Upwork

Upwork simply doesn't have the client base to attract decent freelancers. On top of that their fee of 20% is way to high for what little protections and facility freelancers get from them. Last but not least, they bank your money and are slow to pay.

I've been using it for about 2-3 months now and I'm not a fan. Way too crazy with monitoring you. For hourly work they make you download a time clock which will take screen shots of your computer while you're working every 1-10 minutes at random. Total invasion of privacy and feels like the employer is standing over your shoulder. Also, they have to "review" your account and it takes 24 hours+ to do so, which will make you loose opportunities to other bidders for lucrative jobs. There's a way better way to do this that respects the privacy of the users and doesn't tie their hands so much. They also take 20% of your income for your first $500 in profit, and then lower the rate after that to 10%, which can be a lot depending on what you're doing.

I've been evaluating various platforms for freelancers. Upwork is the most reliable platform which I've joined. You can get paid for hourly. This is guaranteed by an monitoring application. For fixed priced projects you can define milestones. When each milestone is completed, you start to get paid so you don't have to wait until the project finishes. Searching for jobs is fairly well but it would be nice if there is a notification system for interested jobs with respect to keywords. Payment options work great. I recommend Upwork to reduce commission rate since most of the jobs don't exceed $500 and most of our clients are long term clients.

Upwork is a great platform for promising career growth and for its successful evolution!
During all these years I have gained enormous experience in freelancing and acquired a lot of job opportunities that contributed to both my professional and personal life.

I am a freelance copywriter. I was struggling to find good-paying projects and to stay safe from scammers. Upwork is so far the best marketplace for me where I can workpiece fully without the fear of scams. The customer support is great, I can communicate with the client directly and show my skills.

Now they have increased their fees to 20% up to $500 which is insane, but offers have only decreased. They also added 3% fee to clients... Clients are increasingly stingy, and since I have no intention of working for UpWork I will limit my time spent on any flat fee project to whatever I am getting paid, not any portion going to UpWork. I'm a licensed attorney and have found good clients on Odesk previously, which was a great site, however now its dried up into a desert, and they have the nerve to rip us off more and more. I attempt to remove all clients from the site asap so I can charge what I'm worth.

Why do they pay people to post positive things, knowing there site is nothing but a junk email filler? Just don't sign up. Really disappointed. Will do my research next time before I sign up for anything. Don't get jerked around like I did. Why doesn't someone shut them down?

Upwork is one of the best platform to use and polish your skill with making money side by side.
Before starting as freelancer carrier, I was not good in neither verbal and written English communication nor good in speaking and listening.
Upwork provide platform to interact with clients from different regions to polish my work skills.
I highly recommend this platform to grow financially and skill wise as well.

I am a Technical Virtual Assistant specialized in Web Support. I have been working in Upwork for many years and getting paid. Even though there are bad clients but most of the clients I faced are good people. You have to be a very serious and professional freelancer to be successful here. If you complete your project in a timely manner and with accuracy, there will be lots of work with repeat clients.

When I started my freelancing career a few years ago, I didn't really think that it will become my main source of income. Slow but steady, my small business grew and now I am able to redo my kitchen or upgrade my car with the money I make everyday. I started with small jobs, 5-10 $, got great reviews, that brought me bigger and bigger clients. Thanks to Upwork, those clients have a verified payment method, we work with an escrow account and I always find support if I have a problem. I tried other platforms in the past, but now my only freelancer account is on Upwork. With a little patience, you can achieve great success.

After letting me post a job, award it, get the guy working on it, they froze the whole account asking for a government issues color id with a picture, birthdate, full address and other identity information, PLUS the full credit card information, all emailed to some unknown person at zendesk that won't even tell me what country they are in or what their last name is.

I close the account immediate and am fighting to get the funds which they are not paying to the freelancer either.

Real scammers - be careful and do not use them! Be Warned.

