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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
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 michaelp2849
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 30th, 2020

Sure it is not perfect, but this is the only site that I actually make money. They are the number one freelancing website. Other sites have bad UI and it is hard to find clients and clients cant find you. In upwork I had many clients and the money can be good if you do hard work. I never really encounter frauds because they have a system where clients fund the contract before you even get started.

Date of experience: November 30, 2020

Thumbnail of user gurmanp
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 13th, 2021

Upwork is an awesome platform for freelancers. I have got excellent clients and earned good money. It is very secure and safe. It guarantees to get paid for the hours on the hourly contracts and have a escrow for fixed contracts also. Overall wonderful experience and I am growing day by day. Thank you Upwork!

Date of experience: February 13, 2021

Thumbnail of user sudiptam3
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 18th, 2021

Upwork is the best freelancing platform because it takes care of both the freelancers and the clients. Client satisfaction is of utmost importance but freelancers are important too and upwork understands that. They treat the clients and the freelancers equally and with respect and that's what makes them stand out from the rest. I'm thankful to upwork for creating this platform which has given a lot of opportunity to many freelancers like me.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: February 17, 2021

Thumbnail of user nedb49
New York
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 16th, 2021

Upwork is the best place for freelancers to find solid and consistent work. I was skeptical at the outset, but now having worked for a few businesses through the site I would suggest anyone interested in freelancing try their hand at Upwork.

Service
Value
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Returns
Quality

Date of experience: April 16, 2021

Thumbnail of user andrewf1161
Maine
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 3rd, 2022

In good faith I started a design project on upwork and deposited money into an escrow account with them. I told designer that I was entering my busy season and if we did not get it done before then I may have to put it on hold. The work was not completed before our seasonal slam on my other business, so I left the money in escrow thinking I could pick up project again in a month or two when things slowed down. When I went back into upwork a month later, my escrow money was stolen, given to the designer for a project they never even completed. $350 that I thought was going to be sitting there to be spent on my project and it's gone. Live and learn, will never deal with upwork again.

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Value
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Quality

Date of experience: November 3, 2022

Thumbnail of user elmira
Azerbaijan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 2nd, 2021
Verified purchase

After spending months of researching to find good platform to work remote, I found Upwork, with monthly 30M+ active users, this is best place for Freelancers and Clients. Very helpful support team, and easy to use web site and desktop application.

Tip for consumers:
If you need to find great talent for your business, you can easily find them from Upwork

Products used:
Upwork is escrow company, which helps you find freelancers for your work if you, or work if you are freelancer.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: January 1, 2021

Thumbnail of user arunax
India
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 13th, 2017

My work was really good and I got some jobs and got rewarded for that. But Upwork customer service sucks and they are very blunt on your face and don't even reply to your mails or give solutions or help you to improve.

Better be helpful to people, who are in need.

Good luck.

Date of experience: September 13, 2017

Thumbnail of user sucki3
Canada
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 28th, 2017

What a total waste of space on the internet. A curated club of self proclaimed professionals. With a site that only serves to profit off the skills of others. Not cool enough? Then good luck getting on. They only want people who will make them money. They do not care about the actual work.

Date of experience: September 28, 2017

Thumbnail of user nurullahy1
Turkey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 23rd, 2021
Verified purchase

As a freelancer architect on Upwork. I bet that Upwork is the pioneer of the digital world, both saving your rights and enabling you to get a variety of jobs. They are also being selective while they pick the freelancers to give clients the best results. As soon as I became a member of Upwork I got a render job. I am highly happy for being a part of the Upwork world.

Tip for consumers:
It is quite convenient in all areas.

Products used:
Architectural services

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: January 23, 2021

Thumbnail of user robertr2974
Virginia
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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June 17th, 2022

I've been a member of Upwork since 2016. I've watched it evolve into something different than what it started. It still isn't exactly user-friendly. It isn't friendly to freelancers. It caters to people willing to spend money on the site. They take a lion's share of the profits from each freelancer. Be prepared for what you get when you're dealing with the site. They don't make themselves readily available and if you got a problem it will take you forever to navigate through the site to get results. You likely won't be happy with what you get when you're finished. However, the site has allowed me to connect with some top-notch clients and make a modest living working as a full-time ghostwriter.

Tip for consumers:
Be prepared to do a lot of work for nominal pay

Products used:
Online site

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: June 15, 2022

Thumbnail of user innocento2
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 1st, 2021

Upwork is one of the best talent and job search market places out there. With patience and consistency, as is with most good things, anyone can make a full time income on the platform. It only keeps getting better as the platform showed this year.

Tip for consumers:
Take your time filling out a complete profile, take the readiness test and submit job proposals regularly. Success awaits you.

Products used:
Job searches

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: February 1, 2021

Thumbnail of user satyamm1
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 1st, 2020

I think joining Upwork was the best decision of my life. In 2017... as since then I never looked back for any of the corporate jobs or alternate source of income. I am growing day by day. And I am sure a lot more is there to learn unlearn and relearn.

Date of experience: September 1, 2020

Thumbnail of user chiragm8
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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July 6th, 2020

It's a great tool for freelancers and agencies. Will recommend to all budding freelancers. One thing that needs to be corrected very soon is their high fees on each job, plus connect cost and plus membership upgrade cost.

