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Upwork

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Overview

Upwork has a rating of 2.5 stars from 2,119 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Upwork most frequently mention customer service, credit card, and job success problems. Upwork ranks 7th among Freelancing sites.

  • Service
    477
  • Value
    459
  • Shipping
    253
  • Returns
    289
  • Quality
    453

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 16.7%
Positive
3
Neutral
0
Negative
15
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270
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How would you rate Upwork?
Top Positive Review

“Unlocking Freelance Opportunities with Upwork”

पपीता म.
4/23/24

Upwork has been my trusted platform for finding freelance opportunities and connecting with clients from around the world. The platform's vast network of clients and freelancers, comprehensive job listings, and secure payment system make it easy to find meaningful projects and build a successful freelance career. I appreciate Upwork's commitment to transparency and professionalism, as seen in its dispute resolution process and feedback system, which ensure fair and equitable transactions for both parties. Moreover, the platform's collaboration tools and communication features enhance teamwork and streamline project management. With Upwork, freelancing is not just a job—it's a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Date of experience: 4/22/24
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Top Critical Review

“Not worth it”

P X.
9/10/24

Business practices are arbitrary and unfair with the cost for freelancers of doing business on the site constantly increasing and various services and perks taken away. Not worth it for freelancers--and clients don't fare much better.

Date of experience: 9/10/24
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Reviews (2,119)

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (91) freelancing platform (135) credit card (22) customer support (44) payment protection (24) freelancing site (80) bank account (20) freelancing career (25) post jobs (16)
Thumbnail of user muhammadr143
AE
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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August 14th, 2022
Verified purchase

I found best platform for freelancing as "Upwork" which if follwing best feautures. Easy to use, Payment methods, layout and design, Customer support, High profile client, Accurate job filters, etc.
Thanks Upwork,

Service
Value
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Quality

Date of experience: August 13, 2022

Thumbnail of user olegk71
RU
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 28th, 2021

Recently, I decided to try to take an order on the UpWork platform. I made several requests for work, and I was offered my first order for $ 100. To begin with, it was quite good and the task was interesting. I hope that in the future there will be even more orders and more expensive.)))

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Value
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Quality

Date of experience: February 28, 2021

Thumbnail of user johnb1082
Armenia
1 review
6 helpful votes
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March 21st, 2018

This website is overrated. I think soon it will be bankrupted, because they think only to earn more money. They have $#*!ty support, illogical answers, unexpected account suspensions, I know a lot of people even couldn't register. So end is coming for them F*ck UpWork and all its employees!

Date of experience: March 21, 2018

Thumbnail of user hasamk1
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 7th, 2021

I have been working on Upwork since last 10 years. It's a great platform for freelancers who want to showcase their skillset and deliver the highest quality work for different businesses / clients globally.

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Value
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Quality

Date of experience: March 5, 2021

Thumbnail of user leanettet2
Michigan
7 reviews
58 helpful votes
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May 7th, 2018

A complete waste of time. I should have trusted the poor reviews before signing up. Their platform is totally archaic at best. They boast over 50K jobs available, but the majority are scams or low-brow offers. Hardly worth the time and energy. The gig descriptions are often vague, and the "client" rarely if never follows up with you, in a timely manner [2-3 days]. And most of them only open a new browser page that requests your Credentials---basically what you already have on your profile [including your resume] So really, you're just repeating yourself. Sorry - but no freelancer has the time or patience to roll with this nonsense.

Date of experience: May 7, 2018

Thumbnail of user astridh
California
1 review
7 helpful votes
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March 9th, 2016

I've built an excellent reputation on Elance in the Writing and Translation category since early 2009, and used to close about 10% of my bids at decent pay. Generally I was competing against 15-20 others. Now that I've been forced onto the UpWork site, I'm competing against 50-70 others. My hit rate is nowhere, and the few clients I've had advertise for "Expert" and then want to pay $2.50/hour. It's a race to the bottom! Technically, the site is beyond bad. Sometimes I receive an invitation to bid. When I respond, the system tells me that I've already applied to that job. Conveniently, there is a link that says "View Proposal". It has NEVER worked. So, I do not know what my previous bid was - how embarrassing! My open ticket to a "high-value" tech support has brought no solution - just excuses. Now that I've read all these other reviews, I'm ready to throw in the towel with this site.

Date of experience: March 9, 2016

Thumbnail of user rowenab13
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 15th, 2020

Started with Upwork since 2011 (formerly Odesk) and that became the turning point of my life. I got financially stable than the usual 9-5 jobs I have had prior to freelancing. The security, especially when it comes to payments, is what makes Upwork exceptional as they have made it a safer ground for talents to be well compensated with their services and hard work. Also, this is the place where you can be safe and less likely to get scammed by fake employers. Trust me! I am going 9 years in using the platform.

Date of experience: June 14, 2020

Thumbnail of user chrisb239
Texas
3 reviews
23 helpful votes
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August 7th, 2017
• Updated review

All the money is shipped offshore as soon as it is deposited. Every client is Western and every contractor is ISIS. Many contractors had names like Tom, $#*! and Harry but they communicate in broken English.

