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About Upwork (for Freelancers)
Upwork freelancers (i.e. service providers, sellers) can sign up for free and make money selling their skills to clients. This can happen organically (the client reaches out to you) or by applying to available jobs. After landing a job, all project communications and payouts happen directly through Upwork.
General Details đ
| Status: | Active, Legit |
|---|---|
| Helps You: | Hire Help Make Money |
| Platform Type: | Freelance Marketplace |
| Opportunities: | Administration Artificial Intelligence (AI) Audio Production Computer Science Copy Editing |
Key Points đ
| Work Type: | Freelance |
|---|---|
| Income Type: | Active |
| Work Schedule: | Flexible |
| Workplace: | Remote |
| Minimum Payout: | None |
| Payout Options: | Direct Deposit M-Pesa Payoneer PayPal Wire Transfer Note: Some payout options are only available in certain countries. For example, Payoneer is only available outside the U.S. M-Pesa is available in Kenya only. |
| Payout Speed: | 5-19 days Payout speed will vary based on the type of project you're working on (i.e. hourly, fixed-price) and the payout option chosen. |
| Commissions / Fees: | Upwork seller fees vary based on the amount billed to the client (20% for the first $500, 10% for total billings between $500.01 and $10,000, and 5% for total billings over $10,000). Depending on the payout option you choose, you may also be charged a fee for each withdrawal. |
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- Fast withdrawals.
- Lots of clients looking for freelancers and therefore lots of work to be found.
- Variety of jobs and ways to earn.
- Secure and mostly free of scammers or spam jobs (plus payment protection for freelancers)
- Very professional.
- Flexible work. Work when you want, where you want, on what you want, and with who you want.
- Good for finding recurring work.
Cons:
- Lots of competition from other freelancers on the platform. Other freelancers may undercut your prices.
- Upwork takes a large 20% cut of earnings from freelancers.
- Clients can at times be unprofessional (e.g. by changing the scope of work at the last minute).
- Application/site can be glitchy at times.
- You're limited in how many times you can bid on jobs (unless you pay for more connects).
- Account creation and verification can be a hassle.
Tips:
- Optimize your profile (e.g. upload a high-quality headshot as your profile photo, list all your skills, list your educational background, put together a portfolio, etc.).
- Take lower-paying jobs at the start to get your first reviews.
- Apply/bid on jobs as soon as they're posted.
- Before applying to a job listing, read the description carefully and submit a custom cover letter for each job.
- Spend your connects carefully. Only bid on jobs you're fit for.
- Avoid working with clients with poor reviews or non-verified payments.
- Be patient. It can take time to land clients, especially when you're new.
- Find a niche. If you offer a specific type of work and market yourself as an expert, you'll be able to charge more.
- Work hard and deliver high-quality work in order to gain reviews, build strong relationships, and land recurring work.
- Ask clients for reviews after you finish working with them.
Note: The pros, cons, and tips featured above are manually curated summaries and/or direct excerpts from our 30 Upwork Freelancer reviews.
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Upwork Freelancer Statistics
We've gathered 30 Upwork Freelancer reviews from 15 unique countries/regions.
Here are some insights and statistics from those reviews:
Reported Hourly Earnings
Reported Monthly Earnings
Reported Time to Reach Minimum Payout Amount (For the 1st Time)
- Unknown (0%)
- <= 5 minutes (0%)
- <= 1 hour (0%)
- <= 1 day (13.33%)
- <= 1 week (26.67%)
- <= 2 weeks (20%)
- <= 3 weeks (16.67%)
- <= 1 month (13.33%)
- > 1 month (10%)
- > 1 year (0%)
Statistics above are based on self-reported data from our 30 Upwork Freelancer reviews.
Help contribute by writing a review!
About the Reviewers
Reviews By Total Earnings
- Unknown (3.33%)
- Less than $100 (20%)
- $100-$999 (56.67%)
- $1,000-$9,999 (13.33%)
- $10,000-$49,999 (6.67%)
- $50,000-$99,999 (0%)
- $100,000+ (0%)
Reviews By Age Range
- Unknown (0%)
- 13-17 (0%)
- 18-24 (50%)
- 25-34 (43.33%)
- 35-44 (6.67%)
- 45-54 (0%)
- 55-64 (0%)
- 65+ (0%)
Reviews By Length of Use
- < 1 month (0%)
- 1-3 months (10%)
- 3-6 months (16.67%)
- 6-12 months (26.67%)
- 1-2 years (23.33%)
- 2-3 years (0%)
- 3-5 years (23.33%)
- 5+ years (0%)
Are you a Upwork Freelancer?
Share your experience with other Upwork Freelancers by writing a review!
30 Upwork Freelancer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
Filter Reviews
I recommend this site to anyone look for part-time and full-time jobs.
This site ranks among the best companies which connects workers with companies and organisations.
The site has a lot of jobs you can choose from. It also gives the user an opportunity to choose from many clients plus free webinar training on how to get clients.
It is not easy getting a job on this site. You can use all your free connects without getting a job.
Before you apply for any freelancing job on this site, kindly make sure you have a complete profile with a smiling picture. Next, apply to jobs as soon as they are posted.
Easy to use and easy to earn money if you are skilled.
