Freelancing online has been on a steady rise in the past decade and it’s showing no signs of stopping. According to industry studies, the worldwide freelance marketplace is estimated to be worth $1.5 trillion in 2022. In US alone, there is 70.4 million freelancers and is forecasted to grow up to 90.1 million by 2028.
An average freelance hourly rate worldwide is $28/hour according Payoneer Global freelancing income report.
On this blogpost, I will share with you 5 freelancing platforms that you should consider if you want to become a successful online freelancer and an entrepreneur.
Freelancing Platforms at a Glance
| Summary | Upwork | Fiverr | Freelancer | PeoplePerhour | Guru |
| Location | California, United States | Tel Aviv, Israel | Australia | United Kingdom | Pennsylvania, United States |
| Years of Business Operations | 9 years. Founded in 2013. | 12 years. Founded in 2010. | 13 years. Founded in 2009. | 15 years. Founded in 2007. | 24 years. Founded in 1998. |
| Annual Revenue | $503 million | $298 Million | $43.1 Million | $15.7 Million | $374 million |
| Payment Methods | Payoneer, Paypal, Bank , Mpesa and more. | Payoneer, Paypal, Bank , and more. | Payoneer, Paypal, Bank, Skrill and more. | Payoneer, Paypal, Bank , Skrill and more. | Payoneer, Paypal, Bank , and more. |
| Payment Processing time | From 1 Mins (on Payoneer) to 7 days depending on the mode of payment you use. | From 5 Mins to 5 days depending on the mode of payment you use. | From 5 Mins to 5 days depending on the mode of payment you use. | From Few hours to 5 days depending on the mode of payment you use. | Within 24 hours to 5 days depending on the mode of payment you use. |
| Escrow Services | Yes. | Yes. | Yes. | Yes. | Yes. |
| Payment Security Period before Withdrawal | 5 days from the day payment is released. | 7-14 days from the day payment is released. | 15 days from the day payment is released for first payment. 1day for subsequent withdrawals. | 24 hours to 14 days from the day payment is released for first payment. | No security hold. |
| Client and Freelancer Accounts | Can use one account as a Freelancer, Client or Agency/Company. | Can use one account as a Freelancer and Client. | Can use one account as a Freelancer and Client. | Can use one account as a Freelancer and Client. | Can use one account as a Freelancer and Client. |
| Mode of Job Acquisition | – Bidding on projects posted by clients. – Project Catalogues. – Consultation Offers. – Upwork Enterprise Invitations to bid. – Client invitations and direct hires. | – Create service Catalogue and wait for clients to purchase. – Occasionally apply to job requests by clients on the platform. | – Bidding on projects posted by clients. – Service Catalogues – Contests – Invitations and direct hires | – Bidding on projects posted by clients. – Create hourly service Catalogue – Project invitations and direct hires | – Bidding on projects posted by clients – Invitations and direct hires |
| Potential Average Annual Earnings per Freelancer | $42,000 to $120,000 | From $12,000 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
Upwork
Upwork is a freelance company based in the US and has been there for more than a decade. Upwork is among the pioneers of online freelance services. Originally it was called Odesk before it merged with another premium freelancing platform called Elance to form Upwork in 2013. Elance used to have more high paying projects than Odesk before the merge. Also, Elance was the first freelancing platform to offer Escrow services on fixed contracts.
Since the merge, Upwork has grown to accommodate all kinds of jobs. Also, their security has been heightened to protect freelancers and clients from fraud. It is reported that Upwork has more than 12 Million registered freelancers.
Upwork offers 5 ways to find work based on the freelancers experience using their platform. The first one is through bidding. This is a situation where a client posts a job; and freelancers on the platform bid on it. The client chooses the proposal that addresses their needs and meets their requirements. They then award the contract to the winning bidder.
The second way is though Creating project offers. The freelancer can create a project offer catalogue around the skills that he/she possesses and posts it on the platform. This will be displayed to the prospective clients. If a clients likes a certain catalogue, they will purchase it.
The last one is through Freelancer Enterprise client invitations and Direct hires. This is where a freelancer is interviewed and hired through Upwork Enterprise. Only freelancers with Top Rating and Top Rating Plus qualify for this offer.