I started on UpWork with nothing, really. This website helped me build my reputation from the scratch and now I am among the top rated service providers.
However, I take away one star because they added this new system of buying connects (a currency to submit proposals to clients), so new people with no reviews have no way of building a reputation without paying. For me it's okay now since I already have clients, but it's not as new-freelancers-friendly as it used to be.
Otherwise the site is reliable and provides great and responsive support for both freelancers and agencies.

I am honestly entering the world of freelancers and I want to publicize my work internationally and what better to do on this platform called Upwork. Everything is very organized, simple and unique. I hope to continue here for many years!

Upwork is one of the popular freelance websites, with over more than 1.5 million clients. It offers a range of jobs from hourly to fixed projects, short-long term projects, and even entry-level to expert-level tasks.

This is seriously unfair and wrong part from their side. I wasted my precious time to build my profile, taking tests and without any fault from my side they suspended my account, I only submitted proposals to offers that I know I can do only, and upwork basically say "your fault that you didn't get chosen so piss off". Also they rejected my appeal after giving them all proofs, attached copies of relevant documents (diplomas, certificates, etc.) that verify that education, skill or experience.

To be honest, I am very disappointed and frustrated from this decision. Also become a big hater of Upwork from now.

Upwork is the perfect place to find interesting projects, good jobs, and nice clients without having to get out of bed :) I always loved working from home and I was extremely happy to find this platform a few years ago. For me, it was a chance to work with(and for) people and businesses from all over the world, which is awesome. I got paid every time for the accomplished projects and I improved my portfolio with cool projects. There's still room for improvement(for instance, when choosing milestones over hourly rates), but I am confident those will come in time.

This platform is horrible and a waste of time. I have worked there for a year, completed successfully about 10 projects and my clients gave me excellent feedback. However, way too many reports of suspended profiles with no reason and too little money left for you after you pay something like 30% in fees and taxes. What's more, should you have a problem, no one will give a s*** about it. Their support is the worst CS I have ever communicated with. Why do we pay 20% fee? Stopped using it in November.

It took me about 1 month to get my first job on Upwork and one month after I already had 6 contracts, 3 of them are long-term. It's easy to find clients, the payment system is very efficient, I get paid every Wednesday and their desktop app to track our hours works pretty well. I really recommend it! The only thing I think it's bad about it is the 20% they take from freelancers at the beginning with each client. I think it's a greedy move and it shouldn't be more than 10%.

I have been working in www.upwork.com for many years and, without a doubt, it is the perfect place for us self-employed workers to develop a career as freelancer as well as for anyone who needs a job done professionally, without having to invest in labor expenses; but also with an immense variety of services that you can hire. Upwork is my number one choice when offering my graphic design services.

I have been working on other freelancing sites as well, but I think Upwork tops all of them and is best platform for freelancer given it's friendly and helping nature towards sellers.

Thank you Upwork!

I've been freelancing for over 15 years and was looking to expand my client base. So I tried Upwork. The fee paid is worth the security of finding new clients and and breaking into new areas of writing. I have found great clients needing many types of assistance. I have started with clients on their posted job, maybe a simple edit, and have expanded into handling many projects for them. The clients I have added to my business from Upwork are now long term relationships with ongoing work. It has taken a year to build this and the fees do reduce as more money is earned per client. I have never been denied an increase in rate from a client when I've asked, after providing them with a high valued work product.

Yet again, upwork.com taking advantage of it's freelancers. This time they limited my financial account because my employer, in LA, who I travelled to and met with and did their work, got limited. This got limited even AFTER the project was closed. This is very unprofessional and not able to continue working till this is resolved which could take weeks. They need to simply bite the bullet, go after these people and don't get us involved with it or have any payment delays.

This very good portal with a lot of freelancers and employers!
You can find any job in any price. It's difficult for first time, but when you go deep -- it became easier.

Also, they have mobile application for Windows Phone (unofficial) and it was very useful for me.

Best regards,
Find your way to get jobs :)