What: Upwork finds jobs for writers, web and mobile developers, designers, virtual assistants, customer service agents, project managers, sales and marketing professionals, accountants and consultants.
Expected pay: widely variable
Husl $core: $$
Commissions & Fees: 20%
Where: National and international
Requirements: depend on the job sought
Review:
If you click through the Upwork site, you’re going to see “top” freelancers apparently earning great wages — from $30 to $150 per hour. But if you look at freelancer reviews on Glassdoor, SiteJabber or Indeed, you’ll see a drastically different picture.
Freelancers say that Upwork connects you with employers that offer marginal pay for long hours of work. And the site’s workers are reluctant to turn down even low-paying jobs for fear of getting poor ratings. Worse, you have to pay to apply to jobs and pay a steep commission on any work you secure through the site.Â
Fees & Commissions
The site imposes graduated commissions on freelancers who find work here. Upwork charges a 20% commission on the first $500 freelancers earn working for any given client. If that same client pays you between $501 and $9,999, you’ll pay a lower 10% commission on that revenue. Once that same client pays you more than $10,000, Upwork’s commission drops to 5%.
However, the graduated commission starts over with each new client. So, unless you’re only working for long-time clients, you’ll be paying a good portion of your wages to Upwork for the connection.Â
Connection fees
Moreover, the site requires you to have “connects” to apply for any job. You get a certain number of “connects” for free. After that, you have to pay 15 cents to buy them. Since you need several of these credits to apply for any job listed on the site, the 10 monthly connects you get with Upwork’s free membership wont get you very far. You can pay $15 for an upgraded membership that gets you 80 connects a month.Â
What you get for all those fees
Of course, if Upwork provided access to great jobs that you couldn’t find anywhere else, you might shrug off the multitude of fees. But that doesn’t appear to be the case. Testing the site for writing jobs, we found the same content mills, paying pennies per word, that you can find almost anywhere.
The site also pits freelancers against each other to “bid” on projects. What that does is drive rates down to ridiculously low levels. Unless you got your start years ago, when the platform had fewer freelancers, we think there are better options.
Better sites to consider: WorkingNotWorking, FreeeUp, Catalant and BrainTrust.Â
What their freelancers say: (from Indeed)
“This site has saved me during this pandemic but there are a ton of people here underselling each other. And 20% off the top is a tough pill to swallow.”
“The clients are often difficult, flakey, and cheap. Upwork uses arbitrary practices to bully their freelancers into submission.”
*Updated 1/4/2021
Suggested Options.
Newly discovered side gigs
We are always on the hunt for new gigs that offer engaging work and good money. Several of these…
Vacation season opportunities
Whether you're looking for work or respite from work, more than a dozen online platforms can help…
How to earn $500 fast
The editors at SideHusl.com searched through our database of 450 side hustle platforms to find…
Make money while killing time
Waiting on jury duty? For a late flight? Suffering through a bad movie? Pull out your phone and…
Make money with greeting cards
You don't have to be employed by Hallmark to make money with greeting cards. All you need is a…
Jobs for people who love to shop
Do you love to shop? You can make money shopping for others with mystery shopping concerns and…
How to teach English online
Native English speakers have a simple, and often lucrative, side hustle. They can teach English…
Remote customer service jobs
If you want to work in your pajamas at odd hours of the day or night, you may be a perfect…
Side hustles for the opinionated
Opinionated? Don't limit yourself to arguing with strangers on social media. Get paid to…
Make money playing games
You don't have to be a YouTube or Twitch star to make money playing games. You could just be an…