Upwork
The world's largest freelance marketplace. Find long-term clients across almost every skill, or hire freelancers yourself, with contracts, time tracking and payment protection built in.
Features
Upwork is the biggest freelance marketplace in the world, and its size is both the main reason to use it and the main thing to plan around. There is work in almost every category, including a lot of longer-running contracts, but there is also a lot of competition for each job.
How it works
- Clients post jobs and you send proposals. Each proposal costs Connects, Upwork's bidding credits, which you get a small allowance of and can buy more of
- Hourly contracts use the Upwork desktop app to log time, which is what backs the payment protection on hourly work
- Fixed-price contracts are split into milestones, each funded into escrow before you start it
- Since May 2025 the flat 10% fee has been replaced by a variable 0–15% fee that depends on the skill category and demand
Worth knowing
Most clients are US-based, so expect to quote in dollars and work around time zones. A new profile with no reviews is the hardest part: small, well-matched jobs to build a track record usually work better than bidding on large ones straight away. Read the brief closely and spend Connects on jobs you are a genuine fit for.
Who it suits
A good fit if you want access to international clients and ongoing contracts, particularly in development, design, writing and marketing. If you would rather work with UK clients paying in sterling, PeoplePerHour is worth running alongside it.