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New to freelancing? There are a ton of websites for freelancers where you can find an online job. But as a newbie, you can start with these 5 most popular ones. These are websites which stand as a 3rd party platform between freelancers and employers.
1) Upwork
Wond'ring why Odesk and Elance were out of the online job marketplace industry for a long-time now? That's because they merged and formed Elance-Odesk on December 18, 2013 and rebranded with the name Upwork in 2015.
I am an Odesk member prior their merging. Member accounts of former Odesk and Elance were just transferred to Upwork. Our accounts were not deactivated and it's up to us if we will continue to work on the new platform given that there's a lot of changes in their policies.
Website: Upwork.com
Membership Registration : Free, chance to apply to jobs or projects is initially 10 connects but as you received projects and good feedbacks, Upwork will give you more free connects. An option to upgrade
membership is available for $14.99 USD monthly subscription with the benefit of having your profile more discoverable. You will also have additional 70 connects or application attempts to bid on projects
membership is available for $14.99 USD monthly subscription with the benefit of having your profile more discoverable. You will also have additional 70 connects or application attempts to bid on projects
There is also an option to buy additional connects based on your budget.
Pros:
a. You choose how you get paid. Payment Options are direct bank deposit, Paypal, Payoneer, wire
transfer and more.
b. You can create/build your own team. You get to earn extra when you are a team creator/leader.
c) You can choose how you will work. Either short-term or long-term, on a fixed project or hourly-paid project.
d) Payment is guaranteed through an escrow.
Con:
Service fees.
Service fees, formerly called as commission, is an amount taken from every freelancer for every completed works/projects computed based on percentage of your earnings.
20% for the 1st $500 USD bill to clients
10% for the total billings between $500 to $10,000 USD
5% for the total billings exceeding $10,000 USD
You may join Upwork through this link: Sign Up at Upwork
2) Fiverr
Fiverr is a website where freelancer can offer just about anything as long as it is legal and complies
with Fiverr terms and conditions of use. There are over 200 categories to choose from.
A gig starts at $5 per project but it's up to you how you will price your service.
Example: I can translate 500 words from Tagalog to English for $5. (short-term)
I can be your virtual assistant for $5 per hour (with potential for long-term or repeat
projects depending on the needs of the clients)
Website: Fiverr.com
Membership Registration: Free
Pros:
a) You can create a specific skill/tasks that you want to work with. There's no ad hoc tasks. You can particularly specify the kind of service you are offering. For example, if you're a graphic designer, you can offer, "I can design your company logo using Canva for $5" or "I can create your Youtube intro/extro for $5.
b) Flexibility. You decide when to work on the project as long as you meet the deadline.
You decide if you want to do it part-time or full-time. You also choose your work load if you want to fully load yourself with projects, offer and accept as many projects as you want. If not, offer lesser skills/services or schedule the projects based on their deadlines.
c) No membership upgrade fees or requirement so everyone has equal opportunities.
Con.
a) You will only receive 80% of the paid transaction. Fiverr takes 20% commission per successful
transaction.
b) Payment is not released until the client approved with the freelancer's work.
You may find yourself revising a done work once, twice or repeatedly until the client is satisfied
with your output.
You may join Fiverr through this link: Join us at Fiverr!
3) Freelancer
Freelancer.com is an Australian-owned freelance job marketplace founded in 2009 which headquarter is located in Sydney, Australia.
Website can no longer be reached It's possible that the website already ceased to operate because of the legal issues they're facing since 2015 related to violation of Privacy Acts.
I only listed this one since they are one of the most popular but there are a lot of other options anyway.
Please do note that Freelancer.com and Freelance.com are distinct and separate from each other so I hope you won't be confused. Freelancer.com was founded in 2009 while Freelance.com was founded in 1995.
4) Guru
Guru was established in 1998 out of their offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA and Noida India. It works very similar to Upwork's platform.
Membership registration: Free. Guru offers paid membership options. where you get to have more number of bids, boost profile searchability and lesser transaction fee.
Pros
a) Has lower transaction fee (commission fee) compared to Upwork and Fiverr. Guru takes only
about 9-10% of your paid transaction.
b) Secured payment. During agreement with hiring employer, you may request the latter to fund "SafePay" before you begin to work. Safepay is a shared account funded by employers as an
escrow.
c) Website is user-friendly, transparent and has a support system similar to Upwork.
d) They offer arbitration services in case of disagreement between freelancer & employer. Upwork
also mediates while Fiverr didn't mention this matter upfront in their website but they have 24/7
customer support.
Con
Since the platform is similar to Upwork but has lower transaction fee, the only thing that might be
a challenge will be stiff competition. Since like Upwork, Guru is a global online job marketplace for
freelancers, rivalry is tough because you're not only competing with your countrymen but you
are competing for projects with freelancers around the globe. Winning a project is like winning Miss
Universe. 😄
Anyway, the same is true with Fiverr, People Per Hour and other freelance websites as long as it's
open to freelancers worldwide. If you have other options like us Filipinos, where foreign companies
prefers to hire most of their employees and freelancers in the Philippines, you must also be a one
lucky soul.
You may join Guru.com through this link: Sign Up on Guru - Hire Freelancers & Get Freelance Jobs Online
5) People Per Hour
Founded in 2007, People Per Hour has 3 Million registered freelancers in their platform. Their
platform is like a combination of Upwork and Fiverr where you can post skills/services to offer
or bid on posted projects by employers.
Website: PeoplePerHour.com
Membership Registration: Free, bid up to 15 projects per month. You can buy proposal credit to
increase the number of projects you can bid to.
Pros
a) The good combination of Upwork and Fiverr where you can do both, bid on projects and post
a service to offer.
b) The same with Upwork and Guru, People Per Hour provides escrow on payment.
Con
The same with Upwork, Fiverr, Guru and other global freelance platforms, competition is rigid as
in this platform, rating and feedback system are also used.
You may join People Per Hour through this link: PeoplePerHour.com - Hire Freelancers Online & Find Freelance Work
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All of these 5 online job websites requires you to build a great profile and portfolio. You have to know how to specially sell your skills/services to beat the global competition. It could be very hard at first, but it's very rewarding in the end.
Please find this collective list of the best freelance platforms according to Payoneer.com.
Why are they popular? They are the most-recommended and most mentioned freelance platforms in blogs, Youtube videos and freelancers Facebook community. They have been a go-to for freelancers who are looking for either a part-time or full-time online job or online gig because of the following reasons.
a) Legitimacy of job post
b) Security of payment
c) More job options
d) Opportunities for longer project/s or full-time employment
e) Ease of Use
There are also websites and manpower agencies which are targeted exclusively and/or mostly open for Filipino freelancers. These are created not only by local companies in the Philippines but by foreign companies around the world. Some of these are as follows:
Onlinejobs.ph
Virtualstaff.ph
Remotestaff.ph
Virtualstaff365.com
FreeUp.net
MyOutdesk.com
VirtualAssistantTalent.com
Kinetic.Online
Vavavoom.solutions
VAAPhilippines.com
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