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    Upwork

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 6th 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
View ratings trends
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 pamelac83
Costa Rica
2 reviews
9 helpful votes
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April 19th, 2017

I paid to upgrade my membership, and after taking my money they told me i did not qualify and told paypal that they delivered what i paid for? HELLO? And how did they deliver what I paid for... they did not... Just glad i did not work for free...

Date of experience: April 19, 2017

Thumbnail of user miloso2
Serbia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 12th, 2020

I'm a full-time freelancer on Upwork for several years and I find it exciting and fun. True this period I did not face any problem, I couldn't solve by myself. It can be better in solving system bugs and technical issues. Otherway, I recommend it!

Date of experience: June 12, 2020

Thumbnail of user ahmeda566
Egypt
3 reviews
0 helpful votes
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February 23rd, 2021

Upwork disabled my freelancer account permanently for no reason, I have been working on upwork full time for 2 years and suddenly I got an email saying that my account have been diabled and I no longer can use the platform. I reached out to customer support many times and told them that I can provide them with ant documents if they need but they did not help me and I still did not know the reason that my account disabled for. I do not recommend for anyone to use this site or at least do not relay on it. I am suffering now and have no job because of them.

Service
Value
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Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 23, 2021

Thumbnail of user aloks39
Bangladesh
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
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February 18th, 2022

Dear Upwork,
I am a Graphic Designer. I complete my MSC. Degree at Botany. I love Design.
I Design Logos, Business Card, Animated Website Banner Ads, Banner, Vector Trace, Background Remove, Letter Head, Envelop & Logo Animation.

The Experience was Awesome & Excellent. Upwork Platform is one of the best Market Place in the Online World.

I Love it Very Much. Thank You, Upwork.
Have a Nice Day...

Tip for consumers:
Helpful...

Products used:
None.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 17, 2022

Thumbnail of user rakeshs21
India
1 review
8 helpful votes
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March 16th, 2017

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

My 15 account suspended without any reason. Upwork is not freelancer future...

Date of experience: March 16, 2017

Thumbnail of user michailb
Czechia
1 review
3 helpful votes
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April 5th, 2017

They had some sort of technical issue with user verification. I added credit card, verificated emails and was still unable to get to the hiring process itself. I contacted support where I mostly got template answers and just that they are aware of the issue and they are working on it. As mad as it sounds but they said they didnt know where it's going to be fixed. It's been 3 months...

Date of experience: April 5, 2017

Thumbnail of user dorothyc34
Philippines
1 review
14 helpful votes
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December 27th, 2016

My husband and I decided to try this Upwork to look for a freelance job. My husband was lucky enough to get few projects however his account was suspended due to high volume of sending of proposal. He also have a high rating review from a client so we did find it unreasonable for them to suspend the account for this reason.

My husband could not even withdraw the money that he has earned because of the minimum withdrawal fee.

So I suggest for other freelancer (specially for newbies) who are still thinking of using this website to look for another one. This maybe their way of scamming hard working freelancers by suspending their account with unreasonable reason for you not to be able to get your earned money.

Date of experience: December 27, 2016

Thumbnail of user pushparajb
Nepal
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 25th, 2020

It took me some time to land my first job through UpWork but it has been worth it. The platform has really supported me in my endeavors of remote work. The support is really awesome, they listen to the feedback and help one develop professionally.

Date of experience: June 25, 2020

Thumbnail of user nadiam3
Bulgaria
1 review
6 helpful votes
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October 24th, 2014

Been hiring freelancers through Elance for close to 3 years now. Found some great freelancers and some not so great freelancers, But my beef is with the site itself! It is full of bugs that cost me a lot of my time and it has been going on for a long time now. Today I looked through the site for a place to write to them about their bugs and to my surprise there was no way to contact them. No phone number, no email, no form to fill in. Or it was so well hidden that... But seriously, in this day and age you do that?

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: October 24, 2014

Thumbnail of user nabeelz2
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 8th, 2020

I am new to upwork, and I never thought that I will be able to lock about 6000$'s projects in first 15 days of my signup. It has been a great opportunity, and a learning experience for me and I hope to be part of the upwork family till my last breath.

