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    Upwork

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 7th among Freelancing sites.

  • Service
    477
  • Value
    459
  • Shipping
    253
  • Returns
    289
  • Quality
    453

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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 mdasifn
Bangladesh
1 review
0 helpful votes
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January 10th, 2021

This site really the best site for freelancer after opening my account here within 7 days I get my first order it's every time provide me what should I need to do to make a right profile to getting job easily and Am so happy to part of Upwork family. If you a freelancer feel free to join.

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Value
Shipping
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Quality

Date of experience: January 9, 2021

Thumbnail of user hocined2
Algeria
3 reviews
22 helpful votes
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November 12th, 2020

This website helps scammers to steal your money, an Indian scammer scammed me and Upwork told me "we can't force him to refund you" can you believe this? What a joke!

Edit: After 4 months, I was able to get all of the money back after I opened a claim with my bank account.
Btw, PayPal didn't help me at all.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: November 12, 2020

Thumbnail of user johnc5609
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 26th, 2020

Upwork promotes mostly freelance work so those who wish to become a freelancer must have a certain set of skills that can be the common factor to be hired by clients. Upwork is also supportive with our work because of their online seminars which is important especially for students like me.

Date of experience: November 26, 2020

Thumbnail of user sharyarv
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 11th, 2021

I had been working over different freelancing platform to showcase my talent and to learn a lot new in my field through the different levels of challenges and task faced by people around. I gladly say that upwork provides the best of the platform and support for this case. They have a secure and well established system that not only helps us to get or required work but also gets the freelancer pay for what they have put effort into.
Highly recommend this platform to newbies having a skill they want to showcase to the world along with benefits from it.

Service
Value
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: February 9, 2021

Thumbnail of user tanujar
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 19th, 2022

I have been freelancing for over a decade on this platform and there's no looking back. It's the best place to connect with a global community. Find the perfect work-life balance with flexi-timings to juggle between work and family. Be your own boss.

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Value
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Quality

Date of experience: May 18, 2022

Thumbnail of user carinab21
Tennessee
1 review
0 helpful votes
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February 8th, 2021

Upwork.com is a perfect landing spot for the new freelancer. It offers a free membership, which allows you to communicate with potential clients, submit proposals, and accept new jobs. Upwork offers freelancers protection against clients who fail to pay or refuse to communicate. They guide freelancers through the process of building their profile and even suggest jobs based on freelancer input. I only rated it 4 stars because the free account has limitations, and they take a percentage off of the top of any income. For example, a posted $40/hr rate nets the freelancer $32/hr. Upwork takes the other $8.

Products used:
Freelance account.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: February 8, 2021

Thumbnail of user siddhartham
India
1 review
15 helpful votes
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November 22nd, 2016

I was top rated and job success score was 95%. Suddenly I got email that there are some irregular activities in my account and there after they simply suspended my account for ever. That time I had around 900$ balance all they ate. Such a greedy people I have never seen before.

So many times I send email to know the actual cause of policy violation but every time they reply with a nonsense statement " The decision is final and they cannot tell the actual cause"

People are so arrogant, rude and unprofessional.

Date of experience: November 22, 2016

Thumbnail of user amritac3
Bangladesh
1 review
0 helpful votes
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November 11th, 2020

I am really grateful to be a part of Upwork as a freelancer. Now I can support my family financially. Upwork completely changed my lifestyle. I will never forget your existence in life! Keep up good work and kick the fraud client from the marketplace. Thank you.

Date of experience: November 10, 2020

Thumbnail of user sarahn368
Spain
1 review
0 helpful votes
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August 20th, 2020

I love Upwork! Sure, it is competitive but with prompt and well-written proposals you can win projects. I don't much like the Job Success % Score and the mysterious ways it is adjusted (idle contracts are damaging etc) but the interaction with Upwork has been extremely good and I have faith in the people running the show that they do care about working/hiring experiences. The reporting tools for tax etc could be improved (I have made suggestions!) but the financials are good quality. I rate Upwork as the best platform, beating Guru, PeoplePerHour and Freelancer.com hands down!

