Top Alternatives to Upwork for Finding Affordable Freelancers

Upwork is a platform where businesses, both big and small, can hire experienced freelancers to get important things done. Upwork is a great place to find affordable quality talent, but you should know that there are better Upwork alternatives ⇣ out there.

Whether you need UX or web design, WordPress development, or an enterprise-level software application, there are talented freelancers on Upwork who can get it done.

Top Upwork Alternatives in 2024

Are there better Upwork alternatives out there? Yes, there are. Here is a list of sites like Upwork to help you find good quality freelancers and talent to help your business grow.

At the end of this list, I have listed two of the worst freelance marketplaces you should avoid using at all costs.

1. Toptal (Hire the “Best-of-the-Best” Freelancers)

• Official website: www.toptal.com
• Hire the Top 3% talent from around the world.
• Only the best of the best vetted freelancers are allowed to join the platform.
• Read my detailed Toptal review here.

Why Use Toptal Instead of Upwork

If you want to hire the Top 3% of the talent available, then Toptal is the way to go.

Although freelancers on their platform are a bit more expensive than Upwork, they are one of the best at what they do and you can rest assured that they will get the work done and do it well.

On Toptal, you can hire expert freelancers in almost any industry, for example, you can hire:

• UX UI Designers
• Blockchain Consultants
• Data Scientists
• QA Engineers
• AI Designers
• Fractional CFOs
• Game Developers
• Scrum Masters

Why Use Upwork Instead of Toptal

If budget is a concern and you are okay with hiring less experienced freelancers, then Upwork is the way to go.

Summary: Toptal is a platform focused on connecting businesses with top-tier freelance professionals, particularly in software development, design, and finance. Its rigorous screening process ensures that clients are matched with highly-skilled and experienced freelancers, making it a go-to choice for high-quality work.

2. Fiverr (Cheaper Upwork Alternative)

• Official website: www.fiverr.com
• Known for cheap $5 services.
• Service categories range from Graphic Design to Podcast Hosting and Editing.

Why Use Fiverr Instead of Upwork

Fiverr.com is best when you want to get work done that doesn’t require much customization like Voiceovers, Animations, Simple Graphic Designs, Podcast Editing, etc.

Fiverr Pro offers top freelancers that are verified and hand-vetted for stellar quality and service.

Why Use Upwork Instead of Fiverr

If you want to get some custom work done, then Upwork is much better than Fiverr.

Summary: Fiverr is a diverse freelance marketplace offering services across various categories, with a unique selling proposition of low-cost gigs starting at just $5. It attracts businesses and individuals seeking cost-effective and efficient solutions for tasks ranging from graphic design to content creation.

3. Freelancer.com (Best for Cost-Effective Experts)

• Official website: www.freelancer.com
• Access to 32 million professional freelancers.
• Allows design contests where you can pick the design you like the most.

Why Use Freelancer.com instead of Upwork

Freelancer, as one of the best Upwork competitors, offers access to more freelancers than Upwork. You also get to post design contests where freelancers from around the world post design work and you reward the designer whose work you like the most.

Why Use Upwork Instead of Freelancer.com

Upwork is similar to Freelancer in a lot of ways. If you want work done cheaply and fast, go with Upwork.

Summary: Freelancer.com is a large-scale marketplace with millions of users, offering services in various fields such as software development, writing, and design. It supports multiple project formats, including contests, hourly work, and milestone-based projects, catering to a wide range of clients and freelancers.

4. YouTeam

• Official website: youteam.io
• YouTeam is a platform for building remote teams of world-class engineers.
• Hire the best developers from vetted outsourcing agencies in Eastern Europe and Latin America.

YouTeam is a marketplace for hiring full-time remote developers from vetted and top outsourcing agencies in Eastern Europe and Latin America, known for employing top-quality local talent that can offer much lower rates than those in the US or UK.

Why Use YouTeam instead of Upwork

Upwork is a marketplace for freelancers. YouTeam, on the other hand, is a platform for hiring top developers and engineers from outsourcing agencies that you won’t find on freelancing portals like Upwork. All companies in YouTeam’s talent pool have to pass through a rigorous vetting and due diligence process.

