Welcome to my Freelancer.com review!
If you have been looking for freelance platforms where you can get hired as a freelancer, chances are, you’ve come across Freelance.com. And maybe you’re wondering whether this site is a scam or even worth using?
I have personally used Freelancer.com so I sure know a thing or two about this freelance site. I used the site when I first started freelance writing and from this site alone, I’ve earned over $70,000.
Here’s a quick proof:
So, yes, Freelancer.com is not a scam. But is it worth it? How does Freelancer.com work? Let me share with you more details in this Freelancer.com review!
Disclaimer: I am not an affiliate of Freelancer.com. I don’t get paid for writing this review or recommending the site. It has been my goal at This Mama Blogs to help my readers find legitimate money-making opportunities. In line with this goal, I write reviews of companies, jobs, or opportunities to help you decide whether they are worth a shot or not.
Freelancer.com Review: What is Freelancer.com?
Table of Contents
When you think of freelancing, some of the freelance websites that come to mind are probably UpWork and Guru.
In a way, Freelancer is similar to these outsourcing marketplaces. It allows employers to post jobs and hire freelancers and allows freelancers like yourself to find jobs.
Freelancer.com calls itself the “world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace.” It plays the role of a matchmaker to almost 50 million employers to help them find freelancers and to freelancers find job opportunities.
Freelancer.com is available in over 200 countries, regions, and territories worldwide.
Employers can:
- Post a project and receive bids from interested freelancers.
- Directly contact a freelancer of their choice.
If you are interested in a job, you simply place a bid on the project. Note that jobs on Freelancer.com can either be hourly jobs or fixed-price projects.
Hourly jobs are jobs that pay per hour, while fixed-price projects are projects that freelancers can complete for a fixed price.
Freelance writing, for example, usually pays a fixed price per article or a number of articles.
What Sorts of Jobs Can You Post or Find on Freelancer?
I only offered freelance writing at Freelancer.com, but there is a wide selection of services you can offer on the site.
Here are some categories of jobs you can find at Freelancer.com:
- Websites, IT and software
- Writing and content
- Data entry and admin
- Design and media
- Mobile phones and computing
- Engineering and science
- Translation and languages
- Sales and marketing
- Freight, shipping and transportation
- Business, accounting and HR
- Product sourcing and manufacturing
- Local jobs and services
- Legal services
- All sorts of technical tasks
How to Join Freelancer.com?
It’s easy to join Freelancer.com. Simply sign up here and enter a username and password.
Then, you will need to select your account type, which should be “I want to work” if you are looking to sell your services and make money on Freelancer.com.
After registration, verify your email address, and complete your account details.
Important: Be sure to use your real name because they might ask for identification before you can withdraw money from your account for the first time.
I experienced this myself where they did not only ask me to take a picture of my passport but also of me holding my open passport showing my passport picture. Don’t worry though, you can cover some details on your passport.
Freelancer Pricing: How Much Does Freelancer Cost?
The cost of a crowdsourcing site is always a concern, whether you’re an employer looking to hire the best talent, or a freelancer looking to find the best job.
As for freelancers, Freelancer.com offers a free membership that allows you up to 10 bids per month. If you run out of bids, you could also choose to upgrade your membership and pay an extra fee to be able to bid on more projects.
Fortunately, the cost of membership isn’t as steep as other competitor websites. You can get an intro plan for as little as $0.99 per month, a basic plan for less than $5, plus a plan for less than $10, a professional plan for less than $30, and a premier plan for less than $70 per month.
Each plan comes with a fixed number of maximum bids, listed skills, unlimited project bookmarks, and a number of contest entries per month, among others.
Also note that freelancer charges a fee of 10% or $5 USD for fixed-price projects, whichever is greater, and 10% for hourly projects. This fee will only be charged to you against your earnings as a freelancer, so if you earned $100, $10 will go to Freelancer and $90 to you.
I suggest that you take a look at this page to see how much the site charges for your projects and the features you want to use.
Note that Freelancer offers lots of features that employers and freelancers can use to increase their success rate.
How Much Do Employers Pay?
For employers, signing up and posting a project on Freelancer is free. The charges come when you’ve chosen a freelancer to work on your project.
Fixed projects cost at least $3 or 3%, whichever is higher. For milestone projects, the site charges 3% each time you pay the freelancer.
In order to attract the best freelancer, employers can spice up their projects with “upgrades” like more visibility or marking it an as urgent, private, priority, or extended for $9 each.
