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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 manujt
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 24th, 2021

Awesome experience of using Upwork... we all have through tough times due to Covid... lost my job. But thanks to Upwork I have found work and confidence to get back with my life... highly recommended.

Service
Value

Date of experience: March 24, 2021

Thumbnail of user mostafas14
Egypt
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 1st, 2020

UpWork is a great platform to manage work and business, I'm pleasure with great efforts for upwork team to make it a good place for clients and freelancers, they always enhance and upgrade the work environment

Date of experience: September 1, 2020

Thumbnail of user peterc703
Australia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 26th, 2020

Upwork provides a great service and is a win win for client and freelancer. The client finds the most suitable freelancer for their job and the freelancer gets work. Freelancers scan available work offers and then bid for the job. This should lead to an interview either via Upwork messages, a skype or a mobile call. With the random screen shots taken when the freelancer is working on the clients accounting system, the client can be confident the freelancer is working on the job when they get the Upwork invoice and the freelancer gets paid weekly. When the job is finished, the client should leave a reference and as good references build up, the freelancer gets invitations to work on new client jobs which in my case led to more and more work, a considerable number of regular clients and I have done a lot more one off jobs..

Date of experience: May 26, 2020

Thumbnail of user vinayb12
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 9th, 2020

I have been using the Upwork since 2014. It is the best platform for both business owners and freelancers. This platform helps to connect best talent for your business. Highly recommended Upwork for any and every online business. I love you Upwork.

Date of experience: October 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user noumanz2
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 18th, 2020

I am a professional accountant and Bookkeeper and j just started freelancing on upwork and I think it's worlds greatest freelancing platform. There is lot of opportunities that upwork provide us freelancers with and it's a great platform.

Date of experience: November 18, 2020

Thumbnail of user nicklasj3
Michigan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 20th, 2020

This is a great site for freelancers to find job opportunities,
It is easy to use and the customer device is great.
Payment processing and receipt for income are easy to access.
I would highly recommend this site to anyone looking for freelancing work.

Date of experience: December 19, 2020

Thumbnail of user dipenp3
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 9th, 2020

If you are registered with Upwork than surely you are going to earn especially It is an industry which is working in this COVID pandemic. And Upwork gives you the platform to showcase your skills and by completing tasks you can earn the money which you have asked for so so no wrong negotiation as well you do not need to take part in any unwanted marketing and lead generation stuff as its project market place. It's like do fishing in the sea which is full of fishes.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: October 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user christopherb2737
New Jersey
1 review
3 helpful votes
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August 31st, 2023

I'm trying to find a lawyer and they asked for all type of private information for me to even do so. Then they suspended me after sending offers to lawyers. So basically they stole my private information and unethically suspended me

Date of experience: August 31, 2023

Thumbnail of user eduardf8
Spain
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 17th, 2020

I am a writer of novels and in 2020 I had some troubles to survive only by my book sales, because of the Corona-Crisis. Thank god I saw an article about Upwork. I signed up and since this moment my problems disappeared because through Upwork I found work as a german language copywriter and content creator.
The platform works just amazing and I could not be happier to have joined Upwork
Eduard Freundlinger

Date of experience: December 17, 2020

Thumbnail of user maryp212
Florida
1 review
6 helpful votes
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August 7th, 2017

The problem with Upwork is that they make it verrry difficult for freelancers who are new to get hired, because Upwork makes metrics recommendations to clients when they are posting their available jobs. These recommendations are things like hire only "rising stars" or hire only freelancers who have a "90% job success score" - and in order for a freelancer to be included in either of these categories, they have to have a certain number of jobs under their belt which is impossible to do if clients won't hire you because you don't have a certain number of jobs under your belt. Much better results on freelancer.com.

Date of experience: August 7, 2017

Thumbnail of user rakibulh7
Bangladesh
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 2nd, 2020

As a freelancer, I did work on different platforms. This site is different. Very professional platform for professional persons. As a new freelancer on upwork, I did 2 jobs and both clients were good, friendly, and professional.

I would be happy if I can work here for a long time.

Date of experience: August 2, 2020

Thumbnail of user seand307
Sri Lanka
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 9th, 2020

Upwork is one of the best platforms for remote work and coordination. The customer service is excellent. The platform offers opportunity for freelancers from various backgrounds. Upwork is trustworthy and easy to use. The interface is one of the best for clients and freelancers.

Date of experience: December 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user robink31
India
1 review
12 helpful votes
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November 24th, 2015

Upwork is full of scammers and cheap clients who are paying penny's for the work. Upwork nowhere stands in front of Elance. UI is horrible and you are unable to find-out which client is good or which is bad.

