business logo of Upwork

Upwork

How would you rate Upwork?
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star
RU
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Gennady K.
Unfollow Gennady K.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I went to work on the platform Upwork (then it was called oDesk) from platform Elance in 2015. Gradually gaining experience in communicating with customers and in software development, I gained confidence in the future. I see the movement of the platform Upwork in the direction of improvement of work with clients and freelancers. I hope that my work with Upwork will last a very long time.

Date of experience: December 10, 2020
California
3 reviews
14 helpful votes
Follow Free L.
Unfollow Free L.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Let's see...
January 26, 2014

Let's see... I pay elance.com a monthly fee to apply for jobs, if I want to apply to more than 40 jobs a month... Hmm, I average 30 applications on oDesk to land one gig (now, oDesk was purchased by eLance...)... STOP! Paying a monthly fee as a poor freelancer to apply for jobs that take a % fee that were posted by multibillion $ corporations is just a way wrong business model. Period. STAY AWAY from pay-to-play.

Date of experience: January 25, 2014
California
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Clientele S.
Unfollow Clientele S.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Elance was a good place to work for both clients and freelancers. UpWork, on the other hand, is absolutely terrible. Not only is it the WORST freelancing platform, but it seems like generally worst place to work online.

Scams, bugs, bugs, more scams, upselling, lead generation, scam, bugs, and more bugs.

Support is the worst I've seen. They promise you the world and literally don't do anything.

Incompetent, completely lacking logic, and feels like it was developed as a high school project - I've done better in my first year of programming.

DO NOT SIGN UP to UpWork - promote better platforms out there, and let UpWork die the slow death that it deserves.

Date of experience: April 17, 2016
Nigeria
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow samuEL A.
Unfollow samuEL A.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I couldn't think of a title but will, when I get to the end of this review.
We live in an era when humans feel more isolated than connected.

Covid-19 made sure of that.
It came with blessings - Family. Spending time with family and really connecting with them.
The Family is a Unit or Node. Every Family on Earth are Billions of Nodes.
If every family is happy and in turn billions of nodes happy, The Earth is Happy, No more wars - one day!

The Business of Upwork is in making sure that we all while seemingly being disconnected or isolated, are connected with remote work we love to do while being with the people we love.

Upwork helps to facilitate and support your growth.
As a Freelancer on Upwork, all you need is to be professional, honest, mature and play by the rules.

If you do a great Job, your work touches lives of people in remote parts of the world.
So Upwork provides you with a delivery mechanism for you to touch the world.

Date of experience: October 10, 2020
Texas
1 review
11 helpful votes
Follow Lesson L.
Unfollow Lesson L.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Fees, fees and then more fees... after a freelancer submits all of their information.
In addition to charging 20% of anything earned, Upwork.com (or UpCHARGE.com) charges $1 for each job applied for. If it looks like a scam and smells like a scam...

Date of experience: March 17, 2017
Malaysia
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Salama A.
Unfollow Salama A.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

They approve payment to freelancer without my approval and the freelancer did not do the job nicely. And the help center asking me to pay 290usd to help me to get the money back. I hate their help center. IF you going to use upwork do not pay dispute money without the job complete so they can not steal your money. Guys use separate credit card for the payments just use the exact amount.

Date of experience: December 27, 2016
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Ali R.
Unfollow Ali R.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

The world around us is changing and our workspaces are evolving. Upwork has provided us with the perfect platform, according to the constantly evolving technology, to connect businesses and business owners with freelancers.

Date of experience: September 16, 2020
India
1 review
8 helpful votes
Follow Shatendra K.
Unfollow Shatendra K.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I have not violation any rules issues by work but my upwork account suspended due to submitted proposals for jobs. Freelancing work is the part of sending proposals and Upwork suspended my account for sending proposals; What a non-sense decision from upwork. Really BAD and POOR decision from upwork.

Also I am not able to withdraw my money(USD $380) from upwork account to my bank.

Guys beware about upwork fraud. Please do not use this site/company.
This is Fraud and Scam company. I will report to FBI and upwork will suspend.

Please contact here to report FBI:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.upwork.com#299

Upwork name will be Downwork.

Date of experience: January 31, 2017
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Shilpa M.
Unfollow Shilpa M.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Agreat onlne marketplace for freelancer to make carrier. Great site with great help. You no need to worry about bringing clients, looking for job. What you have to do is sit with your comfort and logged in upwork.

Date of experience: July 26, 2020
Nicaragua
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Silvia N.
Unfollow Silvia N.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I recommend you to work with Upwork 100%. As a freelancer from Central America, I have been able to connect and do business with companies in the US very successfully, creating many new opportunities for my work life and increasing my income. Helping businesses and their owners to achieve their goals and creating long term business relationships is very easy and fair with Upwork. I highly recommend business owners to find the professional talent they need for their business on Upwork. You wont regret it! Freelancers around the world Upwork is the future; Work smart and create the life you want using this amaizing tool.

Benefits for freelancers
*Payment protection
*Clear contracts terms
*International Clients
*Easy payment methods

Benefits for clients
*Qualify professional
*Reduce your operations cost
*Provide life changing opportunities
*Grow your team faster
*Easy payroll execution

And more

Silvia N

Date of experience: October 26, 2021
Mauritius
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Aiyaar O.
Unfollow Aiyaar O.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork is a very good platform and very secure platform for freelancers.
I love Upwork, I want to become Top rated freelancer on Upwork because I love to work from my home and have more and more clients to work with.

