Ava AbbottUpwork is the world’s largest freelancing platform that connects businesses with freelancers. It was formed after the merger of oDesk and Elance platforms and rebranded as Upwork in 2015. By Mar 2017, Upwork had 14 million users and facilitated $1 billion in annual freelancer billings.
The company serves clients in 180 countries from its headquarters in Santa Clara and San Francisco, California. In 2020, Upwork had around 540 employees and saw a 24% increase in revenue to $373.6 million. [1]
Upwork serves one-person startups to 30% of the Fortune 100. This platform offers businesses access to a deeper and global talent pool across more than 10,000 skills. Using Upwork, companies can find, connect, and collaborate with skilled website designers, app developers, SEO content writers, finance and accounting specialists, consultants, and more.
In 2019, Upwork’s new CEO Hayden Brown made several changes to focus more on the needs of Fortune 500 companies and reduce its dependence on smaller companies with one-time gigs. The platform has 145,400 active clients who spend at least $5,000 per year with a combined total of $2.52 billion annually. Upwork freelancers earned over $2.3 billion in 2020.
For the full year of 2021, the company expects to generate $460-$470 million in revenues. As the leading freelancing platform, Upwork has to fend off fierce competitors like Freelancer.com, Fiverr, Outsourcely, Textbroker, Workhoppers, and PeoplePerHour. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of top Upwork’s competitors and alternatives:
1. Fiverr
Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: Tel Aviv, Israel
Fiverr is an online marketplace that offers freelance services. It has been competing with Upwork for over a decade since its launch in 2010. Like Upwork, Fiverr offers SEO content writing, video editing, graphic design, translation, coding, and programming.
In 2020, Fiverr had around 420 employees and generated $189.51 million in revenues, a 77% surge from 2019.
In 2021, Fiverr ran its first commercial during the NFL’s championship game and launched a new feature called Subscriptions to expand beyond its per-project core service.
Fiverr also acquired Working Not Working in 2021 to reach high-end clientele. The new service and acquisition allow Fiverr to exploit more of the gig market, increasing its competitive edge over Upwork. [3]
In the first half of 2021, Fiverr saw a significant surge in earnings. Its revenue doubled in Q1 and jumped 60% in Q1 to $75.3 million. These impressive results prompted the company to revise its 2021 projection to 59%-63% year-over-year growth.
Fiverr now expects to generate $280 million to $288 million in revenues for 2021. With a market cap of $6.3 billion, Fiverr is one of the largest Upwork competitors. Fiverr is the best Upwork alternative across the board. [4]
2. Freelancer.com
Year founded: 2009
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia
Freelancer.com is one of the world’s leading freelancing platforms. This online freelance marketplace offers over 1350 categories of outsourcing services. In Mar 2021, Freelancer.com reached 52.7 million registered users, with 1.9 million users added in Q1 alone. Since its founding, the platform has facilitated more than 19.7 million projects.
In the first half of 2021, Freelancer’s gross payment volume surged by 39%. The company now pays out over $190 million and makes around $12 million per quarter. Although Freelancer.com is similar to Upwork, it offers more features than its American competitor.
This Australian platform allows freelancers to communicate with clients via live chat and work full-time and part-time jobs. These offerings increase its competitive edge over Upwork. Freelancer is an experienced and formidable Upwork competitor and alternative. [5]
3. Outsourcely
Year founded: 2014
Headquarter: Roseville, California
Outsourcely is a remote-work platform that connects businesses with remote workers from around the world. Like Upwork, Outsourcely offers access to skilled web designers, multimedia creators, web and mobile app developers, article, and content writers, and more.
The company has around 100 employees and more than 400,000 remote workers on its platform.
The main selling point for using Outsourcely is access to part-time and full-time freelance gigs.
It is the perfect alternative to Upwork for the digital nomads seeking a steady income. Freelancers on Outsourcely pay zero fees on their earnings, while Upwork charges 20% of income earned plus 3% transaction fees. Outsourcely’s fee-free model increases its competitive edge over Upwork. It can poach some freelancers from Upwork effortlessly. [6]
4. Guru
Year founded: 1998
Headquarter: Pittsburgh, PA
Guru was one of the first online marketplaces for businesses to connect with talented specialists. It has a global network with more than 1.5 million freelance developers, designers, and writers. In 2020, Guru had around 140 employees and generated over $100 million in revenues.
Guru offers high-quality app, blog, and web development services at competitive and affordable rates, ideal for SMBs. The platform also provides robust features that allow freelancers to create agreements, defining milestones, share their samples, and communicate directly with clients.
According to users’ reviews of performance and quality, Upwork scores 9.7 versus 9.2 for Guru. However, Guru has a user satisfaction score of 100% versus 98% for Upwork. Guru is a worthy competitor for Upwork. [7]
5. Toptal
Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: San Francisco
Toptal (Top Talent) is a global remote work and freelancing platform. It connects businesses with website and app designers, finance experts, software engineers, product and project managers, and more.
