Fiverr vs Upwork for freelancers: Which platform is best?

Fiverr and Upwork are two of the world's most popular freelancing platforms. Both are respected for their large user base and payment systems. 

But which is right for you?

As a freelancer myself, I know you’ll want reassurance over which platform to invest your time and profits toward. 

Having used both Fiverr and Upwork over the years, I’ve broken them down into key areas and shared opinions alongside the facts. 

Let's get started.

A quick comparison of Fiverr and Upwork

What is Fiverr?

Fiverr is a freelancing platform with an open marketplace model, where freelancers can offer services known as ‘gigs’ for custom prices and tiers. Unlike Upwork, Fiverr focuses on the client finding a freelancer, after browsing Fiverr’s marketplace. 

The name ‘Fiverr’ comes from its initial system of offering gigs at just $5, but today there are no pricing limits. Although it’s still focused on one-time jobs, it now offers subscriptions too. 

Fiverr was founded in 2010 and has over 4.2 million active buyers and 380,000 freelancers from over 160 countries. 

What is Upwork?

Upwork is a freelancing platform focusing on long-term working relationships and larger projects. Although buyers can search for skills, it primarily requires freelancers to apply to projects listed by clients, with a proposal and cover letter. 

Upwork was founded in 2013 and has over 5 million clients and 18 million freelancers from over 180 countries. 

Next, I’m going to take you through each key area of using Fiverr and Upwork as a freelancer, comparing the two for their flaws and qualities...

What's the difference between Fiverr and Upwork?

Fiverr operates around ‘Gigs’, which are services that freelancers list and sell to buyers. Freelancers create and share gigs with an overview of their profile, skills, and service offerings. A gig has its own custom pricing and tiered package models. 

Buyers, or clients, must browse the Fiverr marketplace for gigs. Buyers can use Fiverr’s ‘brief creation process’ to generate a project brief that can seek out relevant freelancers. 

There’s also an AI-powered feature, where buyers talk to a Neo (a bot) to explain what they need before Neo recommends them a selection of suited freelancers.  

Meanwhile, Upwork works in two ways - a client can list a project and then accept their preferred freelancer proposal, or they can find a freelancer profile or ‘Product Catalog’ page and hire them directly.

All users have one main account, which can have different ‘profiles’ to switch between; each profile has different histories, ratings, services, and even financial information. This allows you to create skill-specific profiles, to prevent confusion. 

Applying for work on Upwork requires that you send a proposal. A proposal consists of a cover letter and a proposed rate. You can also attach examples of your work.

Freelancers can set an hourly rate when applying, or set a fixed price for projects that are displayed on their freelancer profile.

Most importantly, Upwork uses a currency system called ‘Connects’. You must use Connects to bid on projects and boost your profile.

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How much do they cost?

Both platforms are free to use, with no upfront costs. Instead, fees are deducted from your earnings. 

Fiverr 

Fiverr takes 20% of each gig you sell as a freelancer. You may also have to pay a fee of around $1 to $3 for earnings withdrawal, depending on your currency and withdrawal method. 

Buyers will also have to pay a 5.5% service fee to Fiverr, in addition to the gig price. If the purchase is under $50, a buyer will also have to pay a $2 small order fee. 

For example, for a $100 gig, you would take home $80. The buyer would pay $105.50 in total.

Upwork

Upwork uses a sliding scale for fees: 

• Up to $500 jobs: 20%
• Between $500.01 and $10,000: 10%
• Over $10,000.01: 5%

For example, for a $700 project, you would pay 20% on $500 and 10% on $200, taking home $580. The buyer does not pay a fee. 

FYI - both these options dwarf Whop's fees - which are set at a fixed 3% of any direct sales - nothing less, nothing more. With Upwork and Fiverr's fees being very steep, setting up your freelancing business and monetizing with Whop is a smart alternative.

Are there membership options?

