5 Best Freelance Websites for Beginners and Professionals in 2018
Freelance platforms have changed the way professionals do their job and how companies operate. Through these applications, businesses can easily source workers for projects that do not require permanent employment, and independent professionals can search for work without the pressure of aiming for tenure.
In this guide, we take a look at the 5 best platforms for businesses looking to tap the potential of freelance talents. We looked at their usability, flexibility, and affordability. A quick overview has also been provided for each, so that you may familiarize yourself with each platform’s pricing, key features, and other aspects.
1. Fiverr
Fiverr is a freelance service marketplace designed with entrepreneurs in mind. It is a tool that helps employers find individuals brimming with talent to complete a wide variety of short-term projects.
Whether you are looking for graphic artists, writers, digital marketers, programmers, or other freelancers, employers will surely find affordable and skillful talents using this platform. Moreover, joining Fiverr is free. You can easily sign up for Fiverr here.
If you wish to get access to premium tools, you may opt for their single enterprise pricing plan that starts at only $5 per job.
What is unique about Fiverr?
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- Seller Level System. Fiverr prides itself on providing customer satisfaction, on-time delivery, and unparalleled service. This scheme allows them to evaluate the performance of sellers, track their progress, and give them goals to reach before they can take on more freelance responsibilities. Of course, it also allows sellers to enjoy benefits such as getting priority customer support, eligibility to be featured at promotional listings, and the like. In turn, this system helps buyers in picking freelancers with the right set of skills and a rate that falls within their budget.
- Secure/Private Communication Channels. Fiverr values the privacy of the sellers and employers utilizing their application. Thus, they make use of state-of-the-art anti-fraud and data security measures. Other than protecting personal information, these measures also let users communicate and exchange files through a secure messaging system within the platform.
- Freelancer Transparency. The transparency of Fiverr’s system provides buyers with all the information they need to choose a seller for a project. It allows employers to see the seller’s portfolio as well as feedback from previous employers. This makes it easier to decide which sellers to hire and ensures the quality of work that the company is paying for.
- Protected Buyer Payments. Keeping your financial data safe is easy with this platform. The application supports financial transactions coming from varying payment methods.
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2. Upwork
Upwork is a cloud-based freelance platform known for having the largest pool of employers and job finders. Perfect for the business of all sizes and freelancers with different skill levels, this application allows users to easily sift through available listings per their needs. It also has features that detect potentially fake employers or employees to protect the integrity of legitimate users. Moreover, Upwork offers affordable pricing plans that include tools for hiring assistance, pre-funding, consolidated invoicing, customized reporting, and more. Should you be interested, they also offer free sign-ups so you may test if the platform works for your operations.
What is unique about Upwork?
- Hassle-Free Screening Features. When it comes to freelancing, assessing applicants can be difficult because there is no personal interaction between the employer and the job finder. Upwork offers a resolution for this through their chat scheduling and profile browsing features. They also help buyers get to know candidates first-hand by allowing them to facilitate interviews online.
- In-App Communication Channels. Coordinating work among workers–be it part-time or full-time- is important to ensure the productivity of your operations. Communicate with your talents on-the-go using the in-app messaging tool of Upwork. Through this feature, you can provide feedback via text or video as well as share files with your freelancers.
- Simplified Billing Process. Tracking the billable time of freelancers is no easy feat, especially because they don’t need to come into the office to do their job. This is why Upwork provides tools that allow you to verify the work hours of their workers. It also allows you to set up pre-fund accounts of services rendered and helps you schedule billings every hour.
- Top-of-the-Line Freelancer Search Engine. Upwork offers a search engine backed by reliable data science and algorithms to let businesses narrow down the long list of potential employees and allow freelancers to efficiently filter jobs that suit their skill level.
3. Freelancer.com
Freelancer.com is a freelance service marketplace and crowdsourcing platform connecting millions of sellers and buyers in over 247 countries. Offering custom plans that let you utilize basic and advanced tools depending on what your operations require, this application is trusted by employers and job finders in different technical, professional, and creative fields. Whether you want to bid on projects related to software development, data entry, or engineering or wish to post jobs that deal with writing, accounting, or marketing, you can count on Freelancer.com to have options for you. For your convenience, they offer monthly and annual subscriptions at different price points.
What is unique about Freelancer.com?
- Fuss-Free Recruitment Solutions. Using Freelancer.com, you can browse through the registered talents according to their skill set and proficiency level as well as check out their portfolio to determine who to hire. Alternatively, freelancers using the application can reach out to sellers to bid for the projects that they want to work on.
- Safe and Secure Payments. This platform uses a milestone payment system that offers protection for all users of the site. It guarantees freelancers that the payment for their work is available and ready for release while employers are assured that the payment will only be released if they are satisfied with the outputs submitted to them.
- Easy Progress Monitoring. Freelancer.com wants its users to know what is going on with your project at any given time. This is why their desktop app allows users to monitor the hours spent on a job, get in touch with buyers and sellers, share information, as well as check on the progress of the project.
4. PeoplePerHour
PeoplePerHour is a freelance service marketplace aimed at empowering professionals across the globe to take on work that they love doing. Other than optimizing the way sellers and employers connect, they also offer numerous tools to manage all the tasks related to freelancing. The platform is equipped with a smorgasbord of features such as invoicing, account management, proposal reviewing, and in-app messaging. PeoplePerHour offers different kinds of pricing plans depending on your preference. You can opt for monthly payments, one-time-payments, or quote-based payments.
What is unique about PeoplePerHour?
- Account Management. With PeoplePerHour’s WorkStreamTM, managing freelancers and overseeing active projects has never been easier. The dashboard lets users see all the information they need and get access to the necessary account management tools all in one interface.
- Escrow Protection. Buyers using the platform are required to give down payments for a freelancer to start a project. To ensure that the service provider meets the job requirements of the business, PeoplePerHour offers an escrow protection feature.
- No-Cost Job Posting. Finding freelancers to work on your project does not have to be expensive. By choosing PeoplePerHour, you can post your projects for free, and start receiving bids from sellers within minutes.
5.Service scape
ServiceScape.com is a global marketplace that has been connecting individuals and organizations to top-rated freelancers who specialize in content editing, writing, translation, and graphic design services since June 2000. The company hosts and promotes the services of freelancers who work remotely using a wide variety of marketing initiatives, while giving them access to their existing client base which has been growing for over 18 years. Each freelancer’s profile shows his or her validated credentials, area(s) of expertise, portfolio, pricing, client ratings, and feedback from services provided to other clients. Clients can browse professionals’ profiles and choose the right person for their project. There is no complicated bidding on projects or crowdsourcing contests. Instead, through a streamlined process, professionals determine their own prices and most aspects of project creation have been predefined and integrated into the freelancer’s profile. The site has an easy-to-use interface, so professionals and clients can efficiently manage their projects and messages through their online account. Clients and professionals can communicate with each other through the website’s messaging system or through the convenient teleconference option. With a broad range of subject-matter and document type experts—ranging from personal and business communication to college admissions to peer-reviewed academic journals—ServiceScape.com is an invaluable resource for students, professionals, business owners, and ESL learners looking to make their content the best version it can be.