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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 usielr
Nicaragua
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 25th, 2021

Upwork is the 100% recommended platform for freelancers and companies seeking staff for remote work, in my experience on this platform I can recommend it for its accuracy and continuous improvements

Service
Value
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Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 24, 2021

Thumbnail of user michaelp3294
New York
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 11th, 2021

Easily the best platform to find and be talent. No arbitrary barriers to entry like TopTal--just a community of people with skills and portfolios to show their abilities regardless of level.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: April 10, 2021

Thumbnail of user zikrys
Indonesia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 12th, 2020

Upwork is an professional platform for all freelancers. Since I've joined with Upwork, I can manage my own working time also family time.
Proud to be a professional freelancer on Upwork.

Date of experience: June 11, 2020

Thumbnail of user bryanb419
Nevada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 20th, 2021

Instead of a race to the bottom, up work is a race to the top with legitimate skill sets. It makes for the perfect platform to establish yourself is a rising star in you respective industry.

Date of experience: January 20, 2021

Thumbnail of user carriem56
Texas
2 reviews
5 helpful votes
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March 17th, 2016

Don't use this website if you are smart! I shouldve read the reviews before I signed up with this company! They are a joke. Majority of people on this site posting ads are scam artist and or identity thieves! Upwork help and support team is a joke and they don't uphold anything they say in any way shape or form. This site is EXTREMELY UNETHICAL AND THEY ENABLE PEOPLE TO SCREW YOU OVER AND THEY ARE RIGHT ALONG SIDE OF THE SCAMMERS! DON'T SAY i DIDN'T WARN YOU... GUARANTEED YOU'LL BE HERE WRITING A REVIEW LIKE THIS.

Date of experience: March 17, 2016

Thumbnail of user mushtaqk3
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 2nd, 2021
Verified purchase

I am a freelancer and doing a job on multiple online platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, I heard from someone that Upwork is a very good platform for online work then I tried Upwork for an online job and then I have got my first job within 1 week and Upwork is a very professional for an online job.

Tip for consumers:
You can hire easily a professional freelancer to complete your job at low cost worldwide.

Products used:
Online job and platform, not a product platform

Service
Value
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Returns
Quality

Date of experience: January 2, 2021

Thumbnail of user wtikendrajeets
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 19th, 2021
Verified purchase

Upwork is a best platform to show your skills and learn and develop experience with genuine clients. It gives an experience to explore our knowledge and improving our skills.

Date of experience: June 19, 2021

Thumbnail of user fatimai15
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 11th, 2021

I have found Upwork the most authentic and great platform. This platform is full of amazing opportunities and I am glad to be a part of the Upwork family.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: March 11, 2021

Thumbnail of user weeshook
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 17th, 2022

I like him too because I worked with him. Such a great and honest freelancer.I impressed him. This person did my work on time.i will like work with him whole life

Date of experience: November 17, 2022

Thumbnail of user saileshd
Nepal
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 25th, 2021

Upwork is a great freelancing platform. I have found genuine clients and have been working in this platform without any problems. I highly recommend this platform for freelancing.

Date of experience: March 25, 2021

Thumbnail of user matthewb1378
Arizona
1 review
1 helpful vote
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December 2nd, 2021
Verified purchase

After months being ghosted, time and time again by the programmer that I hired to do the
Job, I have absolutely nothing whatsoever to show for it. I am out $1060. That, BTW, is
Above my budget for the work. The programmer spent months dropping out contact (ghosting
Me). He talked a good a game, promised to make Filemaker & Wordpress do everything I could
Want.

Over the months since job inception, he would disappear, for lengths of time, running out
The clock on Upwork's "terms of service". Excuses ranged from, "I lost my mobile
Number", "I lost my phone", "I got Covid", all of which ran out TOS. His phone number
Changed twice. After weeks of silence, he responded, and told me that all was ready, that
He would call me back the next morning and show off the work. I called him, the call
Dropped, and after a month of silence there (I was calling and sending messages), I
Realized I got scammed.

Tip for consumers:
AVOID. What passes for customer support is a bad joke. The "Jobbers" are unvetted, anyone using this site to find a programmer should be prepared to get conned.

Products used:
None. I contracted programming services. Instead I got scammed.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: December 2, 2021

Thumbnail of user nhann11
Viet Nam
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 8th, 2021

With a professional way to bid a project and the freelancer and the customer will be able to discuss about the project before deciding if they want to work together.

Date of experience: January 7, 2021

Thumbnail of user ml156
California
1 review
4 helpful votes
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August 7th, 2016

I find this intriguing to say the least! I closed my account within one hour simply because of a typo. Yes, thats righta typo.
You see, when you begin the sign up process with Upwork, if you make a mistake on your real name, you cant go back that one step and fix it, as you are caught in a loop of the process. I didnt think much of it, figuring that I could always go back and edit my typo in my nameI typed Micahel, reversing the a and the h.
Guess what? Couldnt be done! I searched and searched and tried to find a customer service CONTACT form or emailno such luck. So after spending a ridiculous amount of time that on any other LEGIT site (like freelancer) would have taken 30 seconds, I decided that if they cant provide me with a contact method, I dont need them, because what if I have issues with a client?
After reading ALL the MASSIVE number of complaints here, I know I made the RIGHT decision.

Date of experience: August 7, 2016

Thumbnail of user grigr
Germany
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 11th, 2020

I have been on the platform for less than a month and it has saved me financially! Due to COVID-19 my business suffered but now it's been better than ever.