Fiverr

For freelancers, Fiverr offers an invite-only pro tier called ‘Seller Plus’. The program offers enhanced tools and features, such as advanced analytics, buyer activity insights, faster withdrawals, and faster customer support responses. 

You’ll also get five ‘Buyer Coupons’ per month which you can use to give buyers discounts. Premium also comes with a dedicated success manager. 

Fiverr Seller Plus is available in Standard or Premium, each with dedicated features. Standard is priced at $19 per month and Premium is $29. Payment is taken directly from your Fiverr balance, or a credit card or PayPal account, if your balance is insufficient.

Upwork

As a freelancer, Upwork offers ‘Freelance Plus’, which gives you a bunch of different perks for $19.99 per month. 

It includes 100 extra connects per month, the ability to see competitor bids, gain priority access to certification programs, have 0% freelancer fees for new Upwork clients, hide your earnings, and use a custom profile URL. You’ll also get access to ‘Uma’, Upwork’s AI assistant. 

If you plan on going all-in on Upwork it may be worth the investment, as you’ll likely need to invest in connects on the free plan anyway. Ten connects (on the free plan) is simply not enough to submit competitive bids or boost your profile. 

How easy is it to get started?

Fiverr

I found sign-up easy - taking around just ten minutes. You just head to Fiverr’s homepage and click ‘Join’ to get started. You’ll need to enter a valid email address and verify your account with a code via email. You’ll also need to select a username, which cannot be changed. So think wisely! 

There are several types of accounts you can make on Fiverr - a client, freelancer, or a client and freelancer combined account.

To use Fiverr, you must be at least 18 years of age and sign a legally binding contract. If you’re between 13 and 18 years of age you’ll need to use an account owned by a parent or legal guardian. 

Creating a seller account is only possible on desktop, which rules out anyone who wants to work solely on their phone. If you’re a U.S. resident, you need to submit a W9 form for taxation reasons. Your account will also be reviewed during the sign-up and Gig creation process. 

Once you’ve made your account, head over to the top right, hover over your profile icon, and click ‘Become a Seller’. 

Fiverr will then request that you enter your personal information and create a Fiverr seller profile. You’ll need to list your skills, and experience and write a description of yourself. Then, you can start adding gigs to your profile.

Upwork

Signing up to Upwork is also relatively easy. After clicking ‘sign-up’ on the home page, you’ll need to enter your email address and open the link they send you to create a public freelancer profile.  

After agreeing to the Terms of Services, you can start building your profile. There’s a handy LinkedIn profile import feature here to auto-fill your profile, but you can create it manually too. 

To get a 100% complete profile, you must enter a complete education and work history. With a 100% profile, you’ll look more trustworthy to buyers. Those without an impressive educational history may find this an obstacle. 

You’ll also need to choose your expertise level, and language skills, and set an hourly rate. 

Critically, you can only use Upwork once your profile has been approved.

Upwork has become more and more strict in recent years. Sadly, it seems to be an automated system. I recommend using a custom URL email address if you’re struggling to get approved and to avoid starting with an ‘entry’ skill level. 

Once your profile has been accepted, you can start browsing Upwork’s job board. You can search by keywords, and skills and sort by different criteria, such as ‘latest’ or within the last 24 hours. This is a useful feature if you want to get ahead of the competition. 

Payment methods

Fiverr

Fiverr requires a client to pay Fiverr once the freelancer has completed the work. The fees are then applied and the funds go to your seller account on Fiverr. 

There is then a 14-day clearing period before you can withdraw. This can be reduced to 7 days if you’re a top-rated seller.

Fiverr withdrawals can be made via PayPal, Fiverr Revenue Card, or bank transfers if you’re in the U.S., Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Israel, or E.U. However, currency conversion will apply if you don’t withdraw via USD.

Upwork

Upwork offers an escrow system that holds money neutrally while a project is being completed. This ensures that both sides are protected. 

