Upwork Review For Freelancer: How to Use Upwork for Growth?

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, there are a huge number of opportunities that you can find on the platform. And the best part is you can find almost every kind of work on the platform.

While almost all the Upwork freelancer reviews are positive. The platform has helped endless organizations to get on their feet. There’s a huge range of bidding for a project that makes it difficult to find legit freelancers.

In other words, if you’re not careful about freelancers, then you may end up losing a lot of money. The best way to move forward is to check the best review for freelancer on Upwork.

What is Upwork?

Upwork is one of the oldest and most used freelance marketplaces that helps millions of businesses and freelancers get connected with each other. Any employer from any place in the world can get connected with freelancers.

Before the merger in 2015, Upwork was two different freelance platforms: eLance and oDesk.

Upwork is the best solution if you’re looking for a modern marketplace for freelancers. And although this model proves to be extremely popular for some users. But over time as the platform has grown, the freelancers and the employees have discovered that the platform has some flaws.

In this guide, we’ve reviewed Upwork and the experience of using the platform.

How Upwork Works?

Upwork is a freelance marketplace that employers can use to hire freelancers. Sounds simple right? But it's not. There are a lot of things that happen in the background that first-time employers are not aware of.

Upwork acts like a middleman between employers and freelancers. There’s no limit to the type of work you can get done on Upwork as you can easily find all kinds of freelancers.

Some of these platforms in the market today are special, and they have freelancers that offer just one specific service. But that’s not the case with Upwork, it’s a generic freelancer marketplace. So, if you’re reading the Upwork reviews, then chances are you’re trying to understand how to get the most out of this platform.

Upwork freelancers can do any kind of work that can be done remotely, and there’s no limit to how many freelancers you can hire.

How Much Does Upwork Charge?

Upwork has changed its pricing policy just recently. Now both the employer and the freelancer have to pay a certain amount to Upwork.

For clients who are hiring freelancers, the company charges a 2.75% processing fee per payment.

This fee is calculated on top of the payment made to freelancers. Let’s say the client makes a $1,000 payment, then Upwork will cut $27.50 from the payment as a processing fee.

Before the changes in the policy, clients were not charged anything.

Freelancers on the other hand have to pay a sliding service fee of 20% to 5% based on the specific billings with a particular client. For new freelancers, the most important thing to remember is that the more business you do with a client, the less amount you’ll have to pay in the processing fee.

Before the change in the pricing model, freelancers only had to pay 10% service for all contracts.

As per Upwork, the newer pricing model is to boost the long-term higher-value projects. Although, during our Upwork reviews for freelancers research, we found out that even the eldest age users find this change in pricing concerning.

How to Get Most Out of Upwork?

Whether you’re a freelancer, or an employer looking to hire talent, the pricing you put on the platform makes all the difference. You need to get your pricing right if you want to get the most out of the platform. Here are some things you should know

For Employers:

Be realistic about good talent. You can’t find quality work at $2-$5 per hour rates.

If you price a job too low, then you’ll end up finding poor-quality professionals and spam offers.

Describe the project as detailed as possible. This should include skill requirements, and the number of hours required. Categorize the job accordingly. This will ensure that you get bids only from the freelancers that match your project needs.

For Freelancers:

Don’t price your working rates too low. This leads to clients thinking that you’re just a spamster.
Carefully decide your hourly rates. There are some online work rate calculators that you can try.
Don’t compete on price. Show prospective clients that you have something special that you bring to the table. If you can show the value you provide, you’ll be able to build better relationships.
Don’t restrain yourself from applying for a job where a client's budget is lower than your price. Sometimes, clients upgrade their budget after seeing the skillset you bring with you.

How to Find Good Freelancers on Upwork?

Almost all the Upwork reviews that you’ll find online, of them will tell you ways to find good freelancers. While most of them share good advice, there’s no sure-fire thing you can try. It’s all a set of guidelines that you can adopt for better results.

Companies and entrepreneurs looking forward to finding freelancers on Upwork tend to find issues in finding the ideal talents. There are too many low-quality freelancers and there are also scammers looking to make a quick buck.