Date of experience: October 2, 2020
Alabama
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Brian V.
Unfollow Brian V.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

This is pretty much a stab in the back for the hard work and dedication I had put into Elance. As with many of you we put in the extra effort to have our clients satisfied, thinking the result would be more business for the service we offer.

Out of the blue my account was under review with no explanation as to why, other than form letters. "Close out all your jobs" and then we will review. I strongly feel it did not matter what I did... something triggered my account to be shut down. I guess I will never know.

In the long run it is better off for me not having to deal with an unprofessional company that does not have the "Balls" to talk to me to give a reasonable explanation. I just have to apologize to all the people I have worked with who put the trust in me recommending Elance.

Brian Verigin, YahSuccessBlog.com

PS. Elance please stop sending me offers to bid on jobs... I do not have an account with you.

Date of experience: October 1, 2014
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Diane W.
Unfollow Diane W.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I had dreamed of being a published author since I was 12 years old, but I lacked the confidence to try. A friend introduced me to Upwork. It was so easy to submit proposals, and the clients genuinely valued my skills and talents. I liked that Upwork guaranteed payment, so clients couldn't rip me off. Upwork handled all the payroll and administrivia, so that I could concentrate on producing quality results for my clients. I love that I'm able to get quick answers to my questions via their online chat. Highly recommend Upwork!

Date of experience: July 30, 2020
India
2 reviews
4 helpful votes
Follow Ramya a.
Unfollow Ramya a.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Projects
October 16, 2017

I have previously worked at upwork as freelancer. It was good experience. But as I am a telecom engineer, I need more projects related to telecom. That's why I have at fieldengineer.com where I have many projects related to telecom industry.The perfect workforce solution for telecom companies. A platform specifically designed to hire a telecom engineer to work remotely

Date of experience: October 16, 2017
Viet Nam
1 review
4 helpful votes
Follow Otto K.
Unfollow Otto K.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

They are not worth even filling out the application to be freelancer. They ask the dumbest questions and are stricter than Hilter when it comes to qualifying for work. The will make it very difficult to even get past their registration form.
I found another freelancer site and found work immediately.
Forget even pursuing work through them, they are a sham.

Date of experience: February 21, 2020
Colorado
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Jenny V.
Unfollow Jenny V.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I accepted my first job on elance. Indian-based company paying $5/hour... I accepted it thinking I would do the job to get a rating. Big mistake.

This company is out of Mumbai and the guy was impossible to please. Said my work was of exceptional quality, then turned around at the end when I said I wouldn't do any more work until we renegotiated a new rate and gave me a 3.7 out of 5 rating.

That just ruins my rep for any future clients.

Client ratings are too subjective and the rates offered freelancers are way below market value. I would not recommend elance to anyone in the U.S. or, at best, only submit proposals to U.S. or European-based clients.

Date of experience: November 25, 2014
New York
1 review
6 helpful votes
Follow Leeky L.
Unfollow Leeky L.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I had an issue with a freelancer I hired going MIA. He got paid for 1/2 the job went and then went silent. Upwork is more concerned with keeping every dollar than admitting when something goes wrong and correcting it. You provide security for the freelancer but what security do the people and companies hiring these freelancers get? After months of dealing with the very unprofessional CS team they FINALY came to a resolution when they could't get in contact with the freelancer either. They were suppose to refund my money back to my credit card as I explicitly stated. They gave me a credit and it was used my another person on my team. HENCE ME EXPLICITLY stating refund back to the original form of payment.

Date of experience: September 25, 2017
Serbia
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Milos K.
Unfollow Milos K.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Since I started freelancing on Upwork, it was a continuous growth. I earned, I worked on exciting and challenging projects and I improved my skills range. I have tried to freelance on other platforms like Guru, Hubstaff, Freelancer, and Fiverr. Here are my reasons for the 5 stars feedback and why today I freelance ONLY on Upwork:
1. The largest number of clients and job postings (in my category-Illustration and graphic design).
2. Excellent feedback system which helps to select the best jobs and clients.
3. The best UI/UX design among marketplaces for freelancers.
4. Excellent contracting and payment system, protecting freelancers and clients both.
5. Upwork real-life meetings and events, so as webinars where you can hear a lot of interesting topics helpful for a better freelancing.

Date of experience: June 24, 2020
Canada
1 review
5 helpful votes
Follow Christopher B.
Unfollow Christopher B.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork rejected my application. I have superior writing capabilities and access to online databases like EBSCO Host. I could have brought excellent writing and content creation skills to the platform yet they rejected my application because they have too many writers. How is that possible? Why not let employers decide? I suspect they rejected me because I have started my own SaaS for business development, not at all in competition to Upwork. I guess I should have lied and showed myself to be less capable of delivering quallity writing and online content.

Date of experience: December 10, 2017
New Jersey
5 reviews
49 helpful votes
Follow Amanda J.
Unfollow Amanda J.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I was an Elancer for 6-years and LOVED it. I've been on Upwork for a year and make peanuts. The interface sucks, the job pay for most jobs suck, and while I get an occassional job, it is nothing worth bragging about. A recent issue with a client resulted in a $30 loss for me with agreement for the client from the start. I really hate the site but what can you do until you find one that is free like this one? I did write this book if anyone wants to look. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WQ3YFZ0

Date of experience: October 25, 2016

Overview

Upwork has a rating of 2.4 stars from 2,122 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Upwork most frequently mention customer service, credit card and job success. Upwork ranks 7th among Freelancing sites.

service
529
value
512
shipping
278
returns
323
quality
502
This company does not typically respond to reviews