This is just the same with Fiverr. Recommended to those who have many skills/talents and is resourceful.
Wide scope of skills. Easy to earn money.
Competition between freelancers is high
Have a wide set of skills. Be friendly with the clients
Legitimate and withdrawal is fast and easy
It is really easy to use the app and you'll just wait for clients to contact you. Since every task you posted there is your expertise, then every tasks will just take few hours to finish.
Easy to use. Easy to follow instructions. Fast withdrawal.
There are so many freelancers
Have a portfolio. Must know different skills
Highly competitive but great for finding long term clients.
It's a good place to start building a freelance business if you can get the right clients and wow them.
There's a lot of work. They have a wide variety of jobs from writing to programming.
There is a TON of competition and that makes it hard to get high paying jobs.
At first, you have to take lower paying jobs and do VERY GOOD on them to get reviews. That makes it easier in the future. The best thing is to be one of the first people to send out a proposal.
The best site I have come across.
Upwork gives a freelancer the opportunity to have a bid on competitive wages across the world and earn a living.
Upwork is a very reliable site, free from fraud and fake jobs. Payment reflects the same day when a withdrawal is activated.
The site is not good for newbies.
Apply for work with verified payment. Ask for review after working with a client. Always involve hardwork in everything.
This is a good marketplace for professional freelancers.
I would recommend Upwork to any freelancer struggling to get work
They are very reliable as the employers seeking workers are many.
Only pay through paypal for users outside the US
Upload your resume. Complete your profile and make it as attractive as possible. Working on an hourly rate vs. per project can make you more money in less time.
The best and safest
In the world of freelancing, this is the best and safest freelancing website in the world according to my experience.
No fake jobs. Client cannot default. More secure. Value for money. Easy to use. Better hourly rates.
You need to buy credit in order to apply for a job. Doesn't accept giftcards.
If you give hardwork and high quality work, Upwork will be the best place to be.
Overall for any freelancer, Upwork is the best place.
Upwork has many clients and if you are talented, this is the place for you. Just try a niches with less competition.
I love that my work area is not over saturated and there are many opportunities available for anyone with a good portfolio. And Upwork is easy to work with. Have seller protection and less fees than other websites (fiverr, freelancer). Also this platform has the most number of buyers.
Recently I worked with some clients which are impossible to work with and customer care is somewhat biased on buyer side.
Mobile application is quite bad. It does not update frequently and have many issues.
Build a good portfolio. This will get you invited to more jobs in the future.
Before sending a cover letter read the job offer carefully. Create custom cover letters for each job
Spend your connects carefully. Don't bid on jobs which has more than 20 proposals. Try to be to be the first to apply for a job
I could say it is the best online market for freelancers and employers too.
All freelancers need to do is create a profile and add their cv and list of previous work. Upwork will help you market your skills and work remotely
Freelancers can sell a wide range of skills. There are many employers looking for different services.
They are very strict with sharing of contacts with clients. This leads to account closure
The skill I was selling (content writing) was stereotyped that only the Americans were good at it so most people from US were mostly chosen over me
Luck plays a significant role in winning jobs. Sometimes you may be lucky to login and bid the first one on a project and be chosen instantly
Profile. Your profile speaks about you. Great profile will attract clients. Take time to build a good profile.
Know how to bid. How you bid determines the chances of you winning the project. Take time to learn how to bid.
Spend time browsing through the jobs feed. This will make you aware of new projects so you can be among the first bidders.
I love the site because its what I primarily started freelancing on.
I use Upwork mainly to supplement my job. I have it logged in at all times, but actively used it to bid on jobs when I first created the account. For the past several months, I have only been doing jobs that I get invites for - mainly proofreading and editing jobs, and audio transcription editing. Every few weeks I will be âinvitedâ to a job, for which I get a notification to in my email. I then go to the site and respond to invites.
Overall, the site is easy to use, is good to build your portfolio as a beginner (as scoring a job is relatively more easy than for other sites). Upwork should, however, reconsider their high 20% service fees.
I would recommend it to aspiring freelancers looking to make freelancing their primary outcome. Broke college students might struggle with a lack of consistent income/the need for luck to score a job.
Easy to bid on jobs. Employers will often send invites, and are very accomodating in terms of flexibility with charges. Relatively low competition, especially if you do jobs in the âU.S onlyâ category.
Proofreading and editing pays well for the amount of work required generally, especially if the employer needs the document back urgently.
VERY high Upwork site service fees (20% per job). For every job you do, Upwork will cut 20% of your earnings as their service fee.
Be patient and wait for employers to invite you to jobs. Employers tend to look at profiles to try to hire people with lots of good reviews and experience on the site.
When starting out, keep your rates low.
When bidding for jobs, donât come across as overly aggressive or desperate. Be humble, but be sure to get the point across that YOUâRE the one for the job.
Donât be disheartened if you donât score a job for a few weeks after starting out.
Try to build a lasting relationship with clients that you work for.
Make sure when you sign up to use the exact same name that shows up on your ID and bank account! Donât use nicknames, you might have to verification issues when it comes time for payout.
Side note: avoid âcrowdâ audio work. Things like google companies asking you to record your voice for AI training. Itâs tedious work that only pays well if you refer 5-10 people to do the task as well