Date of experience: August 11, 2020

Thumbnail of user muhammada278
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 4th, 2020

I feel Upwork is one of the best platform for freelancers. Payment is secured. The customer service department of Upwork is unparalleled. Brilliant CS.

Date of experience: June 4, 2020

Thumbnail of user asadullaha2
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 4th, 2020

Upwork is the best online professionals platform where you can get anything done virtually. I work as a web developer and I have been able to work with the best clients throughout the world.

Date of experience: August 4, 2020

Thumbnail of user non203
Colorado
1 review
13 helpful votes
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February 1st, 2019

If you are a freelancer and have two goals: build up your resume and/or your portfolio and you would like to make money doing so - Do NOT use Upwork.com. You can do better elsewhere.

Date of experience: February 1, 2019

Thumbnail of user adityat10
India
1 review
1 helpful vote
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March 9th, 2021

Upwork is my goto website to find new work.
Talk to clients and work on some amazing projects.

It helps me send direct contracts to external clients too.
Everything is so very well organised.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: March 9, 2021

Thumbnail of user bethanyw46
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 15th, 2020

I have been a freelance writer on Upwork for over 4 years now and have honestly been very lucky. Within the first month of looking on the platform (back in 2016, much has changed since then), I found a steady client to work with and the work helped me support my medical recovery at the time. Now, I'm able to work from anywhere in the world and work with clients from all over the world!

There are obviously downsides to every platform (particularly concerning % fees), and you have to be smart about what clients you accept and to vet projects the best you can. I've had a few unpleasant clients, but I have always chosen to have their best interest in mind, including if the project should come to a close.

I've enjoyed the perks of my hard labor (and over 37 jobs over the past 4 years), as now I've been able to hold my status as a top-rated freelancer for a long time. With that status, great clients find me and I rarely have to use connects for a new job proposal.

I personally think the key to success on this platform is to trust your gut on whether a client is a good fit for you. I've been asked to join projects that just didn't feel right, and those were always the ones that didn't go well. Upwork is great as a platform if you're building up your portfolio, or looking for a way to work from home. I continue to recommend it to friends, and they've also been successful on the platform!

Date of experience: May 14, 2020

Thumbnail of user astinen
Armenia
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 17th, 2020

I am in upwork 1-2 year, but have only good experience,
If you keep their privacy and terms of use and do a good job for clients,
You will always have great clients there.

Date of experience: September 16, 2020

Thumbnail of user meeshal
North Carolina
1 review
12 helpful votes
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January 19th, 2016

I have done quite a bit of work through Upwork and the one thing that rings true through all of my work is the lack of pay. I was writing for one online paper and earning only $1.50 per 400 word article. I took the job only for the by-line. I kept my work, and that was very important to me. The major drawback was the amount of time I spent researching the articles I was writing. I would spend 3/4 of my day doing research for between 2 and 4 articles each day.
I have since been asked to do many, MANY jobs that pay less than $1 per 100 words. I am not going to spend my precious time researching an article to make that amount of money. Being a writer is something that is part of who we are. It is an art and we should be paid accordingly.
I will also say that the number of scam artists on this site is staggering! I have been approached by a group trying to get my bank information at least 8 times in 6 months. You have to be so careful with these people, it is really easy to get fooled. And, the first time I got scammed, Upwork suspended MY account because they said I didn't perform the job correctly! I do not like having to research each job because the scammers are so prevalent. All I can say, honestly, is do your research, get what you are worth! Don't take a job just because you will get the by-line, I learned my lesson on that one.

Date of experience: January 19, 2016

Thumbnail of user jamik25
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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March 26th, 2021

Very very good platform for freelancers. I have started working on Upwork from February 2021 and I get some orders on Upwork and I started earning on it. Best services.

Service
Quality

Date of experience: March 26, 2021

Thumbnail of user alexm1352
Ukraine
1 review
1 helpful vote
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March 8th, 2021

It's a good place to work, an individual can work on as per their choice, skills and for the Projects. I felt that I am the owner of my own work and have my great work-life balance.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: March 7, 2021

Thumbnail of user rachell191
Australia
1 review
14 helpful votes
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March 5th, 2017

Upwork it the worst platform I have every hired anyone over. My freelancer was cancelled/terminated on the Upwork platform and I was notified after. I spend over $4,110 with this freelancer and now that Upwork terminated him with no notice to be prior, he was not responding to me SO NONE OF MY WORK WAS HANDED OVER to me that I had been paying him a per-hourly rate for. I have been back and forth with upwork and they tell me this is not their responsibility. I told them that since he was hourly paid, he had all the work with him and it needs to be given to me or I want to be refunded by them. Fat chance of that. They also delete all my comments on INSTAGRAM and and BLOCKED my instagram account as they don't want anyone knowing how they operate. Funny, as the comments clients/freelancers write about each other cannot be edited due to the 'honest review' policy. But this doesn't apply to reviews on their own platform in regards to Upwork.

Date of experience: March 5, 2017

Thumbnail of user darrenb48
Australia
5 reviews
15 helpful votes
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December 8th, 2016

Paid a so called electronics engineer to design a PCB only to find it didn't work after getting a quantity made up lost thousands
But the freelancer is still working via upwork
Perhaps it should be called upscam

Date of experience: December 8, 2016

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