If you are working on a fixed-price contract or Project Catalog contract, then your funds will be sent to your Upwork wallet after the project has been approved. Hourly contracts operate a weekly billing cycle. 

There is a 5-day clearing period for fixed and Project Catalog contracts and a 10-day period for hourly projects. 

For U.S. freelancers, withdrawal can be made after that, either directly to your bank, via wire transfer, or instant pay. If you’re outside the US, you can use third-party payment vendors such as Wise, M-Pesa, Payoneer, or Paypal.

What about security?

Security is important in any marketplace to prevent a freelancer from having their personal information leaked and a buyer from being scammed.

Fiverr

Fiverr states that data is secure at all times and never shared with third parties. They also handle all payments, ensuring security (Level 1 PCI-DSS service provider) of personal details even when using the likes of PayPal. 

Upwork

While I do trust Fiverr’s claims, Upwork is far more extensive and open about its security practices. 

Its main features are data encryption, malware, and spam protection. You can also enter into agreements for IP rights and confidentiality protection, or use Upwork’s Optional Service Contract Terms (which can be customized) to allow rights to transfer upon payment. 

Upwork also has multi-factor authentication, single sign-on for Enterprise customers, and secure Enterprise session custom timeouts. 

How helpful is customer support?

Fiverr

Fiverr also has an extensive help center, including a community hub, forum, and general how-to guide. 

If you’re faced with a bigger issue, you can click ‘Contact Us’ at the bottom of the page. Then you’ll be able to send a message, which you can track the status of in ‘My Support Requests’ in your Fivver account. 

Seller Plus members seem to report that they get quicker responses, otherwise, you may have to be patient. 

Upwork

Upwork has live chat support, but it’s just a bot. It can provide quick solutions and save you time sifting through its extensive resources center and blogs. In our experience it’s better than most bots, for example, it was able to give me information on my latest withdrawal status. 

If you pressure the bot and say that the issue has been unresolved you may be able to get access to a human customer support team, which could be critical in a complicated and urgent situation. However, in our experience, we’re unable to get that to work. 

If you really need to speak to a human, you should post on the Upwork community support forum and hope that an Upwork team member files you a support ticket. 

Should you sell with Upwork or Fiverr?

To help you decide, let's take a look at the seller experience on each platform.

Selling on Fiverr

Fiverr is mostly focused on one-time, quick-turnaround jobs. Depending on your goals, this could be a positive or negative. You could get repeat customers who quickly build up your rating.

To sell gigs on Fiverr, clients will need to find your gig in the Fiverr marketplace. You can publish six gigs at any time, allowing you to target multiple niches and try different approaches. 

On the plus side, you don’t have to spend time crafting cover letters and sending applications (most of which will inevitably get rejected) like you do on Upwork.

You can also offer tiered packages to target different budgets. Each package can be customized to offer a different level of service, such as more words if you’re a writer, or alternative edits if you’re a video editor.

An enticing job title is crucial as you’re competing with hundreds to thousands of other freelancers, many with a decent amount of reviews already under their belt. As Fiverr has its own search function, you must also think about relevant keywords and niche topics. 

There is a wide range of flexibility in each gig you create. For example, the tiered packaging means you can squeeze more out of your clients by offering tier-exclusive services and add-ons. You can also set extra fees for quicker turnaround or the use of Shutterstock images. 

You can also tell buyers what you need before you begin and order, ensuring that time isn’t lost when waiting for a client to provide critical information to get started. 

Fiverr recognizes your niche when you start creating the gig and will adjust the fields in response. So when listing my copywriting services, Fiverr gave me the option to add SEO options or extra-word count. It’s assumed a similar outcome would happen in other industries. 

I advise that you add some frequently asked questions and create fields that buyers must complete for an order to be accepted. This can really help you save time that is typically lost when buyers don’t provide the essential information to get started. 

Fiverr has recently added ‘Fiverr subscriptions’ too, allowing order gigs on an automated basis. Such as every week or every 2 days. 

