Upwork is a freelance marketplace that connects clients with freelancers who provide all sorts of services. Whether you offer content writing, SEO management, IT services, graphic design, or accounting, you can find clients on Upwork to hire you.
Before getting started with Upwork, though, it’s important to investigate the platform and determine whether it’s legitimate. There are a lot of freelance platforms out there, and not all of them are worth your time.
This article will review Upwork and provide all you need to know about finding work on the platform, getting paid, and more. At the end of this review, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how Upwork works and whether it’s for you.
The short version: Upwork is legitimate, but it has certain disadvantages, such as the Connects and boosted proposal features. I still recommend using Upwork, but not as your sole source of clients.
Let’s get into the full review.
Understanding Upwork
Upwork is a freelancing marketplace that was founded back in 2013. It’s one of the most popular freelancing marketplaces on the web.
The way Upwork operates is quite simple. As a freelancer, you can sign up, create your profile and resume, upload past projects as samples, and then start searching for jobs.
Let’s go over some of the top features of Upwork for freelancers.
Applying to Jobs
Upwork has a unique job application scheme. Unfortunately – and this is one of the biggest drawbacks of using the platform – applying to jobs isn’t entirely free.
You need to use credits, called “Connects,” to apply to jobs. The more in-demand a job is (the more freelancers are applying for it), the more Connects it will require to apply to it.
Some jobs only require two Connects, while others require six, eight, or even more.
As you can see in the following screenshots, some jobs require 12! Others can go even higher.
Upwork does give you 10 free Connects per month. However, recently, the amount of Connects you need to apply to most jobs has been rising.
Ten free Connects per month would only allow you to apply to five jobs, considering they require two Connects each. However, those jobs are becoming rare, and it’s more likely for jobs to require 4–8 Connects, which means you can barely apply to any jobs for free.
To get more Connects, you’ll need to buy them or sign up for the Upwork Plus plan, which gives you 80 Connects per month instead of 10.
When you apply for a job, you will write a cover letter explaining why you would be a good fit for the position. You could also bid with your rate.
This could be a per-project rate or an hourly rate, depending on the type of job it is.
For fixed project rates, projects can be broken down into milestones. This is best for large projects, and it helps build trust and ensure you get some of the money quicker.
A large project might last for a month and cost $1,000. You can break it down into four milestones of $250 each.
This makes it less risky to you.
Boosting With Connects
Upwork has also introduced a new feature that allows you to boost your proposal with Connects. It involves bidding with Connects to ensure you get one of the top spots in the client’s list of proposals, making it more likely for the client to view your proposal.
For example, let’s say the job requires four Connects to apply. You can place a bid of eight Connects for first place.
If nobody bids higher than you, then your proposal will appear at the top of the list on the client’s end.
Freelancer Plus
Upwork Freelancer Plus is a premium subscription service. In addition to giving you 80 Connects a month, it also gives you access to other perks, such as the ability to see the bid range of other freelancers.
Upwork, a lot of time, is a race to the bottom. If you bid too high, clients might not hire you, as they’re searching for a better deal.
With Freelancer Plus, you can see what everyone is bidding. You will also get a customized profile URL and other perks.
US Jobs
One of the problems of any freelancer platform – this is not exclusive to Upwork – is that if it’s global, you will be competing with a lot more people.
If you are a freelancer based in the US, you have a higher cost of living than people living in other countries, and you need higher wages to support the higher cost of living.
Meanwhile, freelancers in other regions of the world, often Asia but also Latin America and Africa, have a lower cost of living and are happy to work at a fraction of the rate you think you are worth.
Competing with such freelancers can be difficult. Usually, they are just as qualified as US freelancers and are able to charge much lower rates.
This makes things difficult for US freelancers trying to earn a living on Upwork.
Fortunately, Upwork has a solution. Clients can request that only US freelancers bid on their jobs, and anyone living outside the US will not be able to apply to those jobs.