Why Use Upwork Instead of YouTeam

Upwork is a freelancer platform where you actively have to choose the right freelancers based on proposals. Freelancers on Upwork usually work on multiple projects but on YouTeam you get assigned full-time dedicated resources.

Summary: YouTeam is a platform that specializes in providing pre-vetted freelance development teams for businesses. It connects clients with developers from software outsourcing agencies, ensuring a high level of expertise and seamless project collaboration.

5. WorkHoppers

• Official website: www.workhoppers.com
• Hire local freelancers matched with an algorithm for you.
• Doesn’t charge any commissions.

Why Use WorkHoppers Instead of Upwork

WorkHoppers helps you hire local freelancers for any type of work ranging from graphic design to web development.

The best part about this service is that they don’t charge you anything for hiring and working with freelancers on the platform.

Why Use Upwork Instead of WorkHoppers

Upwork offers access to a global community of freelancers to choose from. Unlike WorkHoppers, you get to choose freelancers based on proposals.

Summary: WorkHoppers is a freelance marketplace designed for local, on-site work and emphasizes matching freelancers and clients based on skills, location, and work style compatibility. It facilitates direct communication between parties, making it an ideal choice for businesses seeking in-person collaboration.

6. 99Designs

• Official website: www.99designs.com
• Home to some of the best web and graphic designers on the planet.
• Allows contests where the best designers on the platform compete to create the best design.

Why Use 99Designs Instead of Upwork

99Designs is one of the best platforms when it comes to design work. If you want to work with the best designers on the Internet, then this is the place to go.

The best part about this platform is that it allows you to run a design contest where all the designers on the platform can submit a design and you can reward the one you like the most.

Why Use Upwork Instead of 99Designs

If you want anything done that is not designed, then Upwork makes sense. Or if you want to get some graphics designed for cheap, then 99Designs might not be the best place to look.

Summary: 99Designs is a platform dedicated to connecting clients with freelance designers through design contests and direct hiring. Specializing in various design disciplines, such as logo, web, and packaging design, 99Designs is a popular choice for businesses in need of creative work.

7. Hubstaff Talent

• Official website: talent.hubstaff.com
• Hire freelancers from around the world for free.
• Freelancers with skills ranging from Android Application Development to Social Media Marketing.

Why Use Hubstaff Talent Instead of Upwork

This platform is a free way of finding and working with freelancers from around the world. The platform offers access to over 66,000 freelancers from around the world.

Why Use Upwork Instead of Hubstaff Talent

Hubstaff is a newcomer in the market and hence has a smaller selection of freelancers to offer than Upwork.

Summary: Hubstaff Talent is a platform that features freelancers and agencies offering services in fields like web development, marketing, and design. With no fees or markups, it provides a cost-effective solution for clients while facilitating direct communication between parties.

8. Credo

• Official website: www.getcredo.com
• Hire SEO, PPC, and Digital Marketing agencies and senior consultants.
• Only pre-vetted and verified agencies and consultants.

Why Use Credo Instead of Upwork

Unlike Upwork, Credo’s team helps and guides you through the whole process of hiring the best SEO, PPC, and digital marketers for your job. Credo will match you with handpicked digital marketing providers from their exclusive network, based on your project needs.

Credo is free for businesses to use to be matched with the right pre-vetted providers.

Why Use Upwork Instead of Credo

Upwork offers you access to freelancers with skills of all types including Digital Marketing and Sales.

If you want to work with all freelancers in one place or want to get some work done for cheap, then Upwork is the best option.

Summary: Credo is a marketplace that focuses on connecting businesses with pre-vetted digital marketing freelancers and agencies. It emphasizes quality over quantity by handpicking professionals based on their proven track records, making it an excellent choice for marketing-related projects.

9. Guru

• Official website: www.guru.com
• Platform with over 3 million freelancers you can hire.
• Allows paying by hour, milestones, and tasks.

Why Use Guru Instead of Upwork

Guru offers access to over 3 million freelancers from around the world. You can hire experienced freelancers for anything from logo design to sound engineering.

