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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 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
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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 tommyw17
Singapore
3 reviews
14 helpful votes
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December 18th, 2014

I joined Elance in Sep 2014. So far, I got several jobs and they are good jobs. The clients are also good to work with. Most of them are very professional and prompt in payment. The website is also good. It is very transparent. Can easily find out who got the job and at what rate. The transfer of money from Elance to PayPal is super fast and easy!

Date of experience: December 18, 2014

Thumbnail of user robnielm
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 15th, 2020

Safe and easy to work with. Great for freelancers. Been using this websige for almost 5 years and I got a lot of clients. From Elance to Odesk, still the same freelancer friendly site to find potential long term clients. My life change because of Upwork and still using it. The only downside of this site is maybe it is not beginner friendly but for a long time freelancer like me, it is an advantage. The website keep improving and I hope will still be here for the next years to come. Good job Upwork!

Date of experience: May 14, 2020

Thumbnail of user mingc7
Australia
13 reviews
27 helpful votes
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October 13th, 2021

Yet another irresponsible spammer that does not verify email addresses.

Anyone can sign up with email addresses that do not belong to them.

Then you are stuck with their endless spam and no way to unsubscribe.

Date of experience: October 13, 2021

Thumbnail of user ezekiele5
Nigeria
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 18th, 2020

I am an eBook and children's book writer and since my services were listed on Upwork, I have had more clients in 6months than in my entire business career.

I appreciate Upwork. All the challenges I had were addressed swiftly by their customer support.

Tip for consumers:
You will surely love getting clients from Upwork.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: August 17, 2020

Thumbnail of user roomyr
GB
1 review
4 helpful votes
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May 31st, 2018

If you want put your money in the sea, please go to upwork. They are stealers who stole my money. I hired a freelancer who didnt complete the work but upwork has released my deposit which was in the upwork escrow without my consent.

Date of experience: May 31, 2018

Thumbnail of user tinab71
Florida
2 reviews
7 helpful votes
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November 15th, 2015

I want to start one. I have maintained 5 star feedback and had a high percentage of repeat customers on elance. For no reason, elance permanently suspended my account for a lack of customer satisfaction. I don't appreciate elance messing with my livelyhood like that, do you? I know of 3 other people that had their accounts suspended in the same week. It's like elance switched to upwork and in the process suspended thousands of peoples livelyhoods. No ok in my book. I'd understand if their reason was justified... but if people have 5 out of 5 star ratings on elance they are nothing but saints! The buyers took advantage all the time on the site anyways (would ask for more than mentioned in the job posting before paying). Elance would back them up when questioned... it was already cruel to the worker. Now this? WOW no way--wrong!

Date of experience: November 15, 2015

Thumbnail of user jj248
New York
6 reviews
30 helpful votes
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October 19th, 2016

I don't go on there anymore. It seems impossible to make enough month to month paycheck, letalone week. Elance should've never sold out to them because they suck now. I lost respect for them. Hardly ever got jobs.and the ways they make you pay...

Date of experience: October 19, 2016

Thumbnail of user dabeerm
Maryland
1 review
9 helpful votes
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March 26th, 2017

I wrote a review about their unintuitive website and missing phone contact. They are threatening to close my account instead of improving the website. My crime: I cancelled a duplicate order, while the original order has been completed and paid - how stupid!

Dabeer Mallik

Tip for consumers:
Look for some other company that has a phone contact.

Date of experience: March 26, 2017

Thumbnail of user ayazm4
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 13th, 2020

I had made Account many years ago but never used this platform yet, I was active past month at upwork and meanwhile I got a project from client, after completion of 1st task he awarded me with another job and I again completed that job in time, which really boosted me and I see the charms and attraction of upwork. Since then I shall be online most of the time and searching and waiting for job.
Overall experience at Upwork platform is Superb for me and I recommend people to join this platform to explore the new heights of your skills and experience as well as your knowledge.

Date of experience: October 13, 2020

Thumbnail of user michaelg87
North Carolina
1 review
10 helpful votes
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June 16th, 2014

Terrible, I wanted someone to do some marketing for me, he sent me pictures of the Pakistan army with ak-47s and women with plates of money in their hand. I disputed and Elance claimed that I should pay him because he did the work in good faith. I even told him before we started the project that I did not want him to do anything for me and he still did it. He then called me a fraud. Wow, I guess I am naive to the real world for having faith in him. I have recently re-disputed the matter and is currently ongoing. Elance and all of those similar sites are too expensive and you have to compete with people who are willing to work for $5 per hour.

Date of experience: June 16, 2014

Thumbnail of user frankj17
GB
1 review
15 helpful votes
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September 15th, 2014

Elance is probably the most disgusting freelance site on the WWW: it doesn't really protect the freelancer; most clients never state how much they are willing to pay and when they do - they offer Third World rates. It's a slave's site - avoid it.

Date of experience: September 15, 2014

Thumbnail of user rachelh59
Ohio
1 review
5 helpful votes
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December 18th, 2015

Very poor site I have 2 grand right now on fraud checks I have no clue what to do with. I have reported them to the fbi and bbb. I also got harressment by the community for something I did do but other client hired me to do.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: December 18, 2015

Thumbnail of user christenep4
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 17th, 2020

Its like a HOTCAKE! New jobs open every minute.and hirings are done every minute. Its like a hotcake. The support system is good. They protect who stands for what is right. There is protection in both the freelancers and the clients as well. This is the best site

Date of experience: July 16, 2020

Thumbnail of user sultanm2
Pakistan
1 review
2 helpful votes
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April 5th, 2016

Dear Sir,

I have scored 3.75/5 in "English Vocabulary (UK Version) & 4.10/5 in "English Spelling Test, but I have been shown as 'Below Average' in both of them.

