Upwork: Reviews, Pricing, and Alternatives

If you are on the hunt for high-quality freelance writers, it can be hard to know where to start. It’s especially important when you are working with a tight budget as you want to be getting the most bang for your buck and the highest quality content possible. Hopefully, this review of Upwork will help you decide if using their platform is right for you.

Upwork overview

Upwork was formed by the merger of Elance and oDesk in 2015. Since then, it has grown to be one of the largest platforms for freelancers to connect with clients who want to outsource content writing, as well as other business functions such as web development and web design.

When you want to find a freelancer, you sign up to the website and create an account. From there you can search for freelancers to connect with yourself or put up a request for freelancers to contact you with their proposal to work on your project.

If you choose to find freelancers to contact yourself you can use the website’s search function to find your desired freelancer by using filters such as their location, rating, the price they charge, and their specific skill set.

On the other hand, if you choose to request proposals you can write up a detailed description of your project and let freelancers know your budget. Either way, you will be able to draw up a shortlist of candidates and then make a decision on who to hire.

Upwork makes it very easy to handle payments between you and the freelancer and can handle disputes if they arise. However, you must manage the whole process with the freelancer in terms of ensuring work is delivered on time and to a high standard which can be challenging if you are not used to working with people remotely online. To weed out bad freelancers Upwork has a rating system for you to rate the freelancer you hire which helps to improve the user experience.

Upwork reviews

Upwork reviews on Trustpilot are really good with a total rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 4,900 reviews.

The most common positive feedback is that Upwork is a large platform with lots of writers to choose from and that it is a great website with lots of functionality. The most common negative reviews revolve around the fact that it is sometimes hard to manage projects and resolve disputes when there are problems.

Features

• A Large Pool of Writers – on Upwork you have access to tens of thousands of freelancers to choose from.
• Multiple Content Types – you can find writers for all of your content writing needs, including blog articles, e-books, and white papers.
• Pay By Hour or Per Project – you can set a specific project cost for the work you want done or pay an hourly rate.
• Extensive Platform – Upwork has lots of features to help you hire freelancers, manage projects, pay for projects, and rate freelancers.

Pros

Since Upwork is one of the internets largest freelance platforms this means there are some key pros when choosing to find freelance writers on their platform, including:

• It’s easy to find a writer who specializes in writing about niche topics or a specific industry. There are tens of thousands of  writers with good ratings who can write unique and engaging content for you.
• Upwork makes it easy to track time when you choose to pay writers by the hour, and there is also the option of paying a fixed price for your project which can eliminate any risks with the project going over budget.
• They have a great rating system that helps you find writers that have a track record of success. Again, this helps to reduce the risk of hiring a not-so-great writer who doesn’t deliver. 
• Upwork has a good payment system for clients to pay freelancers – meaning you just pay the amount agreed on for your project and Upwork will do the rest.

Cons

Upwork is one of the internets largest freelance platforms with thousands of freelancers to hire but there are some downsides of using their platform, including:

• When you post a job, you will receive a lot of proposals from freelance writers. These proposals will make all sorts of promises like how experienced they are and the price they can do the project for. It can be hard to have to go through lots of the proposals, make a shortlist and then choose a freelancer to hire. Sometimes the time it takes to do this can eliminate any cost savings you get from using the platform in the first place. 
• When you hire a freelancer, you have to manage the project directly with them to ensure that it is delivered on time and to your desired standard. This can cause some problems if you are working in different time zones and your expectations differ from each other.
• If you do have disputes, then this can be a timely process to sort out and Upwork doesn’t offer much hands-on support.

Prices

According to Upwork the amount you pay for content will depend on many factors such as the level of experience of your freelancer, where they are based, and how many other writers there are in your niche.

Upwork say you can expect to pay around US$15 per hour for a beginner, $US$34 for an intermediate writer, and up to US$80 per hour for a more experienced writer. 

There is also a processing fee/ service fee of around 2.75% that you or the freelancer will have to pay on top of the total project cost.

Top UpWork.com alternatives

Upwork is a great choice for businesses that want to access a large pool of talent and are comfortable managing projects in a more hands-on manner. However, there are some other great platforms to find high-quality freelancers or content writing services to work with. Check out our reviews below.

Final thoughts

Hopefully our Upwork review has given you a good run down of the pros and cons of the Upwork platform so that you can make a more informed decision to use them or not as part of your content marketing plan.

Overall, if you want a large pool of talent to choose from for your project and are prepared to manage the project yourself then Upwork is a great choice for you. If you want to have more certainty about the quality of work then there are much better options for you to choose from.