Why Use Upwork Instead of Guru

If you want access to a wider variety of freelancers and want work done for cheap, then Upwork is the better option.

Summary: Guru is a freelance platform that caters to a wide range of industries, offering features such as project milestones, secure payments, and collaboration tools. With its extensive freelancer base and user-friendly interface, Guru is a reliable option for businesses seeking various professional services.

Worst Freelance Marketplaces (That You Should Avoid At All Costs)

There are many different ways to find freelancers to work for you, and online marketplaces are a popular option. However, not all marketplaces are created equal. Some are much better than others in terms of quality of work, pay, and communication. Here are some of the worst freelance marketplaces right now:

1. Konker

Konker is a marketplace for freelance services. It’s a place where freelancers can list their services and prices. The biggest advantage of using a freelance marketplace like Konker is that it lets you see how the freelancer performed in the past by looking at the reviews. You also don’t have to wonder what exactly the freelancer will do because the services offered are the same for everyone.

Konker is basically a clone of Fiverr but just not as good. If you run an online business and have hired a lot of freelancers from a services marketplace like Fiverr or Upwork, you’ve probably come across at least one or two bad freelancers.

But with Konker, it’s not one or two but a majority. Most services you’ll see on Konker are by freelancers who are just starting out. They don’t seem to have any experience at all. And you don’t have to go any further than the first page to find these services.

Just like Fiverr, Konker allows its sellers to sell services in many different categories, but its most popular category is digital marketing. You could also say that Konker is basically only for digital marketing services, which is not to say that that’s bad, but most services listed on Konker are kinda spammy and mostly SEO-related.

Most of these SEO services offer to “trick” Google into liking your website. If you don’t know this already, Google hates getting tricked. They hate it so much that if you try a spam SEO service and aim it at your website, your website might get dropped from Google altogether forever.

The platform is really buggy and has no vetting process for the freelancers. Anyone can post a freelance gig on the platform even if they have no experience at all.

I am not saying Konker is bad or that you should never try Konker itself. Konker simply lists services that are sold by 3rd party sellers. Konker as a platform is great. It works really well. But most of the services I could find on this platform were all about black-hat SEO aimed at tricking Google.

Those are the only services that have any kind of reviews on them. All other services offered are either really crappy or have no reviews at all. The support is terrible. There are dozens of reviews of Konker where customers are complaining about the horrible customer support.

If you are looking to buy black hat SEO services, Konker might be a great place. There are dozens of these services listed with most of them having 5-star reviews. But be warned that these SEO tactics almost never work and in cases when they do work almost always result in your website getting dropped completely by Google. I would highly recommend against buying any black hat SEO services.

If you are looking to hire freelancers to grow your online business, I would highly recommend looking at other freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr. They are better than Konker in every regard.

Konker’s competitors have been in business for a long time and have improved their platforms a lot over the years. Their support is much better, and they have a lot of features that protect you from getting scammed by sellers.

2. Servicescape

Servicescape is a platform that helps you find freelancers. There are four categories of services offered on this website: Writing, Editing, Translating, and Graphic Design. Unlike other similar freelance marketplaces, Servicescape doesn’t offer services in all categories. They only have freelancers in four categories.

Servicescape has been in business for over 20 years, but its platform is still in the past. The platform is kinda clunky and looks very outdated. It lacks a lot of features that other freelance marketplaces offer. For example, they don’t have a freelancer matching system. A lot of other platforms match you with a freelancer based on your needs. And these freelancers that they match you with almost always do a great job.

You can browse their directory of freelancers and hire anyone you like. Freelancers list their prices upfront, so there’s no need to waste your time in back-and-forth emails to just find the price.

One thing I don’t like about Servicescape is that it doesn’t allow you to post gigs as other platforms do. Other platforms allow you to post a gig and freelancers apply to your gig with quotes. This gives you a better selection of freelancers to choose from. On Servicescape, you’re on your own. You have to find a freelancer yourself from their huge directory of freelancers.