Please get this error rectified and do let me know.

Thanks and Regards,

Yours Sincerely

Sultan Muhammad
(essenwork)

Date of experience: April 5, 2016

Thumbnail of user kayles
Philippines
2 reviews
14 helpful votes
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December 14th, 2015

This upwork do not appreciate their freelancers. They make you feel like your a crap, even though they earn money from YOU. Well not anymore, I will go directly to clients and get paid for what my talent is really worth. To Filipinos, you may want to consider finding work with onlinejobs.ph whether you are a newbie or experienced.

I AGREE TO THIS GUY! ITS VERY TRUE!

Experienced freelancers are dying on this platform.

Their ranking system will punish you and your Job Success score if you make "ANY" mistake. Once you are below 90% you will never get work again.

Their ranking system punishes freelancers if the client does not leave feedback - Your fault.

Their ranking system will punish you if there are any problems with a job.

Tip for consumers:
Try verified employers at guru and onlinejobs.ph. Check classified ads and apply directly to clients.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: December 14, 2015

Thumbnail of user katrinab7
Texas
1 review
4 helpful votes
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July 16th, 2017

Most of the people posting here broke ToS or the protections in place. Very successful here. If you want to be a business owner you have to own up to your business this is not a scam. Only people that pay low and want the moon and stars are the people complaining

Date of experience: July 16, 2017

Thumbnail of user miana6
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 4th, 2021

I started working on Upwork in 2011 and I achieved so much. Upwork gave me the platform to learn with Top companies in the World. By working on Upwork, I managed to raise a considerable amount of money for my future.

Best Place to Find Freelance Work!

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 3, 2021

Thumbnail of user healthn
Maryland
1 review
6 helpful votes
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May 14th, 2018

With good intentions I was looking for work writing, editing and reviewing for media sites. Here is an example of some of the work offered on UpWork. First employer: I need a 40 page e-book written in 2 weeks for $50. Second employer: For my blogsite I need 2-4 blogs per month (1,000 words each) to be paid at the rate of $10 each. Must have a minimum of a masters degree. Third employer: Need a tutor for my bratty kid to train in the sciences. Will pay $5 per session. These a facetious representation yet they come close to the mark to the job offerings on UpWork. This company keeps a minimum of 20% of the wage. My advice: Upwork is a disaster paying slave wage with potential employers who are either nutcases or live under a rock. Many better sites stay light years away from this one.

Date of experience: May 14, 2018

Thumbnail of user swapnilp8
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 9th, 2020

Excellent platform to work with Upwork and find new clients with minimum effort, payment protection and Upwork team support is Awesome. I and my team is lucky, we are the part of Upwork, Thanks to the entire Upwork team who are always with us in any problem, issue!

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: August 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user davidp155
Indiana
2 reviews
12 helpful votes
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September 11th, 2015

They make up stories as to why they have to close your account and they will just close it for no reason. They make up stories and say that you have had too many bad reviews. I have a 4.8 / 5! And I have not done any work in like 6 months through Elance. How can I all of a sudden have bad reviews. VERY VERY Shady company. I would never use them again.

Date of experience: September 11, 2015

Thumbnail of user czavevitchc
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 12th, 2022

Upwork is helping me in showing my skills and gained knowledged from my previous work experiences while earning.
The app is legit with freelancers looking for a legal jobs as well as employers looking for a freelancer's superb services! Keep up the good work Upwork!

Date of experience: May 11, 2022

Thumbnail of user samirk6
India
1 review
7 helpful votes
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October 13th, 2015

What I recently found is that the elance may have a team who post the project and yes fake projects. Now if we bid on this project there is no response and the connect is gone too. Like this they sell connects for more profit.
Recently I applied for a job and I was awarded and after that I could not post any messages to the client. Now this issues happened and i did not got any message from the client too. So to keep my profile clean I closed the job. Now since then they have blocked me. Now how the hell do I know. So Elance is Going to be a big SCAM. In coming days Scam from Elance is going to be famous. Elance Scam as I searched and found tons of result. This confirms that the elance is really doing something fishy to trap users and loot their money throught selling the connects and posting the fake projects.

Date of experience: October 13, 2015

Thumbnail of user vladyslavb3
Ukraine
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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June 23rd, 2020

Upwork is the first freelance website I work on and I don't want to run away, it opened new horizons for me, tried to work on different exchanges, but this is where I can work normally and not think about the various little things that are already thought out on the site.

Date of experience: June 23, 2020

Thumbnail of user julioc123
Colombia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 27th, 2020

This platform works in many positive ways. They support freelancers and provide all the necessary information to make your work easier. I have been happy working with them for 6 years and hope to continue working with them for yesrs to come.

Date of experience: August 26, 2020

Thumbnail of user alinaj46
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 27th, 2022

I always love to work on Upwork. When I started my career as a freelancer I build my profiles on various platforms but now I only work on Upwork. I enjoyed working here. And I think it is more secure than any other platform. Upwork community guides in the batter way whenever a problem raise. And I feel much more secure here. And I suggest all the people work here than any other platform. All the terms and conditions are properly explained. And guided by the community. One important thing Upwork Webinar is a great platform to learn for newbies how they can work in a better way on Upwork. Everything is explained by using examples of Upwork success stories.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 27, 2022

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