Date of experience: August 19, 2020

Thumbnail of user jamess7013
Kenya
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 8th, 2022

Generally, Upwork is great, especially when dealing with clients that know their requirements beforehand. Upwork links you with clients that are of high value and professional. There are a few clients who just don't know what they want and it's our responsibility to break down the descriptions to them but there are a few of them who end up assigning the job without expert advice which eventually leads to misunderstanding and bad reviews.

Products used:
Jobs

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Date of experience: September 8, 2022

Thumbnail of user davidg2542
New Hampshire
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 16th, 2020

UpWork helped me transition away from the office without a lot of knowledge about contacts, invoicing, etc. I strongly recommend UpWork as a way to get your career started in the remote/freelance game.

Tip for consumers:
Build a track record of success by completing a few simple jobs quickly at the beginning. This will boost your rankings and help you start inbounding leads faster (instead of needing to chase down every job). Eventually, your best opportunities will come through invitations to interview.

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: June 16, 2020

Thumbnail of user awaisa17
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 13th, 2020

Very great Platform for freelancers. Professional clients and they know what is their work requirement.

I have read all the Upwork job success ratio policies but didn't know only a small thing(Inactivity in the contract) will gonna have a great impact on job success score. I have done multiple projects and completed them successfully but I have some contracts which were not ended by the client and I also didn't end them because there were possibilities that the client would hire me again but that small factor of inactivity brings my job success score to 80% even I have done all jobs successfully with good reviews and that disappoints me very much.
Just a suggestion Upwork should remind the freelancers if something gonna leave a bad impact on the job success ratio like reminding freelancers for closing the contract in which there has been inactivity. Hopefully I will recover my job success score as I have got some new projects.

Date of experience: October 12, 2020

Thumbnail of user asifi16
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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October 31st, 2020

I have multiple skills from enterprise development to cloud solutions consultancy to simple web/mobile apps. And among various online work providers, only Upwork offers opportunities for my varied skills in almost every domain. The initial entry and profile development process is tough but once you pass through the initial hurdles, sky is the limit.

Date of experience: October 31, 2020

Thumbnail of user mariar1432
VE
1 review
0 helpful votes
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April 5th, 2021

UpWork is an amazing freelancing platform to work in, while providing professional growth, it also empowers your self-promotion skills by connecting your services to different businesses globally with the best digital tools.

I reommend anyone looking to develop as an independant professional to join UpWork and discover a whole new professional version of itself.

Date of experience: April 4, 2021

Thumbnail of user magdalinek2
Kenya
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 10th, 2020

Whether your hustle on thus platform is your main source of income or a side business to put some extra cash in your pocket, Upwork is the best place to be. It not only gives everyone an opportunity to make money but allows you to meet people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. I'd recommend anyone with a marketable skill to try Upwork, you won't be disappointed.

Date of experience: June 10, 2020

Thumbnail of user lesterf14
Illinois
1 review
4 helpful votes
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March 21st, 2016

UPwork is a total rip-off. Two weeks and $160 hours later, I find out that the project my programmer said he can do, is still not fixed and there is no hope that he can fix it. If you value your blood pressure and your wallet, do not use this system... there is a reason they are so cheap... to scam you into using them.

Add Upwork to the latest scams on the Internet along with diet fads, and get rich quick schemes...(except for them... they are probably laughing all the way to the bank.)

Date of experience: March 21, 2016

Thumbnail of user hamzan6
Pakistan
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
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October 19th, 2020

One of the top freelancing and agency running platforms, it is not only focused on individual earning like all other platforms, instead, but they also offer you to create your agency, get people hired under your agency name, have their earnings separately and with hourly protection - you get what you worked on, I like the equality of importance this platform gives to both contractor as well as the client. It's about dedication, learning and interest one puts in their upwork career to make them a successful candidate. I find upwork as the number 1 platform in freelancing!