Date of experience: October 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user robsont
New Jersey
2 reviews
7 helpful votes
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July 17th, 2015

I friend of mine recommended me Elance.com and I tried to use it. I was trying to authenticate my credit card, I was charged to authenticate my credit card and now I can't even log in at Elance.com. I always receive the same message saying: "Your Elance account is expired". I made 3 requests at Elance Customer Support and didn't receive any contact from them. I tried to call them and they said that they don't know what happened and they will return my contact in 48 hours. That's really a problem because I am about to loose a job opportunity because my boos was willing to pay me by Elance and now my account is expired!? That's seems to be scam, All my requests are ignored and you CHARGED my credit card. That's a shame.

Date of experience: July 17, 2015

Thumbnail of user jonec9
Oklahoma
1 review
5 helpful votes
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October 7th, 2017

I'd like to give an absolute minimum feedback.

Really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really Bad Site.

Date of experience: October 7, 2017

Thumbnail of user ashleyk79
Illinois
1 review
4 helpful votes
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December 24th, 2017

I joined when this was elance- it was awesome and about when it turned into upwork it started to stink... the quality of the freelancers went down and the customer service and interface took a turn for the worse.

I wish there was a better alternative b/c this company has high fees and very bad unfair customer service. They think customer service means blame the customer... Others on here say the same thing about the platform.

They really need to get their customer service together and treat their users like customers.

Date of experience: December 24, 2017

Thumbnail of user ekaterinan5
RU
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 14th, 2021

I really like Upwork. Great website to do freelanicng at. I've been doing this for half of month and I got 350$ already have several people offering me jobs. I highly recommend to those who are freelancers.
Buuut... it's no secret:
Poor freelance support and they can delete your account PERMANENTLY if they want.
Platform's frelancers support team and their inability to solve any complex issues freelancers encounter is one of the most popular complaints seen through almost every negative Upwork review. They are slow to provide feedback, they rarely show flexibility and desire to involve in your problem, and, worst of all, they seem to believe in one thing only: the client always wins.

So, if you're counting on them taking your side, maybe it's time to lower your expectations.

Date of experience: March 13, 2021

Thumbnail of user viktoriab8
France
1 review
2 helpful votes
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June 1st, 2020

I am a long time customer. All starts good. Last company I worked with was Rakvin from India. Agreed on 3000 USD contract with 4 milestones ( 900,900,900,300) after each payments it took them always very long time to raact and now I know why. Upwork is protecting you only 30 days after payment. So finally I lost 2700 USD because after its up to freelancer to refund you or not! I will NEVER again work with Upwork. Their protection of clients who pay in fact their comision is not ok. I know, I should have read and understand T&C but not everybody is speaking 100% English :(( . Very expensive lesson for me. No application-no money.!

Date of experience: June 1, 2020

Thumbnail of user cathyb32
South Carolina
2 reviews
48 helpful votes
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April 18th, 2016

The site is down a good portion of the time. They have consistently removed features that help freelancers make professional and intelligent choices about what clients to work with. They have consistently removed features that allow freelancers and clients to work together on projects in a timely and professional manner. What features do remain, don't work correctly a good portion of the time. When jobs are delivered by freelancers in a quick and timely manner, they are made to wait for days, sometimes weeks, to get paid. When clients don't pay, there is little to no support from Upwork in resolving the problems. There are tons of scam artists posting scam jobs. There are tons of clients posting ridiculously low budgets for jobs.

Don't use upwork... let it die and bring back Elance.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: April 18, 2016

Thumbnail of user chiragv8
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 10th, 2020

My time on UpWork freelancing as a Full Stack Developer/ Shopify Developer has been incredible. It's allowed me show my skills and exapand creative capacities in more waus than I thought possible. Recently, I want to make a continue work with upwork and spread a capabilities to my all clients, through my commitment to providing quality service and helping clients achieve their design dreams. Yeah, obiously there was some policy change but It was due to make more reliable platform.