However, it is not impossible to find the right type of freelancer. Here are some tips that you can try:

One of the biggest mistakes that clients make is that they don’t provide complete details about the project. Having a clear and detailed project description is crucial to finding the right type of freelancer.
Make sure to mention any and all special skills and tools required for your project. Also, mention the level of experience you’re looking for.
While writing the description of your project, add a unique identifier such as some hidden code that the freelancer needs to mention in their proposal. This will clarify if the applicant has read your project description or not.
Avoid profiles that don’t have a clear profile photo or low ratings.
Use a paid test to filter applicants. Having a paid test will eliminate non-interested candidates and also freelancers.
Do interact with the freelancer using virtual meetings. It will help you get an idea if the candidate is legit or not. You’ll have to get good at reading facial cues for this one.
If the interviewer isn’t comfortable with a virtual meeting, then you can start off by chatting using Upwork messenger. Once the initial awkwardness wears off, you can get on a virtual call.
Post a fixed pay project if you’re sure how the project will end up, and exactly how much time it will take to finish the project. Clarify these expectations with the freelancer.
You can also consider hiring a few top applicants for a limited period or for a trial run. Once you find freelancers that are suitable.

If this looks like too much work for you, then keep in mind that this will help you find the right freelancers.

If you want, you can give Upwork Pro a chance. It’s the paid version of Upwork and it helps you find high-quality freelancers. Upwork engages hiring managers and helps businesses find the right set of freelancers.

How Much Work Can You Make With Upwork?

On average, freelancers in the US make around $20 per hour. But you can make more or less based on the type of work, and how many projects you take on.

Your average earnings can depend on your skill set, education, the amount of work, and the projects you take on. Also, another important factor is how much money you put on the website.

This is why being a freelancer is so fun, you can choose how much you want to get paid. Although, there are still some factors that you need to consider when setting your prices.

If you’re a newbie, then don’t worry, you can look at other people on the platform, and then understand how much you should get paid.

A graphic designer or content writer can earn anything between $20 - $100 per hour based on the type of work and skillset. C++ developers ask for a fixed-rate budget of $4k.

There are other higher and lower-paying jobs available as well. Whatever skills you want to sell will decide how much you will earn. You can also always negotiate with the clients, but firstly it's important to set the right price for yourself.

According to some Upwork reviews for freelancers, we understood that some minor changes in your hourly rates can change how much work you can pick up.

Upwork has no limit on job opportunities available for all kinds of freelancers. So it's more than possible to earn more than you’ve thought about.

But, in the end, it all comes down to how well you’ve managed your profile, and how good you are at selling yourself. With just the right moves, you can easily grab high-value projects.

Upwork vs Fiverr

Fiverr is another very commonly used freelance marketplace that’s used by millions. In a number of categories, both the platforms are pretty the same. They both do the same job, that is helping freelancers and project managers meet each other.

Both Fiverr and Upwork charge 20% from payouts, but during our Upwork reviews for clients' research we found that Fiverr doesn’t have a sliding scale.

Fiverr starts differentiating itself from Upwork by acting more passive for freelance before a contract is signed. What this means in normal human English is that freelancers set a tier-based pricing policy and clients can come to freelancers.

On the other hand, freelancers on Upwork spend most of their time bidding on the projects put up by clients.

Fiverr also has a dedicated section for freelancers to scroll and apply for projects. But, it is one of the least used functions on the platform. This is because Fiverr has imposed a limit on how many projects you can apply for in a day (10 jobs).

Upwork vs Freelancer.com

It doesn’t seem fair to mention Fiverr in our Upwork reviews and leave out another competitor “Freelancer.com”.

Freelancer.com is another freelancing marketplace and it also shares some similarities with Upwork.

Both sites are two-sided marketplaces, and clients search for freelancers they like, and from the other end, freelancers search for clients. Freelancer.com is much more competitive and it has as many freelancers on Upwork.

As far as pricing goes, Freelancer.com has the same pricing model as Upwork. Their Connects are called “Bids”, and they provide 6 free bids every month.

The overall costing structure works a bit differently for Freelancer.com. They also charge a different fee depending on the way you’re earning money. They also offer four memberships, you can pay monthly for these memberships.

All in all, Freelancer.com's basic function is quite similar to Upwork. They can walk you through each step of the freelance gigs. This is a quite great experience for first-time freelancers.

Final Take: Is Upwork Worth Your Time?

During the complete best review for freelancer and Upwork freelancer reviews, we came to the understanding that it is one of the best freelancing sites in the market. There are basic pros and cons to consider of the platform, so here’s the breakdown:

Pros of Upwork	Cons of Upwork
Huge range of opportunities regardless of filed	Customer support is reliable
Simple, streamlined process	Can take a while to build quality profile
Payment protection	Service fee can be costly
You can choose your own pricing	You have to purchase connects to send proposals
Clients can’t ask for free

Upwork is a haven for all who are looking for a job and those who are looking to hire professionals. In recent years, Upwork has gained a name for itself. The platform is one of the biggest platforms for hiring freelance workers in the world. So, we decided to curate Upwork reviews for clients and Upwork reviews for freelancers.