Date of experience: October 19, 2020

Thumbnail of user bojanj4
Serbia
1 review
14 helpful votes
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November 8th, 2020

Even I recently started my career on Upwork, I feel that this is right place to successfully reach my goals, such learning new things, have good contacts and of course get paid. Support is great, community is large and if you follow the rules you are totally safe. The only drawback can be a difficult start for new members, so I think that support in the sense of a larger number of connects or a smaller commission would be a great thing. Anyway, a recommendation!

Date of experience: November 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user ricks689
New York
1 review
5 helpful votes
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August 20th, 2019

Do not stay in Upwork.
I used the Upwork very loosely.
I can not convey strongly enough how disgusting and how many freelancer's blood Upwork is stained by.
Rude staff, endless loading, unstable payment, ridiculous policy, a lot of fake clients and jobs, surprise freelancer hunting.
In summary. This place is a complete hell.
Stayed September 2019

Date of experience: August 20, 2019

Thumbnail of user gauravs103
India
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 10th, 2020

One of the best platform for both freelancers and clients.
I know there are some issues with upwork but it is far better than others and trust me upwork is improving day by day to providing quality services.

Date of experience: December 9, 2020

Thumbnail of user ivelinai2
Bulgaria
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 22nd, 2020

I'm really happy with my Upwork experience so far! I left my job around a year ago and my income is coming only from Upwork. They have great features and maintain awesome customer assurances for both freelancers and clients. The downside is that it's an open marketplace so literally everyone can join as a freelancer or client, which unfortunately leads to tons of unqualified clients or scam freelancers. However, I do think that this is not the platform's fault, and I believe that any qualified person can find awesome clients to work with. I have!

Date of experience: December 22, 2020

Thumbnail of user soniam35
Serbia
1 review
15 helpful votes
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October 23rd, 2016

They have deleted my account for no real reason and I was unable to talk to the customer service. They kept sending me the same email repeating themselves like a broken record. What a bunch of idiots. They treat freelancers like crap. There are also clients who are not serious and never invite any person to the job they post. You invest your time to write a personalized job offer and get nothing. Also, there is a small number of clients willing to pay more than 5$/hour.

Date of experience: October 23, 2016

Thumbnail of user saifh9
Bangladesh
1 review
0 helpful votes
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May 30th, 2022
Verified purchase

Upwork have helped me to jump start my career in this pandemic. Though there were few bumps on the road and few more on the way but I am glad I stuck with Upwork.
It challenges me to continuously improve my skills and add more to my arsenal in order to keep up with the intensely competitive market.
If you are confident in your ability to learn and adapt, this platform is highly recommended.

Tip for consumers:
If you are looking for work, make sure you have a good portfolio and good communication ability in English.
Additionally try to follow the Upwork forum where you will get tips on how to improve yourself and land on a job.

Good Luck!

Products used:
Getting freelancing contracts.

Date of experience: May 28, 2022

Thumbnail of user mohameds135
Egypt
1 review
13 helpful votes
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July 8th, 2020

Upwork is a great and safe place for freelancer work with tons of opportunities, potential and challenges of different kinds and sizes. You just be patient and look wisely to find them. They also have a great customer service, nice community and resources to support your success. The website and mobile app are easy to use and makes me in most of the time able to bid for new opportunities while in bed or relaxing on my couch!

Tip for consumers:
Be patient at the beginning and you will find great success and opportunities on Upwork.

Products used:
Freelancer work.

Service
Value

Date of experience: July 8, 2020

Thumbnail of user bilaliqbalm
Pakistan
1 review
0 helpful votes
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June 11th, 2022
Verified purchase

Upwork is just life changing opportunity in terms of financial stability not only for the seller but for it's whole family they respect you and always play there role to serve you as much as you can
That's why buyers can get an outstanding experice to get their work done

Service
Value
Quality

Date of experience: June 10, 2022

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