Tip for consumers:
I really preferred to all freelancer to use UpWork and make it's top rated sites in world

Products used:
I'm finding a projects on upwork and give him/her IT service

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: August 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user bryanf60
Texas
1 review
11 helpful votes
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July 30th, 2018

I was a successful freelancer with Elance, which in 2013 was the best freelancing platform on the web. For six months I actually made a full time living as a writer/editor and supported a family of five after losing my day job. It was my water of life. Then someone got the bright idea to merge with ODesk, the ultimate dirtbag third-world lowball platform where I had never found any jobs that paid even close to US market value. If you mix water and dirt you get mud. Quality writing jobs disappeared and in the four+ years since the merger I have not seen one job worth bidding on. ODesk successfully poisoned and absorbed its more successful competitor.

Tip for consumers:
Unless you like making a fraction of market value, don't waste your time.

Value
Quality

Date of experience: July 30, 2018

Thumbnail of user georges149
India
1 review
12 helpful votes
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November 1st, 2015

I had excellent experience on elance so I decided to give its so called new verion upwork a try. I hired workers for several projects but each time my experince was pathetic. Possibly this site is crowded with fake workers who show great work on their profile but actually deliver crap. Will never recommend.

Date of experience: November 1, 2015

Thumbnail of user mehedih4
Bangladesh
1 review
7 helpful votes
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June 8th, 2017

My account is still active but today I Close My Account and I am very happy with that.

20% service fee, what a scam, if upwork think I don't have any place to freelance work then they are the... I bring 17 Elance Client to freelancer.com and now my freelancer.com job review ( 117) are more then upwork. The lowest, cheapest, scam marketplace DownWork

Date of experience: June 8, 2017

Thumbnail of user abrahamr33
Colorado
1 review
9 helpful votes
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November 1st, 2019

Got scam twice using their service. They have a bunch of scam artist on this site. When my credit cards files a dispute with UpWorks, up works send them a report with everythin missing. They omitted everything left out important details. Basicly lied. I switch over to fiverr.com

Date of experience: November 1, 2019

Thumbnail of user shanmugac
California
1 review
8 helpful votes
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June 23rd, 2016

I joined upwork group and searched for jobs. I found a job to get ******* website URLs with googl scholar search and update in excel file. When i bid the project, i got reply from poster of the request to test my skill by having 50 samples size file. I did it in 30 minutes and uploaded to his mail box. Finally he took the file and blocked me. When i contacted upwork helpdesk., the said it is my fault to chose wrong seller, so they cant do anything. Seems like there are lot of scam post in the site. Be very careful. Dont be busy fools.

Date of experience: June 23, 2016

Thumbnail of user lukes178
South Africa
1 review
1 helpful vote
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July 9th, 2020

Please don't use upwork. I have spent over USD40k there and closing my account today because of frequent scams.
Upwork protect scammers by providing no functional recourse for clients when they are scammed.
Upwork enable scammers by hiding their negative reviews so that they can continue the conjob.

Tip for consumers:
Do not use this site. You will get scammed.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: July 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user sarahm1571
Texas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 21st, 2020

While others seem to complain about the 20% fee (yes, it hurts), you can always bid jobs accordingly to cover that. Upwork attracts some great clients, and I've had no issues, other than applying to a scam when I first started (someone pretending to be a company it wasn't; I should have known, too-good-to-be-true!) Its tracking features, the ability to find clients, filter jobs, and apply milestones are great tools. I'm happy with the platform, and have earned close to $30K in my first year. Sure, it could have been closer to $36K, but there are costs associated with doing ANY business, and I feel that Upwork's "take" is fair in terms of the platform it provides. While I'm sorry others feel it's risky or unfair, my experience has been great.

Tip for consumers:
Be prepared for the 20% fee, and a monthly membership - and budget this into your business plan. It's part of your business expenses, so expect it. No whining!

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: September 21, 2020

Thumbnail of user michaelb8607
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 10th, 2022

Upwork is a relible source of income for me specially at the time of pandemic, I still remember the feeling of getting my first client, feels good that i will now start to work and earn money. That is because of upwork.

Products used:
Upwork

Date of experience: July 9, 2022

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