Freelancer.com Review 2023

Freelancer.com used to be a great platform to hire freelancers back when it was founded in 2009. But in the recent years, the marketplace has been flooded by low-quality freelancers and scams due to Freelancer’s poor vetting system. As a result, many customers report poor experience, which coincides with our findings: lots of scam and quality freelancers are difficult to find and aren’t any cheaper than elsewhere.

So we recommend you do what we did: turn to freelance marketplaces that thoroughly vet every new freelancers and let only the top 3% to work for them. The results for you as a client is a much smoother user experience, without any hassle of handling fraud reports at only slightly higher prices. For most clients, we recommend our Editors’ Choice winner Toptal, where freelance prices range from $80 to $230 per hour without any additional fees. In addition, you get a 14-day free trial with each new freelancers, so the entire experience is risk-free.

If the Toptal rates are too steep for you, you can choose our budget pick Fiverr, where prices start much lower. But bear in mind that the same quality of freelancers aren’t any cheaper than on Toptal. The only difference is that you cannot find low-quality freelancers on Toptal.

How Freelancer.com Works

Freelancer.com is a platform that allows clients and freelancers to work together on a variety of projects and contests in various categories, both online and offline. Getting started is easy. Simply click “Sign Up” on the homepage, choose to sign up via Facebook or email, and provide a username. You will then be asked to select your account type and verify your email address.

Once you have registered and completed your account details, you can begin finding work or hiring freelancers. Clients can post projects for freelancers to bid on, take advantage of the Recruiter Service to connect with the best freelancer for their project, directly hire freelancers, hire a Project Manager to help with project management, start contests to receive ideas from multiple freelancers, or purchase predefined services for small projects. Freelancers can browse and apply for projects, participate in contests, and showcase their skills in the Freelancer Showcase.

Contests vs. Projects

On Freelancer.com, clients have the option to either start a contest or post a project to get work done. It’s important to understand the differences between the two job types in order to choose the one that best fits your needs.

Contests allow clients to receive submissions from multiple freelancers based on a contest description that they provide. Clients can then rate and provide feedback on the received entries and even launch a poll to get help in choosing a winner. Contests are often a good option for visual or design work, particularly if you have not worked with a freelancer on the site before. It’s also possible to purchase additional entries or contest runners-up after a winner has been chosen.

Projects, on the other hand, allow clients to choose a freelancer from a pool of bidders based on their previous work and reviews on their profile. This is a good option for tasks that have specific requirements and may require the expertise of a single skilled freelancer. The Recruiter Service is also available to help clients find the best freelancer for their project.

How Much Does Freelancer.com Cost

When posting a project on Freelancer.com, clients have the option to choose between a fixed-price project or an hourly project. It’s important to choose the project type that best fits the work requirements in order to get the most benefit. The Milestone Payment system is the recommended method of paying freelancers on the platform and offers protection to both clients and freelancers by providing equal control over created payments for awarded projects and accepted quotes.

For fixed-price projects, the bid amount of the winning freelancer is the total amount to be paid for completing the project. These projects are ideal for one-time projects or those with set or limited budgets and can be paid through Milestone Payments or by directly transferring funds to the freelancer.

Hourly projects, on the other hand, are ideal for continuous work or full-time positions. The bids of the freelancers are their hourly rate for the required work and the amount to be paid to the winning freelancer is the total price of the hours of rendered work. Milestone Payments are automatically generated every Monday from hours tracked in the Freelancer Desktop App and are paid every Wednesday. Hourly projects can also be upgraded to Full Time if the project is commission-based or requires extended or continuous work. In this case, project fees will not be charged until the total amount paid to the freelancer exceeds $5000 USD.

It’s also possible to convert an hourly project to a fixed-price project by clicking “I prefer to pay a Fixed Price” when awarding the project. This will disable time tracking and automatic billing and the project will work just like a fixed-price project.

Is Freelancer.com Legit or a Scam?

Freelancer.com is a popular website for freelancers and clients to connect and work together on projects. However, the platform has faced criticism for its lack of control over spam applicants and posts, which can make it difficult for users to find high quality professionals and projects. The majority of active users on the site are from India, China, and the Philippines, and while there are also qualified professionals from Eastern Europe and the Old World, they often have to compete with low-priced workers from Asia.

There have also been reports of scams and fraud on the site, and even if you do find a good freelancer, it’s recommended to have a senior developer or editor to make improvements to the work. The navigation on Freelancer.com can be confusing for new users, but it does offer a wide range of features and the registration process is simple, allowing users to register as freelancers, clients, or both.

As a client, you may receive a large number of automated and scripted applications for job postings, and it’s important to be aware that many of these are from agencies posting as individual contractors who may not provide high quality work. While Freelancer.com does offer 24/7 live chat support, it may not always be an immediate solution for issues.

Despite these criticisms, Freelancer.com remains a popular platform with millions of users, and its ranking system, including badges and levels, has been adopted by other freelance websites. Ultimately, it’s important to do your research and due diligence when using Freelancer.com to ensure you find the right freelancer or project for your needs.