Upwork is the worst freelancing platform - Here is why

Before you join the platform here is few key things that you gotta know. ( this is based on my experience )

1. Competition is huge, even if you have outstanding skills, it doesn't really matter, you will have hard time getting a job.
2. You gotta pay for connects, gotta pay for membership and cover huge fees and then gotta spend more money just to send request to apply for the job.
3. Payouts take long time to be processed.

And I actually worked on few projects) and made some money, but it's not worth the afford, imho. I am not saying that people are not making money here of course they are.

I am not upset or anything guys, I am just sharing my experience, so before you get started know what you are getting yourself into.
Maybe it was good few years before but now)) nah.

It's equivalent to Fiverr in fees. Fiverr's 20% is pretty equivalent to Upwork's 10% plus connects, probably.

also, it's really hard to get any jobs by spending connects! not worth it in my opinion

Gotta get those clients out of UpWork, build your portfolio. That's how you get back, these platforms make a living out of sucking blood

It's one of my favorite freelancing platforms to hire backend developers.

I like Upwork, I get great work for peanuts. Things I absolutely detest about Upwork is sifting through hordes of cringe-worthy proposals, copy-paste "Dear Sir"messages and people begging for work even though they can't string together a coherent sentence to save their lives. It's like an open audition for the World's Worst Freelancer competition.

Marko T said:

I like Upwork, I get great work for peanuts. Things I absolutely detest about Upwork is sifting through hordes of cringe-worthy proposals, copy-paste "Dear Sir"messages and people begging for work even though they can't string together a coherent sentence to save their lives. It's like an open audition for the World's Worst Freelancer competition.

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I have hired lots of people on upwork) as a client it's okay, but I am talking about freelancer perspective.

Deleted member 752298 said:

It's one of my favorite freelancing platforms to hire backend developers.

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As a customer u have lots of choices, but I am talking about it from freelancer perspective.

Tanjiro B said:

also, it's really hard to get any jobs by spending connects! not worth it in my opinion

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Exactly, I don't mind paying for connects but if u earn XXXX and you pay almost 20-30% of that in connects and then fees, is it even worth?

jorge_td said:

Gotta get those clients out of UpWork, build your portfolio. That's how you get back, these platforms make a living out of sucking blood

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True, if you want to get something you gotta pay, basically to even apply for the job.

roydan said:

It's equivalent to Fiverr in fees. Fiverr's 20% is pretty equivalent to Upwork's 10% plus connects, probably.

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It's not only fees, but in a long run upwork charges more in fees, just smoothly compared to fiverr.

agree is difficult, now is so saturated and many people trying to apply to jobs, still there is a chance but is really difficult people still going there because the reputation they have but yeah it seems pay to loose, if someone have patience could be lucky to find something but I repeat lucky if they find something good.

Well, I started there years ago from scratch. Now I don't go there anymore but it helped me for years.

IMO it used to be the most accessible for starters among all these platforms such as freelancer.org, which is full of scammers or fiverr.com, where the old hands monopolize most of jobs and the remaining users ridiculously sell themselves for pennies.

My first gigs on Upwork were like ghostwriting a Christian story and some content-writing for a Russian company selling counterfeit erectile dysfunction med.
If anyone here is considering this journey, be prepared to be exploited for some months while building your reputation.
Spend some nights awake searching for your relevant keywords and be one of the first to apply.
Don't be so cringe in the proposal nor so copy-pasty, because most of the applicants will.

You will eventually find the bigger clients or agencies. I've signed some long-term contracts there.
They usually pay you outside of the platform to avoid fees for themselves (and luckily for you as well).

I do recommend starting there if one wishes to work remotely.

i just read a thread where people are saying upwork is the easiest platform for freelancing but here you are saying just its opposite. I am completely a newbie here as well as in freelancing. Can you help me decide where should i focus more. it would really help me a lot.

vikassharma79822 said:

i just read a thread where people are saying upwork is the easiest platform for freelancing but here you are saying just its opposite. I am completely a newbie here as well as in freelancing. Can you help me decide where should i focus more. it would really help me a lot.

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I just stated facts, or at least my experience.

There is nothing stopping you from trying to work there.

Marko T said:

I like Upwork, I get great work for peanuts. Things I absolutely detest about Upwork is sifting through hordes of cringe-worthy proposals, copy-paste "Dear Sir"messages and people begging for work even though they can't string together a coherent sentence to save their lives. It's like an open audition for the World's Worst Freelancer competition.

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Literally the point of this thread... As a freelancer you'll make peanuts there just like on fiverr. I'm traumatized enough after weird countdown timer on fiverr (bruh I can just put deadline date on invoice, this timer on fiverr's site is like psychological thing to terrorize you to work faster because you might run out of time, etc, it's just cringe, I'm intellectual worker, not working in a factory) and 1 star reviews for having standards. I won't work for that low and with clients that disrespectful, no thanks. Getting clients on facebook and linkedin + processing transactions myself is 10 times better. Still shit 'job' but better.

vikassharma79822 said:

i just read a thread where people are saying upwork is the easiest platform for freelancing but here you are saying just its opposite. I am completely a newbie here as well as in freelancing. Can you help me decide where should i focus more. it would really help me a lot.

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Get clients yourself. Facebook, linkedin, email, ads, etc. What's up with people being so dependent on platform doing everything for them? It's not 9 to 5, stop looking for a platform to take care of you like big daddy employer. Freelancing is a business (as shitty as it is) - get clients and figure out payments, onboarding, etc yourself.

The connects system is really annoying. They want to do business in every situation.

After few days, they might charge (connects) to view job post, pathetic.