Please avoid this down-market platform.

Date of experience: November 24, 2015

Thumbnail of user richardt1037
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 28th, 2020

I love Upwork, it changed my life for good. Actually not only for me but for my entire family. Because of the opportunities im gettng in Upwork from time to time, I can provide necessary things and earn a bit at the same time.

Date of experience: October 28, 2020

Thumbnail of user davidl270
Nevada
1 review
7 helpful votes
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March 17th, 2016

I have spent millions of dollars on ELance. Being forced to leave sucks. I think I will hire someone on Upwork to replace Upwork. It sucks. Running side-by-side searches, upwork does not have as good results. Then they try to sell you 20% fees. And they raise all the other fees from 8 to 10 %... sucks!

Date of experience: March 17, 2016

Thumbnail of user jf710
Portugal
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 13th, 2022

Upwork works!
And this is already a huge issue. Furthermore, they have a support team that is ready to help and solve any problems you may have whether with the platform, clients or payments. Just ask for help. Another advantage is vastity of clients you may find, and work with.

After this, and once the platform provides you with a lot of information about previous works from those clients, and others, you really get to choose if that´s a good fit for you, or not. Follow the rules, and you´ll be able to build a professional path.
Thank you, Upwork.

Date of experience: August 12, 2022

Thumbnail of user markw78
Japan
1 review
12 helpful votes
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December 19th, 2013

I was a paid eLance member for more than 6 years and then one day I received an email from eLance that they closed my account. It happened to me a few days ago. Elance will not explain *why* the account was closed. The email isn't specific. There was no warning. Elance did not alert me to any problems beforehand, did not give me the chance to correct whatever was wrong. Elance just closed the account.

Six years of membership fees and all the surcharge money eLance received from the jobs that were awarded to me, and then they close accounts without warning and without explanation.

Customer loyalty means nothing to eLance. Stay away from eLance!

Date of experience: December 19, 2013

Thumbnail of user coltonh27
Kansas
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 20th, 2021

I'm a freelancer on Upwork. I have been using Upwork for a little over a year. I love the marketplace for finding work. From small projects to long-term contracts Upwork is a place for freelancers to thrive.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: January 20, 2021

Thumbnail of user simarjeetk1
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 4th, 2021

After working on my portfolio I just applied for a job on upwork and I instantly got the job and it was great working experience i have on upwork. Its easy, secure and reliable source of income for freelancers.

Date of experience: April 4, 2021

Thumbnail of user zeshanz1
Saudi Arabia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 10th, 2020

I love this platform. I work here as a freelancer and I think this platform is going to change the online work market sooner or later for the good. This platform has very unique hidden potential and many mutually shared benefits for the freelancers, the professionals, and the clients.
It is going to be better and better with the passage of time. The feedback system after each job is very active and good.

Date of experience: December 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user jamersonp
Ohio
1 review
5 helpful votes
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January 28th, 2020

At first it looks a promising place for a small business to hire a professional. Once post a job, their support cancels account stating that it is violating Terms of Service. Not specifying how and what exactly is violating TOS. Support is terrible and fails to address the issue.

Date of experience: January 28, 2020

Thumbnail of user linak15
California
1 review
5 helpful votes
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July 31st, 2019

We won the arbitration against the upwork freelancer but upwork did not refund the money after many weeks we were granted the award from american arbitration association confirming refund of $1,626 but have not received the credit from Upwork after 4 weeks

Date of experience: July 31, 2019

Thumbnail of user coden
Washington
1 review
10 helpful votes
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June 24th, 2018

Read the bad reviews and you'll know everything you need to know about UpWork. This form requires me to type a minimum of 100 characters. So I'll repeat: Read the bad reviews and you'll know everything you need to know about UpWork.

Date of experience: June 24, 2018

Thumbnail of user sonuj
India
2 reviews
4 helpful votes
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April 29th, 2014

Its safe working over here. Its much better then freelnacer.com because after project competition there is always a risk that money reversal can happen and because of that we are always at loss, we give all the work to them and in the end money belongs to you which seems unfair. Some change defiantly is required in your policy which is unfair towards freelancer who actually work on it. Because of your policy we have lost around 300$. This thing is never traced on elance. Good site to work :)

Date of experience: April 29, 2014

Thumbnail of user arpita8
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 24th, 2020

They let you have all the ease of the work and you don't need to bother about anything but work. They take care of everything else. You find the work you love, get selected for the work and that is it.

Date of experience: October 24, 2020

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