Upwork Review: Is It Right for Your Business?

Upwork boasts over 10 million registered freelancers. You can find logo designers, app developers, customer support gurus, administrative assistants, and more. It even offers agencies in case you have a project that needs a team rather than an individual and organizes them into six categories:

• Development and IT
• Design and Creative
• Finance and Accounting
• Sales and Marketing
• Writing and Translation
• Admin and Customer Support

Upwork has to approve any freelancer who applies to the platform but otherwise does not vet them unless you use the Talent Scout tool (see below). Nonetheless, it makes it easy to narrow applicants down. You can filter by providing project details or look for qualifications, rates, and more.

Then, you can read their ratings and reviews (there are star review ratings that come from client reviews). Upwork also creates a user score based on public and private feedback, long-term client relationships, rehires, and contracts fulfilled. Its scores are as follows:

• 90%+: Freelancer or agency consistently delights clients
• 80%–89%: Freelancer or agency does solid work
• 79% and below: Freelancer or agency does not always meet expectations

Rather than posting a job, you can search for the right talent.
(Source: Upwork)

Need a freelancer fast? Look for those with the Availability Now badge.
(Source: Upwork)

You can look on a profile to see real-world customer reviews.
(Source: Upwork)

Clicking on a particular job gives you more in-depth reviews, including the freelancer’s review of the client.
(Source: Upwork)

If you’re overwhelmed by the number of applicants or simply don’t have time to search for a freelancer, then Upwork’s talent scouts can handle the work for you. You call and discuss your project’s needs, then they pick candidates from a pool of vetted professionals with over 10 years’ experience and great reviews.

Finally, they interview them to find you the best fit for your project and will present you with a shortlist of great candidates with hourly rates. Best of all—this service does not cost you extra.

Alternatively, you can create and post a job to take applicants. Upwork will walk you through your requirements. If you are not logged in, it will show you candidates to contact. If you log in, it will take you further in the job development phase until you have a completed job description to post. You can set parameters like whether you need an in-country employee or can accept candidates worldwide, how much you will pay (by project or hour), skills desired, and more.

Upwork walks you through the search, narrowing down the category and job until you get the best fit.
(Source: Upwork)

Upwork takes the scope of work into consideration. You can hire for quick projects or complex, long-term roles.
(Source: Upwork)

Drill down further by the experience level needed for your project.
(Source: Upwork)

Upwork narrows the candidates down and displays them with their user ratings. You can then register to contact them.
(Source: Upwork)

Once you sign in, it drills down even further.
(Source: Upwork)

Scope includes the complexity of the work.
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If you need to limit the location, you can do so. (Note that Upwork no longer serves Russia and Belarus.)
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If you’re unsure how much you can pay, then give an estimate. You don’t need to commit to an amount here.
(Source: Upwork)

Once parameters are set, you can add a job description and save it as a draft or post.
(Source: Upwork)

You don’t have to create a job or a project from scratch. Many Upwork freelancers have developed their own projects with pricing and deliverables. Similar to Fiverr (but more expensive), these often include different levels. You can find them in the projects section, and the ads include samples of past work, pricing, and feedback from other customers.

You pay for the product rather than hiring the freelancer. Once you’ve purchased a package, you connect with the worker to discuss your specific requirements. It’s a great way to find a skilled freelancer for a task without the hassle of screening applicants.

When logged in, the ready-to-buy projects are on your dashboard.

You can search the ready-to-buy projects. Upwork suggests them in the dashboard based on your job ads.
(Source: Upwork)

Similar to Fiverr, freelancers can create services/projects, with levels, pricing, and project expectations.
(Source: Upwork)

Rather than hiring the freelancer as a contractor, you pay for the package as a product.
(Source: Upwork)

There are many tools within Upwork for managing a project and keeping your freelancer on track. This includes communication tools, time tracking, and lists and milestones.

It’s easy to bring in team members to your Upwork account. This allows them to hire freelancers as well or to use the many project and communication tools for working with freelancers already in the system. With the new Marketplace plan (or the legacy Plus), you can set permissions so that team members can only access certain functions.