Clients may prefer US freelancers due to ease of communication and being in the same time zone. For jobs like article writing, many clients prefer native English speakers as well.
If you are a US freelancer, you can filter for US jobs only. That way, you are competing only against freelancers in the US.
This has two benefits. First of all, the competition is generally lower, so instead of 20–50 applications per job, you will often be seeing around 5-10 (not always, but it is more common than for global jobs).
Secondly, you will be competing against others who are bidding higher rates, so you won’t have to lower your rates too much.
Addressing Legitimacy Concerns
Upwork is legitimate, but that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect.
The nature of the Upwork marketplace means that there are many scams on it. Upwork is not thorough in investigating scams and has very lenient rules for clients who are posting jobs.
A lot of jobs are scams, and they will ask you to take the conversation off Upwork and onto Telegram or some other platform. Remember that communicating off Upwork is prohibited according to Upwork’s ToS, at least until you have a contract.
Upwork provides a messaging platform and even the ability to schedule video calls with clients.
You should also always accept payments through Upwork and never off the platform.
Another thing I recommend doing is working with clients who have verified payment methods and completed jobs, as well as good reviews from freelancers. That will reduce the chances of working with a scam client or a client who refuses to pay.
For long, fixed projects, break it down into milestones. That way, you won’t risk doing the whole project only for you to not get paid.
Upwork does have a resolution and dispute process, but it tends to side with clients, as they are the ones paying the money and funding the platform.
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Verification and Quality Assurance
To verify your identity on Upwork as a freelancer, you’ll need to submit an ID and visual verification to ensure you match the person on the ID.
If the verification fails, you won’t get a verification badge on your account profile. You also won’t be able to submit applications and withdraw earnings.
Unfortunately, for clients, things are a bit murkier. Clients can post jobs without any verification – Upwork only occasionally asks clients to verify their identity, but it usually doesn’t, as it doesn’t care to vet clients like it does freelancers.
Clients can even post jobs without verifying a valid payment method, although they can’t hire a freelancer until they do so. Scammers commonly post jobs without verified payment methods using throwaway accounts and then try to get you to message them on Telegram.
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Payment Protection and Dispute Resolution
Upwork has a system in place to ensure freelancers get paid as promised. However, disputes can sometimes arise – so let’s see how Upwork helps protect freelancers.
Things work differently depending on whether it’s a fixed job or an hourly contract.
For fixed contracts, clients must pay a deposit equaling the entire contract or the first milestone (if it is broken into milestones). These funds are held in escrow and help ensure the freelancer will get paid.
Still, a client has 14 days to review each milestone after it is submitted, and they can dispute it if it’s not to their satisfaction. If they don’t respond in 14 days, it will automatically be approved.
For hourly contracts, clients don’t have to deposit money in escrow, but they do need to add a valid payment method.
This payment method will get charged every Monday for work done the previous week. If the payment fails, the payment method will continue to be charged until it goes through.
What if the client is unresponsive? You will still get paid if you qualify for Hourly Payment Protection (you basically need to have an Upwork account in good standing, be using the Upwork desktop app to track your hourly work, and meet a few other requirements).
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The most important thing is to use the Upwork desktop app on your PC or Mac! It runs in the background and takes periodic screenshots of your computer screen to ensure you are actually working – you will also need to add a memo to each time period you track.
Without it, you won’t be eligible for payment protection on hourly contracts, and if a client is unresponsive or doesn’t want to pay you, you might not get paid.
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How Do You Get Paid on Upwork?
Upwork provides a few payment methods, but it does depend on your country.
In the US, the cheapest method is to get a direct transfer to your bank account via ACH, which has no fees.
Upwork says it could take a few days, but in practice, it’s often just 1-2 business days. When the funds are available for withdrawal will depend on your bank.
PayPal is also available, with a $1 fee.
In the US, you can also use Instant Pay. You’ll need to link a valid Visa or Mastercard debit card.