Once published, your gig will be viewable in the Fiverr marketplace. A client can instantly buy your service, or contact you for further information. Having a good portfolio and profile rating helps here, as you’ll look legitimate and trusted. 

Selling with Upwork

Upwork is better suited to long-term projects, with complex briefs and specialized skills. While you can sell and apply to one-off tasks, clients typically want to find someone they can rely on long-term. 

The experience is dictated by Upwork’s currency system, called ‘Connects’.

Connects are used to apply for jobs and use other features, such as boosting your profile. Each Freelancer Basic account gets 10 free connects per month. Freelancer Plus accounts get 80. You can add more Connects for $0.15 each. 

When sending a proposal, you’ll need to set your ‘bid’. If you put in a higher amount of connects than other applicants, then your proposal will be higher in the client’s inbox. While great on paper, this means that you’ll have to spend to get a job. And if your bid is rejected, say goodbye to your connects. 

Connects have been a controversial addition to Upwork, with many freelancers feeling exploited. In its defense, Upwork says connects were added to ensure proposals are only from eager freelancers.

But in my experience, I find it extremely frustrating. To set a competitive bid you have to spend a lot and it’s not uncommon that you get rejected, which means lost connects and lost money.

However, you can find work in other ways. For example, a client can invite you to bid (which requires no connects), or you can get offered a project directly.

You can also list ‘Projects Catalogs’, in a similar way to how gigs work on Fiverr. You don’t need to spend any connects for your projects to be listed or purchased. 

How effective are paid promotions on each platform?

Both Fiverr and Upwork offer the chance to boost your profile and projects. 

Fiverr

Fiverr has a promoted gigs system, which you can use to increase your chances of your gigs being seen and purchased. It is basically an in-platform advertisement. 

You set a daily budget and only pay for clicks on your ads. If your budget is reached, your ads will be removed and you won’t pay any more. 

Fiverr states that using the system will increase your gig visibility by 200%, with your gig placed in prime viewing locations. You can also choose ‘Inbox Ads’, where your gig is shown in a buyer’s inbox. 

Fiverr says that the higher your budget is, the more likely interested buyers will find your ad. 

I like that there is an option to have your ad cost deducted from your Fiverr earnings, as that means you can avoid upfront costs - a big draw for those starting from scratch.

On the flip side, Fiverr limits ads to sellers who meet their performance metrics. Only Pro, Level 1, Level 2, and Top Rated freelancers are eligible. To get to level one, you’ll need a 4.7 rating for 60 days and at least $400 in earnings. 

This system prevents the platform from being overloaded with garbage ads but also means you’ll have to graft to $400 before you can start promoting your work. 

Upwork

You can use the ‘Connects’ currency on Upwork to boost your profile’s visibility and increase the chances of receiving job invites. If your profile matches a buyer’s search targets, then you’ll appear on their screen during their hiring process. 

You only pay when a client interacts with your profile and you will only spend the budget of daily connects you choose to allocate.  You can also set an end date, to prevent you from boosting for too long.

Once again, however, Upwork asks freelancers to ‘bid’ for their visibility. The higher you bid, the higher your chances of being seen are. 

Connects are deducted when:

• A client clicks on a booster profile promotion. 
• A client saves your boosted profile.
• A client invites you, via the boosted profile page. 
• A client hires you from your boosted profile.

Thankfully Upwork only deducts connects per client. So if a client clicks your profile multiple times, you won’t be charged multiple times. 

During my use of Upwork, I have seen an increase in gig and profile interest following the use of boosted profiles. In fact, I feel it's almost essential to success on the platform.

But, connects go fast. And as you’ll also be using them to apply to proposals, it’s a system I have grown to dislike.

Do you need a certain skill set?

Fiverr

You don’t need qualifications to use Fiverr. However, you may be promoted to complete a skill test before publishing a new gig. 