The hiring system makes it impossible for anyone imported from oDesk or Elance to get hired. I went from a level 11 with 4.8 stars on Elance to an unexplained 63% completion rate on Upwork.

I contested this arbitrary 63% completion rate since out of nearly 100 contracts I only returned/refused 2. They got back to me over 6 MONTHS later saying they would look into it.

The site is a fraud. You are better off surfing Craigslist.

Date of experience: August 7, 2017

Upwork is not Elance
March 20th, 2016
• Previous review

Elance had a few scammers here and there but a good system to filter them out. Upwork has NO filters whatsoever and a weak keyword search that pulls up month old projects.
I just spent 20 minutes trying to unsubscribe as well and am on my way to Freelance.

Spam filters are blowing up since UpWork bought Elance. I am not OK with these guys having my personal info.

Date of experience: March 20, 2016

Thumbnail of user raihanm3
Bangladesh
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 22nd, 2020

From 2018 I start my work but luckily find opportunity to going abord for higher study. This time I'm out of marketplace & finally got suspend. Back country 2019 November try to overcome every issue and try to back. Atlast this month gain something this great experience for me as a little freelancer. Hope better doing well in future.

Date of experience: June 22, 2020

Thumbnail of user markc1399
California
1 review
27 helpful votes
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January 22nd, 2020

Whenever a job is posted on Upwork, Upwork broadcast it to Google jobs and searchable by anyone on the world wide web. Why? They want more people to apply so they can make more connect fees. They realized that they can only make commission once, but the more freelancer apply for a job, the more revenue they collect. They have gone way beyond greedy! Stay away! You are going to be sucked out of money and gets nothing in return!

Date of experience: January 22, 2020

Thumbnail of user dmitrya11
RU
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 29th, 2020

For lots of people it's kinda life-changing experience. Quite often you don't feel such attitude, working institute of reputatuion and healthy work atmosphere on a regular job. And all the friends i've invited were amazed with this feeling, so was i. I highly recommend Upwork as a place to put some effort and make a career.

Date of experience: August 29, 2020

Thumbnail of user katem109
North Carolina
2 reviews
15 helpful votes
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May 9th, 2017

I've put up with Upwork after Elance was bought out so as to keep my clients and, of course, find additional work. Shortly after, Upwork went completely gone downhill. Here's a short list of what you'll find:
- Upwork has a horrible user interface; it's difficult for both clients and freelancers to figure out and use.
- They keep your money for 10 days or more (I still haven't figured this part out) after you submit billing
- Elance allowed freelancers to send up to 16 samples of their work when bidding on a job; Upwork allows you 1 (!)
- Clients are much cheaper, but that's probably not Upwork's fault
- The very worst move Upwork made was increasing their commission to a whopping 20% (you get 80 bucks for a $100 job). Utterly ridiculous and greedy. I've even stopped responding to invitations.
- What to do? I'm going to check out remote.com. I've been getting solicitation emails from them and it certainly can't be worse than Upwork.

Date of experience: May 9, 2017

Thumbnail of user anaa203
Argentina
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 3rd, 2020

Upwork is a great platform for freelance work full of different job opportunities. After 5 years actively working, I've always had the necesary support from them and I can say that if you work responsibly, you will have great results.

Date of experience: June 3, 2020

Thumbnail of user susank27
Pennsylvania
3 reviews
30 helpful votes
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February 27th, 2014

I recently reactived a long-dormant account, and now I remember why I never really did any work for them. After going through a lengthy proposal process for a job that pays way less than minimum wage, and then not landing a project, I'm disinclined to waste my time. Clients who want the absolute lowest price And Pulitzer Prize-winning content may need to rethink their priorities.

Date of experience: February 27, 2014

Thumbnail of user asadm18
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 6th, 2021

Started out in late January with no experience but considerable passion for writing. Wanted to turn this passion into my profession and upwork really proved helpful. With its categorisation feature it is really effective to write proper proposals and get great contracts, got to make 1000$ in my 1st month of starting on the platform. It might be hard for someone without any basic knowledge of computers and good communication skills but you learn eventually persistence is the key, as well as dedication. There are good clients that are willing to pay big for the right quality so you won't be earning pennies only as long as you invest in growing your skillset and polish them.

Service
Quality

Date of experience: May 6, 2021

Thumbnail of user mxn
Texas
2 reviews
6 helpful votes
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March 11th, 2016

They just started (less than a few months) and they already have 50 negative reviews-says everything. They are even worse than Elance which when I think now about it was not that bad. This one is complete bottom.

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Value
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Returns
Quality

Date of experience: March 11, 2016

Thumbnail of user wb15
South Africa
1 review
13 helpful votes
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September 10th, 2015

I used to think Elance was great. I had great ratings, and satisfied customers, and they made plenty of money off me. Then they just closed my account for no reason. I discovered I am not alone - they did this to many freelancers, who knows why. Some algorithm fires you without warning. BEWARE.

