form of wasted money on consultants that over-promise and under-deliver.
Carlos Eduardo de Souza | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • They charge a huge amount (around 20%) of every payment, besides Paypal's taxes.
  • But, it enables us to reach a huge amount of new clients with a monthly payment.
  • It's been somewhat difficult to get new jobs, since we're a company and we compete with individuals who have much cheaper prices.
Justin Roodman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Upwork has provided us with a unique pool of talent to develop our SaaS platform. These individuals aren't bound by location so we have a greater amount of opportunity to find a skilled candidate.
  • It saves us the cost of hiring individuals on a full time basis - which would come with a larger payroll and the need to offer benefits to those people.
  • The drawback to hiring freelancers is that they may not always be available. Upwork does not provide a way to see freelancer schedules so you can find out if your preferred contractor will be available without explicitly asking them.
Benjamin E. Jerew | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • I've had few problems with clients or projects, which offers peace of mind hard-won elsewhere.
  • The cost of doing business is just that, and active tech support and active contract support seems to be worth it.
  • I have lost some clients in the past to fee fear, but most understand it's a necessary protection.
Manuel Aguilar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Upwork's rate of 10% might seem a little high, but it has had an excellent impact on my freelancing translation business, talking from the economic side.
  • It has allowed me to get to know almost all of the clients I currently work with.
Tony Phan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Quickly translating our English website into Tagalog version (which is necessary for the Philippines market).
  • Supporting marketing tasks such as drafting creative social media content so our marketing staff has more time to develop effective marketing plans.
  • Provide consultancy about developing a mobile app which is necessary when we tackle the mobile market.
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