- Log in
- Browse Businesses
- Guides
- Resources
- Write a Review
- Request a Review
- Backed by the National Science Foundation
- For Business
Upwork has a rating of 2.5 stars from 2,120 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.
This company does not typically respond to reviews
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.
I've been on Upwork for a month and now I want to leave. In the past month, I've submitted 18 proposals, but only 5 were even viewed. Out of the 4 clients who contacted me: 2 asked me to register on a suspicious virtual currency website (I flagged these posts, but they keep messaging me). 1 wanted to pay outside of Upwork and ghosted me when I insisted on a contract. 1 rejected me for a reason that contradicts their own job posting (they require freelancers from City A & City B, and I'm in City A!). Upwork support told me connects aren't refunded for unresponsive clients or unfair rejections. I understand the challenge of building a reputation without prior reviews since the platform is designed to perpetuate a frustrating cycle: no reviews, no contracts, no reviews. However, the problem already goes beyond just lacking reviews. Despite targeting jobs well within my expertise, most of my proposals aren't even viewed. I accept rejections if they are due to my profile or skills, but the constant stream of scam messages and wasted connects on unviewed proposals is unacceptable. Investing time and resources into a platform that seems rigged against new users is demoralizing. I'm not opposed to fair competition, but Upwork's current system creates unnecessary obstacles for those trying to build a freelance career. This, combined with the prevalence of unresponsive and unscrupulous clients, has led me to give up on this platform.
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.
Date of experience: December 14, 2015
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
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!
Date of experience: February 3, 2021
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
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!
Date of experience: August 8, 2020
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
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
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
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
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
Elance got me started writing professionally. I made sure my proposals stood out from the rest… And I was able to gain a couple of good writing jobs that have been paying very well. There is a lot of competition on Elance but if you take the time to write a good proposal and show them just what you can do then you should be able to get what you're looking for.
The fee they receive is a little bit high but if it wasn't for elance I wouldn't be making the money that I am making today.
Date of experience: February 21, 2015
I had my 5 star account closed without any warning. I was informed that my client satisfaction was low and they would not reconsider my account. That was in September. Since then I have had numerous emails from them telling me that my account satisfaction is low and I should try to improve it. The latest email states that I need to pay a client back $9 as they found I had not completed the job to satisfaction. Fine. I just wanted Elance out of my life so I agreed to pay. Now I have been told I need to do a wire transfer as they don't accept PayPal. So I need to pay $45 in fees and drive a 4 hour round trip to sort out a money transfer. Yeah right. Elance can go jump in a lake.
Date of experience: November 18, 2015
Recently, hired the team from India and it ended up $#*!ty and not completed project I have complained about the freelancer to upwork and they could not help. And I have ended my project and tried to get the files that has been so far and I have paid 90% of the total project cost. And upwork could not even helped to the files. They kept say "We understand your situation blah blah " but nothing was use-full. I have left feedback for the freelancer and I did not know that freelancer can delete the client's feed which was worse than I expected UPWORK"S service.
Date of experience: April 10, 2022
I'm now a 1 year upworker and still working on some of my clients before, will continue working on this platform for the security of payment and also build and develop my skills as a video editor and graphic artist.
Date of experience: October 31, 2020
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.
Date of experience: February 27, 2022
Hello,
For the individuals that read my last review. I wanted to post the link again for app opera. I believe that this can be a better alternative to Elance for both the customers and the developers. This company will take your comments and suggestions seriously because they want to provide world class service to their customers. I was very impressed with their service. Below is the link
www.appopera.com
Date of experience: August 26, 2015
I am a Front-end developer. I was doing job 9-5. After that, I decided to leave the job and started full-time freelancing. On startup, 2-3 months were tough and hard to survive. But after that, I won more jobs on Upwork and did hard work to get a Top Rated Badge on Upwork.
Thank you, Upwork to give us the freedom of freelancing.
Nirmal Singh
Date of experience: November 24, 2020
Upwork strictly selects freelancers to the apply to the exchange. Next, verifies the freelancer via video communication. This helps to validate the competence of the freelancer. Therefore, real proffessionals work with clients. I recommend all employers to post job on this platform
Date of experience: December 22, 2020
I have only good experience on Upwork. Its great platform for remote work. Getting jobs or finding freelancers to help to work on stuff that you need is realy easy. Freelances on Upwork have lot of opportunities to find various jobs that they need.
Date of experience: December 10, 2020
After contacting Elance to discuss a Freelancer who behaved, in my opinion, in a very unprofessional manner and supplying screenshots as requested, Elance informed me that they would most likely NOT provide me with the outcome of the review of the problem. Useful? No...
Date of experience: September 2, 2015
1. Too expensive. 20% on the freelancer's side + some % on employer side + 1% transfer fee + monthly payment
2. Can't upload files more than 20M in the 'submit job' form, although can upload big file in the chat.
3. Have to pay $3500 to quit Upwork with a client
Date of experience: November 9, 2018
I am using Upwork for some time now and I am quite happy to say that it is the best platform for those who have the skill and who want to earn online by providing their services.
The only concern that I have with Upwork is their policy is a bit too strict about Job success score (JSS). Otherwise, I am quite happy with the services Upwork is providing. I will definitely recommend to all those who have tried many different ways to earn online that should try Upwork.
Tip for consumers:
Never gave up, just work hard and try try again. Harder, you fall higher you bounce.
Products used:
I sell my services
Date of experience: March 30, 2021
I am a freelancer who occasionally uses Upwork. I was ripped off last week by a client who canceled my contract and asked Upwork not to pay me. I protested this action to Upwork and requested arbitration. My protest was denied because "I had not taken notes on the work that I was doing." Upwork has screen shots of my work plus a copy of the completed work yet used a technicality to avoid payment. It is my belief that THERE IS NO ARBITRATION. Upwork will always side with the client. I placed a call to a "Dispute Resolution Specialist" who knew only enough to read from a prepared script. He was, of course, in India and had no ability whatsoever to interpret the dispute. I gave Upwork two stars instead of one because their website is at least much easier to use than others.
Date of experience: September 6, 2016
I am Recommending work on Upwork because they have nice and high quality of supporting for us as a freelancers and gives us all the attention to make our experience in their website extremely excellent, I love Upwork very much.
Date of experience: September 2, 2020
I've been work in Upwork (previously oDesk) for 8 years and they have been very helpful for me as a freelancer and I love that they are working to improve their platform and satisfy both sides (clients and freelancers).
I feel more and more comfortable working on Upwork and I am more and more satisfied with their assistance.
Date of experience: December 9, 2020
Find freelancers and freelance jobs on Upwork - the world's largest online workplace where savvy businesses and professional freelancers go to work!