Date of experience: July 5, 2020

Thumbnail of user larah57
North Carolina
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 31st, 2020

I signed up as a freelancer on Upwork back in the Spring of 2020, and I have already worked on several projects for clients. My experience with Upwork has been top notch, not only in helping me to find client matches for my work expertise, but also with regarding to payment. Upwork is prompt and reliable and the interface is very easy to use. I will continue using Upwork going forward! As a freelancer, Upwork has been a gift in 2020!

Date of experience: December 30, 2020

Thumbnail of user arenn
Armenia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 12th, 2020

I am almost 1 year in this marketplace and have only good feelings about it,
I like escrow system very much and time tracker also just fine.
For freelancers looking for good marketplace, upwork is the best choice

Date of experience: May 11, 2020

Thumbnail of user rjd15
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 21st, 2020

I highly recommend this platform for freelancers out there looking for a valuable collaborations and endless opportunities out from various clients.

The site is 100% safe and secured. Also, it aims at your protection and of your business.

Date of experience: November 20, 2020

Thumbnail of user jayj193
India
1 review
10 helpful votes
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November 9th, 2018

Disable your profile with unknown reason when you get some work. This is Time Waste for freelancer to start work in from now 2018 -2019 onwards.

Support Team is Useless, Does not give 1% of support to you. For Them freelancer are waste person on earth.and they treated in same way.

Date of experience: November 9, 2018

Thumbnail of user kizod
Nigeria
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 1st, 2020

Upwork is doing such amazing work at creating opportunities for people like myself to be able to work with anyone, anywhere. It's great to not be limited to your environment or country when it comes to rendering your skills as a service, and Upwork affords that in a great way with a great platform and structure. People who are committed to working their way up will always end up increasing their yearly earnings via the platform.

Date of experience: December 1, 2020

Thumbnail of user dasunn
Sri Lanka
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 10th, 2020

I've tried other platforms but Upwork turned out to be the platform I could make a living out of. I believe this is thanks to the quality maintained by Upwork getting proactively involved in rewarding the freelancers showing good performance to their clients, and vice versa kicking out the spam/fake freelancers that only become a nuisance to clients and good freelancers alike.
This "quality assurance" bundled with frequently updated features provided by Upwork to freelancers and clients seems to enable an admirably solid environment for the two parties to connect.

Date of experience: December 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user danielg1097
Ethiopia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 15th, 2021
Verified purchase

I have been on the Upwork platform for the last 5 or 6 years. I haven't been active as expected, but, Now I am concentrating on using Upwork all day for the past 4months and got an invitation job. Upwork should be taken as an office to go to for getting results. I also understand that it's my future stability of work in my professional industry. I recommend Upwork for freelance from home-based work.

Service
Value
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Quality

Date of experience: January 14, 2021

Thumbnail of user crucitad
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 12th, 2020

I am a three years freelancer working on the Upwork platform. My skill and abilities range from coaching dissertations to helping and supporting students while doing their master and doctorate's thesis. Sometimes I had specific problems with some students, but Upwork was always protecting me (and my hours worked) as a freelancer.
I look forward to continuing to work with them.

Date of experience: June 12, 2020

Thumbnail of user abdulr122
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 27th, 2020

Upwork has always been a support to freelancer's community. I used to hear a lot about the platform from my peers and finally decided to start working on Upwork in year 2019. The overall experience has been so soothing that I have planned to stay on Upwork and pursue it as my professional career.

Date of experience: August 27, 2020

Thumbnail of user cand8
Turkey
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 29th, 2020

I have joined to Upwork family in 2014 and earn more than 60.000 dollars in six years and our excellent journey goes on with Upwork. I have found always reliable clients and well-defined jobs and of course good payments. But Upwork should consider reducing money sending fees to bank accounts, especially non-USA freelancers. I love Upwork and being on the board.

Tip for consumers:
be patient and try harder

Products used:
translation and contetnt moderation

Service
Value
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: December 29, 2020

Thumbnail of user michelel40
Illinois
1 review
12 helpful votes
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November 30th, 2016

You can find work such as "I have this 1500 page pdf and I need all the data manually typed into Excel." Generally that's a $ entry level job for which they think you should receive $10 total for your work, then Upwork will take 20%, you'll put in endless hours--and the client realllly wants it by tomorrow morning (after not responding to any proposals/awarding the job for hours the night before their deadline). And as a bonus, you get to compete against 20-50 people putting in bids in an hour for this 'privilege.' Unless you value really wanting to be slave labor, don't bid on anything except something that seems legit, verified, where the client has awarded previous work and paid on it, and where it will be worth your while.

Date of experience: November 30, 2016

Thumbnail of user carolem34
Canada
1 review
3 helpful votes
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September 13th, 2017

I can't imagine this company will stay in business for very long. They froze my account saying there was suspicious activity which they couldn't explain and expected me to send them a copy of my licence or passport! Are they crazy? Who would share that type of information? Something is going on so beware if you have an account with them. Now I'm reviewing every single charge from them with my employee because I'm sure something isn't right.

Date of experience: September 13, 2017

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