Servicescape has lots of predefined services. A freelancer can add these predefined services to their profile along with the price they would charge for them. You can also choose to do a custom project if you want.

Although Servicescape has a stellar reputation, the freelancers on this platform are not cheap. Most freelancers on this platform have great credentials. They went to a good college and studied the service they are selling. They also have full-time jobs at some big companies.

I saw a freelance writer who also works at PBS. These freelancers might be really good at what they do, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg to hire them. Unless you are running a multi-million dollar business, these prices are most likely out of your budget. There are a lot of other platforms that are not only better than Servicescape but also cheaper.

Servicescape allows you to hire the best of the best freelancers in writing, editing, translation, and graphic design. These freelancers are among the top 5% in their field. They are also very expensive to work with. For the price of one article on Servicescape, you can probably get 5 or 6 on other freelance marketplaces. The quality might be a little bit (unnoticeably) lower, but you’ll save a lot of money.

What is Upwork

Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk) is a freelance marketplace where businesses post freelance jobs that freelancers on the platform can apply to.

Once you post a freelance job with some details, freelancers apply to your job posting with proposals that include a price quotation.

Then, you can select a freelancer of choice from the proposals to work with.

Benefits of Upwork

Upwork has thousands of active freelancers on its site. Whatever work you need to get done, you will easily find qualified freelancers for the task.

Their platform offers you an easy way to message and manage all your freelancers and the payments are done via an escrow system developed by Upwork themselves.

Questions & Answers

Our Verdict ⭐

There are lots of freelancer websites like Upwork out there. If you want to get some work done for cheap, then go with Fiverr.

If you want to get development or design work done without compromising on quality, then go with Toptal. They offer access to the best freelancers on the Internet and it’s one of the best Upwork competitors.

How We Evaluate Freelancer Marketplaces: Our Methodology

We understand the critical role that freelancer hiring marketplaces play in the digital and gig economy. To ensure that our reviews are thorough, fair, and helpful to our readers, we’ve developed a methodology for evaluating these platforms. Here’s how we do it:

• Sign-Up Process and User Interface
  • Ease of Registration: We evaluate how user-friendly the sign-up process is. Is it quick and straightforward? Are there unnecessary hurdles or verifications?
  • Platform Navigation: We assess the layout and design for intuitiveness. How easy is it to find essential features? Is the search functionality efficient?
• Variety and Quality of Freelancers/Projects
  • Freelancer Assessment: We look at the range of skills and expertise available. Are freelancers vetted for quality? How does the platform ensure skill diversity?
  • Project Diversity: We analyze the range of projects. Are there opportunities for freelancers of all skill levels? How varied are the project categories?
• Pricing and Fees
  • Transparency: We scrutinize how openly the platform communicates about its fees. Are there hidden charges? Is the pricing structure easy to understand?
  • Value for Money: We evaluate whether the fees charged are reasonable compared to the services offered. Do clients and freelancers get good value?
• Support and Resources
  • Customer Support: We test the support system. How quickly do they respond? Are the solutions provided effective?
  • Learning Resources: We check for the availability and quality of educational resources. Are there tools or materials for skill development?
• Security and Trustworthiness
  • Payment Security: We examine the measures in place to secure transactions. Are payment methods reliable and secure?
  • Dispute Resolution: We look into how the platform handles conflicts. Is there a fair and efficient dispute resolution process?
• Community and Networking
  • Community Engagement: We explore the presence and quality of community forums or networking opportunities. Is there active participation?
  • Feedback System: We assess the review and feedback system. Is it transparent and fair? Can freelancers and clients trust the feedback given?
• Platform Specific Features
  • Unique Offerings: We identify and highlight unique features or services that distinguish the platform. What makes this platform different or better than others?
• Real User Testimonials
  • User Experiences: We collect and analyze testimonials from actual platform users. What are common praises or complaints? How do real experiences align with platform promises?
• Continuous Monitoring and Updates
  • Regular Re-evaluation: We commit to re-evaluating our reviews to keep them current and up to date. How have platforms evolved? Rolled out new features? Are improvements or changes being made?

Learn more about our review methodology here.