In 2012, Toptal raised $1.4 million in seed money and turned profitable within the year and never needed additional funding. The company’s revenue increased from $80 million in 2015 to $100 million in 2016 and stabilized at over $200 million annually since 2018.
Since its founding, Toptal has expanded to become one of the world’s most popular platforms for on-demand tech talent. The company serves more than 1,000 clients in over 10 countries.
In Jun 2021, Toptal sued Andela for unfair competitive practices and misappropriation of trade secrets. This lawsuit cements Toptal’s position as one of the top dogs that everyone wants to imitate.
Toptal is the best Upwork alternative for companies seeking to fill engineering and tech roles with remote workers and freelancers. [8]
6. Hubstaff
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Indianapolis, Indiana
Hubstaff is a remote talent finder and workforce management platform. It allows employers to schedule tasks for employees, track attendance and time, and manage payroll based on time entries.
In 2020, Hubstaff’s annual revenue increased by over 55% to $9.15 million, from $5.88 million. Active customers on its platform surged by 25% in 2020 to 13,259.
The main competitive advantage for Hubstaff its robust features. The platform allows field teams and remote workers to track time, generate timesheets, and convert them into invoices.
In 2020, companies relied on the Hubstaff software to shift to remote work and increase the productivity of their teams. Hubstaff is the best Upwork alternative for companies with remote workers. [9]
7. FlexJobs
Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: Boulder, Colorado
FlexJobs is an online job service for freelancers and professionals looking for flexible work. The company specializes in full-time and part-time remote jobs, freelance gigs, and on-site jobs. More than 4 million people have landed lucrative full-time jobs via FlexJobs since it was founded over 13 years ago.
The main competitive advantage for FlexJobs is its comprehensive database of legitimate flexible jobs. The company has one of the world’s largest vetted jobs databases spanning over 50 career categories.
It also provides career support and coaching to help partner job seekers with suitable employers. However, freelancers have to sign up for a subscription and pay $14.95/month or $49.95/year to use FlexJobs.
Although the cost undercuts FlexJobs’ edge, it is still more enticing than Upwork for freelancers and professionals seeking the perfect gig. [10]
8. PeoplePerHour
Year founded: 2007
Headquarter: London, UK
PeoplePerHour is a UK-based online platform that connects businesses with freelance workers. The company helps startups and SMBs cut costs and grow by hiring freelancers to handle time-sensitive projects.
All “Offers” on the platform are completed and paid per hour, starting from as little as an hour. It is scalable with additional hours to days, weeks, and months.
Like Upwork, PeoplePerHour charges service fees based on earnings. Freelancers pay 20% of each project less than $350. The service fee decreases to 7.5% for projects between $350 and $5,000 and then drops to 3.5% for over $5,000.
Although PeoplePerHour is similar to Upwork, its scalable model makes it ideal for businesses of all sizes. It can poach some SMBs and global enterprises from Upwork. [11]
9. Andela
Year founded: 2014
Headquarter: New York, NY, and Lagos, Nigeria
Andela is a talent acquisition firm founded by ex-Toptal employees to help tech companies build remote engineering teams from Africa. The platform first launched in Nigeria, Egypt, and Ghana, then expanded into Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda in 2020.
In 2021, Toptal sued Andela for poaching its top employees to access its trade secrets and build a “perfect clone of its business.” The lawsuit did not stop Andela from expanding globally. [12]
Andela now connects freelancers and remote workers from African countries with clients globally. The company saw a 750% increase in applicants outside Africa and a 500% surge in applications within Africa in the first six months of 2021.
Andela now has engineers from 37 countries and serves more than 200 customers, including GitHub, Seismic, Cloudflare, CBS, Pluralsight, Coursera, and many more. It is one of the fastest-growing remote work platforms and the best Upwork alternative in Africa and Latin America. [13]
10. Credo
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Credo is one of the largest freelance marketplaces that offer highly skilled and vetted freelancers. The company vets all freelancers on its network before listing them on the site.
Unlike Upwork, Credo specializes only in SEO and marketing. Credo introduces freelancers to the best clients in under 24 hours and guides them through their assigned projects.
Using Credo, companies can find SEO specialists in local SEO, content marketing, paid social ads, travel SEO, inbound marketing, real estate SEO, link building, and eCommerce SEO. The company’s specialization makes it the best alternative to Upwork for SEO and marketing. [14]
11. Workhoppers
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Workhoppers is a Canadian freelance platform that helps clients find freelancers for part-time or full-time jobs. The platform has a robust geolocation feature that matches clients and freelances in the same city or town. Today, Workhoppers has around 20 employees with an annual turnover of $1 million.
The main competitive advantage for Workhoppers is talent diversity on its platform. The company has created Canada’s leading freelance marketplace with over 85,000 freelancers skilled in IT, writing, graphic design, sales, and other in-demand fields. Workhoppers is the best Upwork alternative for full-time freelancers and side giggers in Canada. [15]
12. Textbroker
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: Las Vegas, Nevada
Textbroker is an online content mill or portal that allows clients to post writing jobs for freelancers. Unlike Upwork, Textbroker acts as an intermediary rather than an end-to-end freelancing platform. The company has around 100 employees with an annual turnover of over $5 million.
