Compose.ly: Reviews, Pricing, and Alternatives

If you are looking to hire freelance writers for your content marketing needs, there are lots of great platforms online for you to choose from. One such platform that offers content writing services is Compose.ly.

To help you make a more informed decision on whether to work with them we decided to investigate the company to find out more about them. We took a look at their website and researched them online to see what their clients think of them. 

Compose.ly overview

Compose.ly is an online marketplace for content, they act as a middle man between you and their writers and handle payments between you and the freelance writers you work with. On the platform, you can find writers for blog posts, website copy, ebooks, newsletters, product descriptions, and more – making it a one-stop-shop for all of your content needs.

Compose.ly describes themselves as a service designed by content marketers for content marketers, there management team are all experienced marketers so this is probably a good sign they take quality control seriously.

When you use the platform, you can choose to either order content yourself by filling out a form or offer a ‘managed service’ option for $199 per month that comes with a dedicated content marketing manager and a higher level of customer service.

If you choose to order content yourself you simply fill out a form and choose the content type you want to be written, how many words you want it to be, and you can provide additional information for the writer. Compared to a lot of other content marketing platforms this is quite a simple way to order content and you don’t have to spend any time finding writers as the company does it all for you.

Compose.ly reviews

As of December 2020, Compose.ly reviews on Trustpilot are 4.3 out of 5-stars.

From the reviews left, there seems to be a consensus that they offer good customer service, the content is high quality, and you can get your content edited when requested.

The only negative comments about the company seem to be about the high cost of the service but since you are told how much it will cost you upfront this seems an odd reason to leave negative feedback.

Features

• Experienced Writers– Compose.ly vets all of their writers to ensure they are top quality writers.
• Multiple Content Types – you can find writers for everything from writing blog posts to whitepapers.
• Simple Pricing – most services are offered at a fixed price which makes it easy for you to know how much a project will cost you.
• SEO – Compose.ly train all of their writers to be experts at SEO.

Pros

• All content created by Compose.ly is SEO-friendly. The company trains all writers to understand how to do keyword research and include top keywords in all of their content.
• They state on their website that they have worked with top companies such as Wiley and MailChimp which is a sign of they have top quality writers.
• You can request free samples, so you are able to assess the quality of their service. This helps to reduce some of the risks of working with an online content marketing platform.
• Compos.ly has a simple pricing structure which makes it easy to know exactly how much content will cost you.
• The company says they rigorously vet their writers and only hire writers who can pass an extensive writing test and interview process. This helps to ensure only the highest-quality writers who for them which means you can be sure your content will be top-notch.
• Their website is very easy to use and when you create an account you can manage, pay, and request revisions all in one place. This helps to streamline the whole process or ordering content online.

Cons

• Compose.ly is quite expensive compared to other freelance writing platforms. When you order content, you will be charged $74.99 per 500 words which is really expensive when you compare it to even top writers on Upwork, Fiverr, etc. However, you can expect to get really high-quality, 100% unique, and SEO friendly content from them in return.
• When you purchase content there doesn’t seem to be a volume discount for larger orders. Most other platforms or services offer you a big discount, so this is something to consider.
• You don’t appear to be able to use the same writer each time you use their service. This means that you might not get content that has the same ‘voice’ which can be a problem if you want consistency.
• In order to have unlimited revisions, you have to pay for the managed service which costs $199 per month. When the cost is so high you might expect this to be available for all orders.

Prices

Compose.ly offers two pricing options.

The first is ‘self-service’ which means you order content yourself and pay for each piece of content before the company gives it to one of their writers.

The second option is called ‘managed service’ which means the company will give you a dedicated content manager, a higher level of customer service, unlimited content revisions, as well as other features.

If you order content yourself, you can expect to pay from $74.99 per 500 words regardless of which content your order. The managed service is charged at $199 per month and you still have to pay for each piece of content ordered.

Top Compose.ly alternatives

Compose.ly is a great platform to find high-quality writers who are experienced in writing all forms of online content. However, there are some other great platforms that you should also consider using. Please check them out by following the links below.

Final thoughts

Compose.ly offers you access to a team of experienced writers who can craft high-quality and SEO friendly content on-demand. However, they are quite expensive compared to other options so if you are on a budget you probably should use another service, but as they say “you get what you pay for”.