Freelance Site Reviews
Here you will find more detailed descriptions of a few freelance marketplaces, along with the list of their advantages and disadvantages.
These informations should help you in making the right decision of which site to use.
Best sites for the fresh freelancers:
Best sites for the advanced freelancers:
Freelancer
Freelancer (formerly GetAFreelancer) is the world’s largest outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplace for small business. We have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers from all over the world. We connect over 1.9 million employers and freelancers globally from over 234 countries & regions. Through our website, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering and the sciences, sales and marketing, and accounting & legal services. The average job is under US$200, making outsourcing for the first time extremely cost effective for small businesses.
Read Freelance users’ testimonials
100 projects recently posted on Freelancer
Freelancer is a great site and it’s expanding very quickly. In a very short time it has grown into one of the bests freelance marketplaces and together with SL and VW they form the “Big Three”. There are over 1400 projects posted daily.
Freelancer in numbers:
- Over 1400 projects posted daily (on average)
- Almost 2,500,000 (two and a half milion!) registered users
- Over 1,000,000 (one milion!) projects posted since the start-up
Fees and comissions for an Employer:
- Joining fee: none
- Posting a Trial project: free
- Posting a project (the fee is refunded when a worker is selected): $5
- Selecting a Service Provider comission: 3% of the winning bid amount (minimum $3)
- Selecting a Service Provider comission for Gold Members: none
- Posting a Featured project: $19
- Hiding Project from Search Engines: 3$ (optional)
- Hiding bids from other users: 3$
- Gold Membership: 24.95$/month
- Posting a Full Time Project: 99.95$
Fees and comissions for a Worker:
- Joining fee: none
- Bidding on Projects: free
- Project fee: 10% of the bid amount (minimum 5$)
- Project fee for a Gold Member: 3% of the bid amount
- Featured project fee: none
- Gold Membership: 24.95$/month
Gold Membership advantages:
- As a Gold Member you pay a small monthly fee, but receive a large reduction on commission fees for projects completed
- Gold Members are usually more reliable since they have a long term commitment in Freelancer
- Frequent Employers will save money as Gold Members
- Gold members will get more business because of the Gold status
- There is a 0% fee for projects which you post (normally 3%)
- There is a 3% fee for projects where you bid, get chosen, complete, and are paid (normally 10%)
- Gold members can add a portfolio to their profile
- There is a monthly fee of $24.95 USD for a Gold Membership
Withdrawal methods:
- There’s a minimum $30 limit for all withdrawal methods
- PayPal ($1.00 fee)
- Moneybookers ($0.75 fee)
- Freelancer Debit card
- Bank wire
Advantages:
- Number of the projects (over 1400 projects posted daily!) and their variety
- Reasonable fees and comissions (in comparison to the competitors)
- Interface and functionality (for example – one account for both provider and buyer)
- Refundable project posting fee, which helps in verifying buyer’s reliability
- Monthly bid limit, eliminating mass bidding on the projects (auto-bidding)
- Several withdrawal methods (PayPal, Moneybookers, wire transfer, Freelancer debit card)
- Very good and quickly acting support
- Very attractive “Gold Membership” program
- Fast withdrawal processing
- Additional income source from selling on the FreeMarket
Disadvantages:
- Project budget range
ScriptLance
The site provides a service that helps businesses find freelance programmers and designers for their projects. What began in early 2001 as a way to satisfy the custom programming demands at Smarter Scripts, has now become one of the Internet’s most popular freelance programming sites. ScriptLance has helped thousands stay under budget and helped many become more financially independent.
Read ScriptLance users’ testimonials
100 projects recently posted on ScriptLance
One of the best sites, both for people just starting in freelancing and for those more experienced.
ScriptLance in numbers:
- 200-250 projects posted daily (on average)
- 350,000 registered users
Fees and comissions – Buyer:
- No signup and monthly fees
- Signup bonus: $1
- Posting a project: free
- Project award and selecting a winning bid: $5 (flat fee)
- Posting a Featured project: $19
- Featured project award and selecting a winning bid: free
- Certified Member charge: $10/month
- Certified Member one-time research fee: none
- Project award and selecting a winning bid for Certified Buyer: free
- Posting a Featured project for Certified Buyer: $12.50
Fees and comissions – Programmer:
- No signup and monthly fees
- Signup bonus: $1
- Posting a bid: free
- Project award comission: 5% (of bid amount) or $5 (whichever is greater)
- Featured project award comission: half the standard rate – 2.5% or $2.50 (whichever is greater)
- Certified Member charge: $25/month
- Certified Member one-time research fee: $10
- Fees and commisions for Certified Programmer: half the standard rate
Withdrawal methods:
- PayPal (no fee)
- Moneybookers (no fee)
- Payoneer Debit Card (no fee)
- Bank wire ($35 fee)
- Check – Regular mail ($3 fee)
- Check – FedEx Overnight ($38 fee)
- NEFT India Bank Transfer (1% fee – maximum $10, minimum $5)
- Note: If you make more than 1 withdrawal within 30 days you will be charged an extra $5 fee
Advantages:
- Number of the projects (over 150 posted daily) and their variety
- Reasonable fees and comissions
- Interface and functions (invited only projects, featured, job listings)
- Several withdrawal methods (cheque, PayPal, e-gold, wire transfer)
- Quick withdrawals (up to a few days maximum)
- Own dedicated forum and support
Disadvantages:
- No obligatory deposit
- Occasional problems with support
vWorker
vWorker is an international marketplace where people who need custom software developed can find coders in a safe and business-friendly environment. Buyers can cherry pick from a pool of over 145,000 coders enabling them to hire a coder across the country or across the globe… from the comfort of their computers. Buyers who wish to hire internationally, can take advantage of favorable overseas exchange rates, resulting in work being done for 50-90% less than if the project were done in-country. Coders are also given access to a huge pool of potential work and have the ability to work independently from their homes rather than for a company.