According to a 2021 Mindnet Analytics survey, 2 out of 3 freelance writers on Textbroker or Upwork make $25,000 a year or less. On the other hand, 1 out of 3 freelancers who work directly with clients earns more than $25,000 a year.
However, Textbroker is more attractive for beginners because it doesn’t require bidding for jobs. Clients post writing tasks with specific instructions and wait for Textbroker to match them with skilled writers.
Then, they can select the best writer to work on their job. Textbroker also offers a managed service for $2500 per client. This feature and the lack of bidding wars can entice frustrated beginners from Upwork. [16]
13. Truelancer
Year founded: 2014
Headquarter: New Delhi, India
As the name suggests, Truelancer connects clients with trusted freelancers. The platform is one of Upwork’s top competitors in India and globally. Truelancer has around 300 employees and makes over $3 million in revenues annually.
Like Upwork, Truelancer links companies with skilled content writers, translators, app developers, graphic designers, customer support, sales and marketing specialists, and more. Freelancers sign up to Truelancer for free and bid on posted jobs like Upwork.
The platform allows freelancers to communicate and collaborate directly with clients. All these similarities make Truelancer one of the best alternatives to Upwork. [17]
14. FreeUp
Year founded: 2015
Headquarter: Saint Petersburg, Florida
FreeUp is a freelance marketplace that provides access to talent. Businesses can find and hire content creators, web developers, tech support, sales and marketing specialists, accounting professionals, translators, and more. Freelancers earn between $10/hour and $75/hour based on skill level.
Unlike Upwork, FreeUp takes out the negative aspects of freelancing. Its freelancers don’t have to go through lengthy interviews, constant resume updates, and pay negotiations. FreeUp takes care of all mundane tasks, allowing freelancers to concentrate on the actual work. [18]
15. ProBlogger
Year founded: 2004
Headquarter: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ProBlogger is a job board that allows bloggers and freelancers to monetize their blogging activities. The platform offers businesses access to a deep talent pool of bloggers specialized in content creation and remote writing opportunities across different industries.
Unlike Upwork, ProBlogger is an open platform and doesn’t offer customer support, additional services, or robust freelancing features. Businesses pay to list the jobs on the site’s ‘Jobs Board’ section, which ProBlogger advertises to talented freelancers globally.
Its freelancers command top dollar, making it too expensive for SMBs and low-budget enterprises. Businesses pay $70 for a single job listing for 30 days and $140 to upgrade to a featured listing on the front page for costs $140 for a month.
However, ProBlogger is free for freelancers. This pricing model can entice any freelancer on Upwork. [19]
References & more information
- Upwork Inc. (2021, Feb 23). Upwork Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial results. Globe Newswire
- Dean, B. (2021, May 13). Upwork Revenue and Client Stats. BackLinko
- Quast, J. (2021, Jul 13). Here’s Why Fiverr Stock Was Up 24% in the First Half of 2021. The Motley Fool
- Hoium, T. (2021, Aug 5). Why Fiverr’s Stock Dropped 24.8% Today. The Motley Fool
- Velebny, R. (2021, Apr 22). com Q1 FY21: Record breaking-quarter. AIM Group
- Doherty, N. (2020, Sept 8). Is Outsourcely a Good Alternative to Upwork? eBiz Facts
- Wardman, G. S. (2020, Jun 22). The Main Differences between Guru and Upwork. One-Stop Dev Shop
- Kene-Okafor, T. (2021, Jun 11). Freelancer marketplace Toptal sues Andela and ex-employees, alleging theft of trade secrets. TechCrunch
- Bellamy, G. (2021, Jan 20). One for the Books: Hubstaff’s Year in Review. Hubstaff Blog
- Perez, L. (2021, Jan 19). TTEC Named No. 2 on FlexJobs’ ‘Top 100 Company to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2021’ List. PR Newswire
- LR (2021, Feb 1). PeoplePerHour Review: Is PeoplePerHour Worth It? Lancer Reviews
- Okafor, T. (2021, Jun 11). Freelancer marketplace Toptal sues Andela and ex-employees, alleging theft of trade secrets. TechCrunch
- Kene-Okafor, T. (2021, Apr 19). Andela begins global expansion in 37 countries months after going remote across Africa. TechCrunch
- Doherty, J. (2021, Aug 9). How to build a marketing plan in 2021. Credo Blog
- Younger, J. (2020, Sep 8). Pioneers of the Freelance Revolution and their Superpowers. Forbes
- Brantner, E. (2021, Apr 29). Report: Writers on Textbroker, Upwork earn less than those working outside Content Mills. Make-a-Living-Writing
- Avinash, T. (2021, Jul 6). Truelancer Review: What’s Special? TrendyAvinash.com
- Kristof, K. (2020, Mar 27). FreeUp offers remote-jobs for freelancers and web developers. Los Angeles Times
- Chamber of Commerce (2021, Jan 1). ProBlogger Review. Chamber of Commerce
- Featured image by Faizur Rehman
Kevin Johnson
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