Among the most competitive skills that are highly paying on the platform include Technical skills, customer service skills, digital marketing skills, creative and design skills, copywriting and more.
You can withdraw earned income to your Paypal, Local Bank , Payoneer, Mpesa digital wallet and more.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a Freelance platform founded in the year 2010 with it’s headquarters is in Tel Aviv Israel. Fiverr is popular for offering every service for $5 bucks. Freelancers can post their $5 service offers in many different categories.
Today, the company has grown and now hosts an estimated 3 million people comprising of buyers and sellers/freelancers.
Also, their $5 service offer approach has evolved over time. Sellers can scale up their offers from $5 to $1000+ per offer depending on the service they are offering through packages/pricing table.
Unlike Upwork, Freelancers can only post what they offer on Fiverr in a catalogue format and wait for buyers to find it through search. This means that if one spends enough time optimizing their offer, buyers will find it and they will in turn get many orders.
With Fiverr, you can sell any service as long as it can be sold digitally.
You can withdraw earned income to your Paypal, Bank , Skrill, Payoneer digital wallet and more.
Freelancer
Freelancer is an Australian freelance marketplace that was founded in the year 2009. It connects freelancers with clients across the world. Freelancer has more than 900 job categories to choose from. As of June 2022, it had over 59 million users.
Like Upwork, clients posts jobs for freelancers to bid on. They also offer escrow services on all contracts. On the other hand, they have a special offer called freelancer design contests. Here, the client posts design contests with a set price and any freelancer can submit their mock designs. The design that the client picks is the winner. The winner is made public and is rewarded with the set prize.
This is an ideal place to start if you are not sure of the category you will want to work in. Also, it is here that you can identify different skills that are hot in the market then learn how to do them and then look for freelance jobs on the platform.
Freelancer offer a wide range of withdrawal methods including Paypal, bank and Skrill.
Peopleperhour
Peopleperhour is a UK based freelance platform. It connects freelancers and clients across different categories of skills. One can sign up as a freelancer or a client. Once your profile is approved, you can proceed to search and apply for jobs that matches your skills.
Freelancers here also have an option to create a project catalogue telling prospective clients what they can do in a hour for a given price.
Most clients on Peopleperhour are genuine since they are required to confirm their preferred payment methods before they are allowed to hire. They are also required to fund escrow before a freelancer can start to work on their projects. At the end, freelancers are required to proof that they completed the discussed job by coordinating their communications strictly on the platform.
You can withdraw earned income to your Paypal, Bank , Skrill and Payoneer digital wallet.
Guru
Guru is the pioneer freelance marketplace with it’s headquarters in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania US. It was founded in the year 1998 and has had less hype since it’s inception. They still approach freelancing using the traditional methods of posting jobs and letting freelancers to apply them.
Despite that, they have many long time clients across the world. At the time that I freelanced on Guru, one could easily be scammed by a new client. That has changed today.
However, one needs to be vigilant and ensure that the client has funded escrow before they start work. All in all, freelancing on Guru offers individuals a room to get more clients. Competition by bidders on Guru on jobs posted is not that fierce.
While competition is not that high, the number of projects to bid on here is very small. Generally, they have more tech related jobs than any other category. This is a freelancing site to bundle up with others until you find a bearing.
Big Downside of These Freelance Platforms
They don’t accept cryptocurrency as a payment method. This is despite the growing number of people using crypto as a digital currency. Cryptocurrency is here to stay. It is therefore something that all freelancing platforms should consider.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of freelancing platforms online today that you can find work on and get paid. Some platforms, specialize in providing certain services like writing, transcription, video production, design, coding e.t.c. If you want to take freelancing fulltime, consider signing up on some of them that you find suitable and begin bidding on jobs posted there.
You never know where your luck lies. You need to keep trying until you succeed.
Freelancing is a sustainable career that can make you up to $1000/month part time working from home.
You only need to commit some of your time daily to achieve the desired results. I have personally made up to $5000 a month on one freelancing platform.
And these are the 5 Freelancing Platforms That Are Safe And Secure To Work On Today.
Which is your favorite freelancing platform and why? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Until next time, bye bye and take care.
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