You can bring in other team members to your account so that they can also hire or use Upwork’s freelancer tools.
(Source: Upwork)

You can make to-do lists, which create tiles of tasks with the information and a non-binding due date. Freelancers can mark them as done, and you can sort by completed and incomplete tasks. These lists are between you and your freelancer and do not affect their job scores.

You can set up private or public feedback with the client once a project ends. Mid-contract feedback, however, can be left before the project ends and is public. It shows up on the freelancer or agency work history but does not factor in the job success score. With some feedback (like mid-contract), you can choose to provide it; otherwise, the freelancer requests it. Freelancers cannot respond to public feedback.

Milestones apply to fixed-rate jobs, dividing a project into deliverables, due dates, or phases. They aren’t individually funded but provide clear benchmarks toward the goal. For milestones, the project funds are put into escrow, and funds are released from escrow as milestones are reached. If for some reason the freelancer does not complete a contract and you part ways, they are paid for the work completed and you can request an escrow refund for the remainder.

The Upwork message app works a lot like Slack and other communications platforms. It lets you organize and manage discussions, search by group or freelancer, communicate in real time, and sync files or share documents.

Groups are called rooms. They can be set for projects or one-on-one conversations. Alternatively, you can go to all conversations and seek a conversation, room, or individual. Need to talk face-to-face? Click on the video icon in the upper right-hand corner to set up a video call. You can attach files to a message or by drag-and-drop them into a text box.

With a Slack-like interface, Upwork makes it easy to communicate and collaborate with freelancers and team members.
(Source: Upwork)

When you have hourly employees, they use the Time Clock app to track their hours. They simply click on the time, put a note in the memo about what they are doing, and get working. Upwork says it’s important for work and payment protection for freelancers to accurately track and make notes of what they do during their time.

The time clock is easy to use on desktop or mobile.
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The time clock activates the Work Diary, a billing tool for hourly workers. Freelancers need to track time via the time tracker, and the Work Diary takes screenshots every 10 minutes. Workers can review the screenshots, removing extraneous ones and adding comments to explain the work. You can view these screenshots in the Work Diary. You or your freelancer can also add manual time for work not represented in the tracker, such as phone calls.

Screenshots can help you track what your freelancer does online.
(Source: Upwork video)

Upwork lets you pay your freelancers by the hour or project. You need to attach your account to a PayPal account or credit card and for ACH transfers.

You can pay workers in their local currency, although the rates are shown in USD and you are charged in USD. There’s a time tracker tool if you pay your freelancer by the hour and a milestone tool for project-based work. You can pay by PayPal or credit card, but if you pay using a Discover Card, your freelancer can only be paid in USD.

There are two ways to pay: credit card and PayPal.
(Source: Upwork video)

Once you have a project, you can choose the currency for your freelancer.
(Source Upwork Help Desk)

If you need to see the local currency and conversion charges, you can find them in the transaction invoices under Reports.
(Source: Upwork Help)

Sometimes, even when you thought you made the best choice, things go wrong with a contract. Upwork offers payment protection for both freelancer and client. Sending a complaint to customer support does not count as a dispute. You must follow the directions for disputing an hourly fee or requesting a refund on escrow for a project fee.

You’ll file your dispute under the appropriate contract in the My Jobs section of your dashboard, and the freelancer or agency then has a limited time to respond. If they accept the dispute or do not answer, you’ll get your refund as a credit to be used with another contract. If they reject the dispute, then it’ll be reviewed by an Upwork Dispute Specialist.

Hourly disputes only dispute the amount of time spent on a project; for instance, if a freelancer overbills you. Fixed-price disputes are for refunds in an escrow account for milestones not reached. You can also terminate the freelancer for unsatisfactory work.

Sometimes, it’s better to classify a freelancer as an employee. Then, of course, you need to put them on payroll. Upwork can handle payroll for your freelance team that you may hire as employees rather than as contractors. It’s a great option when working with a freelancer on a long-term contract.