One day you get a mail informing you that they honeymoon is over. No explanation, except for a generic mail that doesn't apply, and that's it. Goodbye, don't call us... we won't call you. Sadly, they are still holding on to my earnings, never mind that the rent is due. I depend on that income, now its gone.

STAY AWAY!

Date of experience: September 10, 2015

Thumbnail of user shahidf
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 19th, 2020

Been using Upwork since eLance days (2014). My experience has been positive overall. Given the scale of the business and money involved, it's realistic to assume at some time you deal with unscrupulous people, both clients and freelancers. But IMHO they are a minority. Upwork does appear from time to time prune the marketplace, so overall they seem to be on the right track. Still it'd be nice to see more investment in customer support, especially for dispute resolution.

Besides the biggest plus point to me has been witnessing Upwork hiring freelancers for it's own development needs. That shows trust and deserves respect.

Thanks.

Date of experience: May 19, 2020

Thumbnail of user stenlys
Indonesia
1 review
15 helpful votes
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January 11th, 2017

I've been using upwork for almost a year now, and got a pretty big project as my first freelance job, I finished the job and the client was happy. And as I am in the process of getting 2 more possible work, they suspended my account stating that I sent too many proposals without enough winning results. Luckily I still managed to withdraw my earnings and arrived at my bank account.

It is like saying that, "you suck, so die and give up trying", to be honest I only submit 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". And the rejected my appeal.

Post a complaint on their FB page, and was removed withing few hours. Someone else's post also got removed for similar complaint. And now they set their FB page so nobody can post anything.

Terribly disappointed.

Tip for consumers:
Be aware, they seem only interested in freelancers who give them loads of income, and when they ditch you, it is without warning, they just do.

Service
Value
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Quality

Date of experience: January 11, 2017

Thumbnail of user antonm26
Netherlands
1 review
7 helpful votes
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April 16th, 2015

Elance is a great site for you: lot of job, lower fees, fast payment processing...
Until they lock your account for kind of "suspicious" action.
First I have waited for two weeks and get an instruction: identify myself, update them and then wait for more instructions. I have identified myself, closed all working jobs, got feedback from clients... And here is another four weeks I'm waiting for instructions...
They charged monthly fee, but has refunded it by my separate request. But I still unable to withdraw my funds.
I really wonder, why they do it. While I'm under block, they might to get 150-200$ fees if I was able to work. And I'm not alone - how many money they loose?

Tip for consumers:
Don't register another ID. Don't pay your mates for work. Don't discuss job details outside of elance messageboard. Any suspicious step... And you can forget about Elance for weeks.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: April 16, 2015

Thumbnail of user aab18
India
9 reviews
35 helpful votes
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September 9th, 2018

Hello Friends,
Here is a Hillary experienced with these fools. IT's a platform for Freelancers to compete Technically and Bid financially. They clearly respond that there are many people with same skills and wants to avoid compete.

More over they do not understand simple english. They need sophesticated words of technology to use, Heavy weighted Technical Terms.

Funny Part is people are selling approved accounts or paying money to get approved. This makes no sense of joining. This platform charges 20% first as Commission and later 10%.

It's better to avoid as this site is promoted by a UNION of particular platform to Diminish rival software companies and dominating on a single platform. A good programmer will understand the above concept well. Don't want to get drag legally.

Date of experience: September 9, 2018

Thumbnail of user andria3
Singapore
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 2nd, 2020

I've been working on Upwork since Elance & Odesk first merger in 2014, and it's a great start for my service business. I got plenty of invitations for various work until I can't handle it anymore. But beware, there are many fraud clients trying to charge for free work, even scam. I hope Upwork will handle this, and keep the community grows.

Date of experience: December 2, 2020

Thumbnail of user amberw71
Pennsylvania
2 reviews
10 helpful votes
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June 3rd, 2017

Nice idea but I've encountered more scammers than legitimate clients offering legitimate work. And some of the job offers seem shady and perhaps even illegal. I've had very few actual legit freelance jobs on upwork. You can flag them but they keep popping up everywhere. Seems like there should be a better vetting process for clients looking for freelancers. I recently had a client who refused to pay me after I had completed the job and left me a false negative review. After filing a dispute there was not much I could do. A lot of wasted time and keep getting scammed.

Date of experience: June 3, 2017

Thumbnail of user haseebs4
Pakistan
1 review
1 helpful vote
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May 23rd, 2020

I have been doing freelancing for 1.5 years now. I habe recently joined upwork and I am surprised by its wonderful policies. I was missing a lot and was facing pathetic customer service on other popular platforms but upwork always take care of its customers doesn't matter if the customer is earning them 1$ or 1000$. They value their clients equally.

Date of experience: May 23, 2020

Thumbnail of user jasone152
KR
1 review
8 helpful votes
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July 30th, 2019

Upwork seems done for these days. Not many legitimate quality jobs available. Instead, connects baits thrive and the system itself is for draining everything off freelancers. The good old Elance several years back has gone and lost.

Date of experience: July 30, 2019

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