For a $2 fee, Instant Pay will deposit the money straight onto your debit card. The money will arrive instantly.
Also Read: Best Gig Apps That Pay The Same Day
When Will You Get Paid?
After your project has been accepted, it will take five days for the money to be available in your account. For hourly contracts, most freelancers must wait 10 days – five days to give the client time to dispute the work, and another five days for Upwork’s security hold.
Let’s say you work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The client will be billed the following Monday, as the weekly billing cycle ends on Sunday at midnight.
Then, the funds will be available for withdrawal the following Wednesday. You can set up automatic weekly payments or manually request a payment.
In other words, it could easily take two weeks or more to get paid. That’s quite a bit of time, so make sure to account for it when creating your budget.
User Experience and Customer Support
Overall, Upwork is easy to use. The platform is intuitive, and you can filter for jobs based on tags, categories, or keywords.
Unfortunately, you can no longer see as many details about a client’s past history on the platform as in the past, which is a bit frustrating. However, you can still see reviews and ratings.
As a freelancer, support from Upwork is generally pretty good. I have used Upwork myself, and when I got locked out of my account after not using it for a long time and forgetting my password, Upwork support was quick to reply and help me log in by allowing me to prove my identity.
Reviews and Feedback
Upwork is an excellent platform, and a lot of freelancers have been able to make a decent living from Upwork. However, it has become a lot more competitive, especially in the past couple of years as remote work has become more common.
There is a lot of criticism against Upwork, though, and this criticism has only been mounting since the implementation of Connects to apply to jobs and boosted proposals.
The fact that you need Connects to apply means that freelancers who are struggling to earn a living will be at a disadvantage compared to other freelancers who have extra money on their hands, as they won’t be able to afford more Connects. This makes it harder to break into the market.
In general, the idea of needing to pay to apply to jobs doesn’t sit well with a lot of freelancers. There is a very limited number of free Connects per month, which means that if you want to be active on Upwork regularly, you will most definitely have to pay for Connects (or Freelancer Plus).
Meanwhile, there are other platforms and job boards that are free to use.
The boosted proposals scheme has also garnered a lot of criticism.
There are benefits and drawbacks to it. On the one hand, it could be beneficial, as some jobs can garner 20, 50, or even more proposals, making it very hard to be seen by clients.
By boosting your proposal, you at least stand a chance.
On the other hand, many freelancers believe that this is killing the platform. Anyone can boost their proposals, even if they are not qualified for the position, while qualified freelancers might get lost in all the noise and never be seen.
Clients who don’t know how the system works might see the top proposals, even if they are low-quality, thinking that they are at the top of the list because they are the most qualified (when that is not the case at all). They may get frustrated with the platform in general and leave.
Again, the boosted proposal system puts poorer freelancers at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, it helps Upwork line its pockets by squeezing money out of freelancers.
Another problem with Upwork is that it’s a race to the bottom. The economy is in shambles – that is no secret.
People are flooding to freelance platforms like Upwork to make extra cash on the side or to tide them over while they are in between jobs.
Desperation means that people will be bidding lower and lower on jobs. Again, these people might be just as qualified as you or even more so, but they are in tough financial straits.
Why would a client pay you more when they can get the same quality work for a much lower price?
Also Read: Indeed Revenue & User Statistics
Recap – Is Upwork Legit?
Upwork is legitimate, and it’s an excellent platform for finding work as a freelancer. The vast amount of jobs available means that there is always something you can apply to.
However, Upwork does have some significant cons. I recommend being careful with which jobs you apply to, because you use up Connects every time you apply to a job, and applying to jobs you aren’t a good fit for is just a waste of Connects.
Also, if you live in the US, filter for jobs that are “US only,” as the competition will be significantly lower.
Finally, don’t rely on Upwork as your sole source of income. It’s important to get some clients from places other than Upwork as well, just to keep yourself financially secure.