For example, when creating a copywriting gig I was prompted to complete a basic English skills test. This took around 30 minutes and was a tedious task, but can help you stand out from other competitors who may have skipped the test. You need to get 60-80% of the test correct to pass.

‘Offered’ tests can be shown on your profile if you want, while ‘optional’ tests can’t. Here are the currently offered tests on Fiverr: 

• English Language
• Adobe After Effects
• Content Writing
• Analytical Skills
• US English Basic Test
• Adobe Illustrator
• CSS 3
• Customer Service
• German Grammar
• Adobe Photoshop
• HTML 5
• Microsoft Excel
• Italian Grammar
• Social Media Marketing Test
• Virtual Assistant
• Spanish Grammar
• WordPress 5.1

To find a test to take, head over to your profile and click ‘Take a Test’ or ‘Retake a Test’.

Upwork

Upwork also allows you to stand out in your field by completing a test called ‘Upwork Skill Certifications’. These tests are invitation only and will be shared on your profile. There are currently only certifications in artificial intelligence and web, mobile, and software development categories:

• CSS (frontend development)
• JavaScript (backend development)
• JavaScript (frontend development)
• HTML (frontend development)
• PHP (backend development)
• Python (backend development)
• React 
• Data Analytics
• Generative AI
• Machine learning

To get a test invite you’ll need to 100% complete your profile and start impressing the Upwork system by getting good customer ratings consistently. 

What options are there for larger businesses?

Fiverr

Fiverr Enterprise is a ramped-up, specialized version of Fiverr to help larger businesses work with freelancers at scale. 

It offers a vetted freelancer pool, dedicated hiring support, hourly basis hiring, money-back guarantees, unlimited users per account, a business success manager, team collaboration tools, and increased payment methods. 

Pricing is custom and will be set following a chat with Fiverr. 

Upwork

Upwork Enterprise is tailored for larger businesses that need to work with freelance talent or employees. There is a suite of tools and services that are designed for teams, rather than sole freelancers. 

Upwork Enterprise offers custom talent pools of vetted freelancers and agencies, regulatory and compliance management, heightened security, onboarding and support, and detailed reporting and analytics. 

It also offers a different, centralized payment system, so your business can pay freelancers all within one platform. 

Like Fiverr, Upwork pricing is custom. 

Resources and training opportunities

Fiverr

Fiverr offers a guide section, with insights on running and growing a business online.

These blogs are helpful but don’t compare to Upwork’s interactive courses and aren’t particularly focused on the platform itself.

Upwork

The Upwork Academy offers learning paths to those new to freelancing and business. There are mini-courses designed by Upwork professionals, including videos and interactive tests.

You can also ask to work with a coach, which is a paid alternative. 

The verdict: What's the best platform for freelancers?

Despite their similarities, each platform is better suited to a different type of freelancer.

If you’re looking to make some side money and complete quick, one-off jobs then go for Fiverr. You won’t need to deal with negotiations, connects, or back-and-forth communication. 

If you’d like to make a living with higher-paying contacts and long-term working relationships, then go for Upwork. However, you’ll need to go all in.

Using Upwork in a half-hearted effort will result in an inefficient use of connects and not be enough to deal with the proposals and levels of communication required. 

Whop: A better, modern alternative for freelancers

You may notice there are some fundamental flaws and limitations to Fiverr and Upwork. For one thing, buyers usually expect to get work for a low price. For another, both platforms take a hefty cut of your income. If you want a way to offer your services and keep more control of your business, you might want to consider using Whop.

Whop is a great alternative for marketing your skills, selling courses, digital products, educational material, or creating communities. The freedom compared to Fiverr and Upwork is unparalleled - you truly work on your terms.

You can use your whop to connect with buyers and send your finished digital files to them, but you could also create a paid freelance community and course, teaching others how to make money as a freelancer.

Creating a whop is very easy and requires no up-front costs - get started today.