Upwork Payroll, which works in over 165 countries, partners with staffing agencies that work as the Employer of Record. Upwork complies with federal and state laws for where your freelancer is based. It manages legally required sick leave and ACA compliance for health care enrollment, transitions contractors to W-2 employees, and more.

Your freelancers will need to be paid on an hourly basis, and Upwork pays weekly or monthly, depending on the local laws and your preferences.

Payroll costs 23% of the freelancer contract. Of that, 13% is payroll fees (taxes and social security), which Upwork says is about what an independent contractor would pay in self-employment taxes, so the after-tax impact is often negligible. The rest cover Upwork’s processing fees. You may get a discount on these fees when you also use Payroll. Upwork says many businesses negotiate these fees into the freelancer contract.

Upwork can provide worldwide payroll as well. Contact the provider for details.

Want to hire a great freelancer who’s not on Upwork but you aren’t sure what to do? Upwork’s new Any Hire platform makes it easy to hire talent you don’t find on its system. It costs you $49 per contractor plus 3% payment processing, but your freelancer does not need to pay anything.

However, if you want to bring in your full-time employees, too, Upwork has an Employer of Record plan that handles hiring, payroll, and Upwork tools for $49–$799 per professional, per month, plus a 3% payment processing fee, depending on the employee’s location. This, however, can be expensive compared to other payroll services, especially those for small businesses, so be sure to shop around if you have employees.

Any Hire works in 190 countries, so you can hire just about anywhere on Earth and have all the security and tools that come from Upwork. Give Upwork the information about your new hire, and it will generate a contract that complies with local law that you can personalize and send. Then, you can import them to the Upwork system as a BYOT (discussed in the next section) to manage them using Upwork time tracking, payment, and communication tools.

Any Hire is Upwork’s latest program to help you hire and manage freelancers that you find yourself.
(Source: Upwork)

You can take advantage of Upwork’s freelancer management tools even with freelancers not in the Upwork system. To bring workers in, you’ll fill out an invitation that includes the details of your contract. The freelancer then receives an email, where they accept the invitation by clicking on a Get Started link to set up an account.

Upwork lets you invite freelancers into the system for collaboration and time tracking.
(Source: Upwork)

When creating a BYOT, you’ll make a contract on Upwork and answer some questions about how you work.
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Upwork creates a “new” freelance contract when switching someone from the BYOT program to Any Hire, but the terms will be set by you, which gives you an opportunity to update a contract or continue the status quo. Regardless of whether you change the terms or not, you should warn your contractor, as they will get two emails: one saying their old contract is canceled, and one with the new Upwork contract.

Caption: It’s easy to move your BYOT employees to Any Hire.
(Source: Upwork)

To move a freelancer, you’ll end the old contract, using “another reason” as the reason.
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Used by companies like Microsoft and Airbnb, Upwork Enterprise offers advanced tools, greater analytics and reporting, and personal service to make it easy to manage your work with freelancers and agencies. Some of the extra features it offers include:

• Global worker classification compliance services
• Customizable contracts to align Upwork with your internal policies
• Works with your onboarding processes for nondisclosure agreements, background checks, and more
• Dedicated account executive
• Program managers on-hand to help plan large projects
• Talent Scout services—verified work history and reviews, expert-vetted talent
• Advanced analytics and reporting
• Work protection (if you’re having a problem with a freelancer, Upwork will help solve the issue)

Upwork’s mobile app lets you find freelancers and post jobs. You can interview employees and hire in the app, then use it to chat or video call, share files, and track project milestones. The app is better rated on the App Store, with 4.8 out of 5 stars at the time of this writing. The Android score on Google Play was much lower: 3.3 out of 5. The primary complaints were that the app was slow and laggy and the messaging feature did not work well, sometimes even erasing messages.

You can search for talent or review proposals in response to a job ad you posted.
(Source: Google Play)

Communicate with your freelancers on-the-go with the mobile app.
(Source: Google Play)

Approving payments just takes a click.
(Source: Google Play)