vWorker is a site slightly different than FL and SL and for a beginner it may be harder to use. But due to its unique features it’s highly recommended after getting some more experience in freelancing.
vWorker in numbers:
- 300-350 projects posted daily (on average)
- 450,000 registered users (150,000 Buyers and 300,000 Freelancers)
Fees and comissions:
- Open Auction project comission: 15% of bid amount
- Private Auction project comission: 15% of bid amount
- One-on-One project comission: 12.5% of bid amount
- Bonus / Direct Payment comission: 10% of bid amount
- Bulletin board project comission (for a Worker): none
- Bulletin board project posting fee (for a Buyer): $50
- “Pay for time” project fee: 9% of bid amount
- There is a $3.00 minimum on any vWorker fee
- There is a 2.50% fee rate discount for the “preferred payment method” (when an employer uses a bank to bank wire transfer or snail mail check to escrow all of the funds for the project)
Withdrawal methods:
- PayPal ($2 flat fee)
- Mail check (United States: $5, Non-United States: $10)
- Western Union (US: variable Western Union fee + $5, Non-US: variable Western Union fee + $10)
- Payoneer Prepaid Mastercard ($7.00 – $5.00 vWorker.com fee and $2.00 Payoneer load fee). If you choose to withdraw it from an ATM (versus using it as a credit card), Payoneer charges you an additional $2.15 ATM fee (or $1.35 for U.S users) and your ATM provider may charge a fee as well. Before receiving your first payment you must have your Payoneer card mailed to you. Payoneer charges a one-time fee of $9.95 to do this. Finally Payoneer charges a $3.00/monthly fee for maintenance.
Advantages:
- Number of projects and their variety
- Obligatory deposit (Escrow)
- Slightly higher (than FL or SL) average budget
- Interface and functions (arbitrage system, better ranking system, conversation between buyer and seller is recorded)
- Very good and quickly working support
- Pre-moderated projects
- “Top Coder” ranking giving the additional exposure to your bid
Disadvantages:
- Significantly higher (than FL or SL) fees deducted from freelancer’s payment
- Few withdrawal methods (PayPal, cheque, Western Union)
- Withdrawals processed only twice a month (around the half and the end of the month)
- Occasional problems with database and other temporary system or server issues
Elance
Welcome to Elance, where the world’s top talent works online.
If you are a company or entrepreneur looking to jump start a project, broaden your reach or just simply get things done, you will find that Elance offers a ready, willing and qualified workforce of over 295,000 professionals. You name it and Elancers will take it to the finish line—from writing code, crafting a marketing plan, designing your website, managing your day-to-day schedule and a thousand other projects. Elancers deliver quality results, on-time and often with a flourish. Get started here.
If you have skills and talent and want to work, Elance is the place to find clients who pay for great results. To help make delivering great results easier for you, Elance offers a suite of tools to help make your work life as efficient as possible. Check it out here.
Elancers have already delivered on projects worth more than $320 million.
One of the most professional freelance sites, offering top quality services for both freelancers and buyers.
Elance in numbers:
- Ca. 1000 projects posted daily (on average)
- Over 295,000 registered professionals
- Finished projects worth more than $320 million
Fees and comissions – buyer:
- Registering: free
- Posting projects and hiring: free
Fees and comissions – freelancer:
- Registering: free
- Winning a project (for relationships less than $10,000): 8.75% Service Fee
- Winning a project (on repeat jobs for relationships that exceed $10,000 and new relationships referred to Elance): 6.75% discounted Service Fee
Membership plans:
- Basic: free
- Individual: $10 monthly
- Small Business: $20 monthly
- Large Business: $40 monthly
Withdrawal methods:
- ACH – US only (free)
- PayPal (US – free; International – 2.5% PayPal currency conversion spread)
- Check – US only (free)
- Wire Transfer (US – not available; International – Paid Members: First monthly wire transfer free, Free members: First monthly wire transfer $10, subsequent monthly transfers $25)
Advantages:
- Very high number of projects and their quality
- Flexible membership plans
- Site functions and features
- Help and support
Disadvantages:
- Strong competition (if this can be counted as a disadvantage at all)
- Membership plan restrictions
oDesk
Whether you are looking for new talent or already have a remote team, oDesk offers a complete solution for working online.
oDesk is the marketplace for online workteams, with the best business model for both employers and contractors. Our unique approach guarantees to employers that an hour billed is an hour worked, while guaranteeing to contractors that an hour worked is an hour paid.
