Fiverr vs Upwork: Which Freelance Platform is Best for You?
With remote jobs taking off within the last several years due to the pandemic, there are several options for outsourcing jobs to freelancers, whether that be writing, development, web design, digital marketing, etc. For this blog, we will focus on Fiverr vs Upwork, and their differences and similarities for freelancers. After reading, you’ll be able to make an informed decision on which platform is best for you.
The best part about both being a freelancer, and looking for a qualified freelancer is that you can be anywhere in the world sharing your work with others or requesting help on a project. Using a freelancing website such as Fiverr or Upwork, it’s easy to hire a freelancer from a different time zone than you that will be readily prepared and qualified for the job. As a freelancer, you’re able to submit proposals on jobs that you are interested in and match up to the best job for you and your schedule.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a global marketplace for freelancers to sell their services, and for businesses to quickly and easily find candidates for their projects that they need extra help with. They are known for their logo design services and the magnitude to which gigs are purchased. Though there are some instances of long-term work or projects, Fiverr is typically used for one-time projects and jobs. The prices range from client to client but tend to be fairly reasonable and easy to schedule.
Fiverr uses tiers to separate the experience and rating for each seller.
New Seller
Inexperienced or new to Fiverr
Level 1 Seller
Complete 10 highly-rated gigs and be active on Fiverr for a minimum of 60 days.
Level 2 Seller
Complete 50 highly-rated gigs and be active on Fiverr for a minimum of 120 days.
Top-Rated Seller
Complete 100 highly-rated gigs for a minimum of $20,000 and be active on Fiverr for a minimum of 180 days.
Fiverr is free to join and has complimentary ads for services as well as resources for freelancers to use. The few caveats to Fiverr are the cap on how much you can make for a project at $10,000, as well as a 20% service fee. The 20% service fee is a consistent flat rate across all jobs no matter the size, which can be helpful when figuring out your pricing on jobs.
Upwork
Similar to Fiverr in that Upwork is a platform used to buy and sell freelance jobs. Unlike Fiverr, Upwork has 3 different parts to its platform.
Talent Marketplace
The place where freelancers can post jobs or proposals, and get hired.
Project Catalog
The place for posting and selling, more for the business side of things.
Talent Scout
Used for recruiting services to match up businesses and freelancers.
Creating a profile is free for the basic plan, which allows you to use up to 10 Connects per month. Connects are the form of virtual currency that Upwork uses to apply for jobs. If you choose to upgrade your plan, you can use up to 80 Connects each month when applying for jobs. There is also an option to use the free version of Upwork and pay for any additional Connects in bundles of 10, 20, 40, 60, or 80 at about $1.50 per 10.
Payment
The biggest question in every freelancer’s mind is how to get paid. For Upwork, payment works in both traditional hourly pay or fixed-price protection that uses project milestones to release payments over a period of time. You, as the freelancer choose the way for payment as well as choose the medium for the payment. Upwork uses direct deposit, wire transfer, PayPal, and Payoneer. For Fiverr, payment options are fairly similar other than the fact they do not do hourly pay.
Key Differences
The biggest differences when considering Fiverr vs Upwork are the way they go about business. The service fee is a major difference. Fiverr takes a flat rate of 20% taken at each gig. Upwork operates on a sliding scale of 5%-20% depending on the job caliber. Another big difference is the focus of work. Fiverr focuses on gig work, while Upwork focuses more on hourly and flat-rate projects.
Now that you know the biggest differences between Fiverr vs Upwork, you are able to make the best decision about which platform you choose to sell your freelance services from.