This win-win approach attracts more work to oDesk than to any other online work marketplace. Each month, thousands of companies of all sizes post jobs on oDesk, representing more than $65,000,000. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of top-notch professionals, including web developers, software programmers, graphic designers, writers, customer service representatives and virtual assistants, offer their services through oDesk.
With an average job size of $5,000, oDesk is the best place to find meaningful work and top-flight talent. More than doubling in size each year since 2004, oDesk is where companies are building their entire organizations online and is the primary source of income for thousands of contractors. oDesk is truly changing how the world works.
100 projects recently posted on oDesk
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oDesk in numbers:
- 200-250 projects posted daily (on average)
- Doubling in size each year since 2004
- $5,000 average job budget
- $65,000,000 worth jobs posted monthly
Fees and comissions:
- Registration, membership, job posting, application for job: free
- Job payment fee: 10%
Withdrawal methods:
- PayPal ($1 fee)
- Moneybookers ($1 fee + 1.9% Moneybookers fee)
- Payoneer ($2 fee)
- Wire Transfer – USD or Local Currency (US – $30; International – $1.99-$3.99 fee)
- Local Funds Transfer – Euro ($1.99 fee)
- ACH / Direct Deposit
Advantages:
- Number of projects and their quality
- Hourly and fixed-price contracts
- Site functions and features
- A lot of project categories
Disadvantages:
- Site complexity may be discouraging for the beginners
Guru
With more than 1 million registered members, Guru is the world’s largest online marketplace for freelance talent and a leader in providing quality freelance services you can trust. Our focus on proven excellence and expert specialization makes our company rank above the rest for marketplace platform innovation, global job creation, business performance improvement and optimal talent-to-project matching.
Guru provides businesses with the ability to find the help they need from a variety of talented Freelancers worldwide. Our proprietary Ranking System leverages performance data to make the freelancer selection process easy and reliable – every time. Once connected, Employers can securely pay Freelancers through Guru’s SafePay system. By using SafePay Escrow, Employers are guaranteed 100% satisfaction with their project results.
For Freelancers, Guru offers the opportunity to market sought-after skills to a global audience with minimal cost. Innovative features, such as online Video Profiles, give Freelancers a cutting edge platform on which to highlight their skills and experiences in attracting or retaining business. Quality Score data teaches Freelancers about their personal strengths and weaknesses so that every service provider on our site has support in becoming a successful free agent – an online entrepreneur with a core market niche.
No other freelance platform is as committed to the success of its members as we are! Guru is dedicated to advancements that improve the user experience and raise the bar for better reliability, credibility and conduct. With the help of our community, Guru serves to grow, enhance and support independent entrepreneurialism and the remote, virtual office.
Guru is a great site for experienced freelancers, while the fresh ones may find it way too confusing. After some practice, it can be nicely rewarding the time spent on learing the way it works.
Guru in numbers:
- More than 8,000 projects posted monthly
- More than 1 million registered members
- Over 220 skill-based service categories
- Over 50 industries represented
Fees and comissions – Employers:
- Registering: free
- Posting projects: free
- Hiring a freelancer: free
- Payment: no fees
Fees and comissions – Freelancers:
- Project fee for basic member: 10%
- Project fee for Guru and Guru Vendor members: 5%
- Escrow fee: 2%
- Employer payment method fee: credit card – 4%, PayPal – 2.5%
Membership prices:
- Basic membership: free
- Guru membership: $9.95-$34.95 per month
- Guru Vendor membership: $12.94-$45.44 per month
- Annual membership: 50% discount
- Additional 20% discount when upgrading more than one profile
Withdrawal methods:
- Check ($3.00)
- Payoneer (no Guru fees, but the card issuer charges a one-time card activation fee, a monthly account maintenance fee, loading and cash withdrawal fees)
- PayPal (no fee)
- Direct deposit (no fee, available to US Freelancers only)
- Wire transfer ($9.00 per wire transfer)
Advantages:
- Very high number of projects and their quality
- Site functions and features
- A lot of project categories
- Good help and support
- Competition limited by the free members’ bid limit
Disadvantages:
- High fee rates
- Confusing site interface
- Basic membership restrictions (10 bids per 30 days)
- Limited payment options