If you wish to have the freelancer sign an NDA form, this feature costs $19.
You may also conduct contests to make your projects more enticing. Although posting and running contests are free, you need to pay at least $15 to increase its visibility, reach and appeal. You also need to pay extra each time you extend the contest’s running period.
Freelancer.com Review: Pros and Cons
Freelancer.com is now a popular option for employers looking to hire contractors, as well as for freelancers looking for new gigs.
But is Freelancer worth the while? Let me share with you the pros and cons of using the site:
PROS
- Variety of jobs available – freelancers go to this site to find new available jobs. The platform has an easy job search system wherein you can filter your search according to date of posting, budget, duration of project, type of job and more.
- Fair pricing – although some job marketplaces remain free to use, Freelancer’s paid subscription plans are lower as compared to others, like UpWork. Both freelancers and employers can take advantage of add-ons or upgrades, depending on their needs and budget.
- More projects– compared to other freelance sites, Freelancer.com seems to have lots of job available. I used to get over 100 job leads per day from Freelancer.com.
- Freelancer staff- As you gain more reviews and experience, you’ll get invitations from Freelancer Staff to bid on projects. Many employers don’t have the time to assess bids/proposals from freelancers, so they pay an extra fee to Freelancer.com to do this job for them. The sites’ recruiting officer then reaches out to top freelancers and vets them for the job. This saves you time as well as increases your chances of getting hired.
CONS
- Many people call it a scam – when you search for freelancer.com reviews on the internet, you’ll find several results claiming that the site is a scam. This is mostly because the site fails to double-check and validate every freelancer and employer that joins their platform, giving scammers an easy venue to execute their frauds. But let me make this clear: Freelancer.com itself is NOT a scam. However, if you’re not careful, you might find yourself bidding on fraud projects. The good thing is, Freelancer has a payment system that protects both you and the employer that allows you as a freelancer to request for an upfront payment from the employer.
- Poor support team – although Freelancer offers customer service round-the-clock, it doesn’t mean they’re doing it exceptionally well. A lot of people complain about Freelancer about not being responsive to their queries and complaints.
- Many low-paying jobs. While you can find so many jobs on the site, you’ll find more low-paying jobs. But as you gain more experience, it is still possible to snag high-paying projects and clients from the site. It may, however, take a while to gain more reviews and experience.
Tips to Succeed on Freelancer.com
Here are a few things I suggest to new members to get more projects faster through Freelancer.com:
Create a great profile
I see many freelancers making the mistake of not putting in the effort of creating an enticing profile. Employers will always check out your profile before hiring you, so make sure to use it to highlight your skills and give employers more insights into why they should hire you. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
Have a professional website
Whether you’re using Freelancer.com or not, I think it’s always a great idea for a freelancer like you to have your own professional website to explain your services and set yourself apart from the rest. You can mention this on your profile or in your proposal so your clients can learn more about you.
Fortunately, it’s cheap to start your own freelancer website. With Hostgator, you can start a website for as little as $2.75 per month. You can read my easy tutorial here to set up your website in 15 minutes with Hostgator.
Do not start any project without a milestone payment
You could get scammed if you don’t use the Freelancer.com Milestone Payment system. Most especially if you are just getting started to work with a new client, you should ask for a Milestone Payment. This payment system allows you to divide the project into parts and get paid as you complete each part.
For example, for projects that cost $1000, I would always ask the employer to set up 4 milestone payments of $250 each, each to be released to me after I deliver each part to the client.
The great thing about this payment system is that employers cannot cancel these payments once they are set. However, if there’s a disagreement between you and your employer, you have the option to file a dispute via the Dispute Resolution Center.
Craft the perfect pitch
For me, a “perfect pitch” is king in freelancing. This is your key to getting noticed and hired for a project, so make sure that you write an enticing pitch that is customized to your employer’s project requirements.
Make sure that you understand the requirements and tell the client how you can help. This helped me increase my response rate to over 40%, which means out of 10 bids, at least 4 employers respond to my proposal.
Do not make the mistake of copy and pasting a generic pitch, or you will only be wasting your bids.
Final Thoughts: Is Freelancer.com Worth It?
To conclude this Freelancer.com review, I would like to say that the site is indeed a legit job marketplace for freelance jobs.
However, if you’re asking if it is the best freelance job site out there, my honest answer is no. If you don’t know how to spot scam offers at Freelancer.com, you could get scammed easily, most especially if you agree to work without a Milestone Payment.
Is still worth a try? Absolutely! As a freelancer, you want to explore as many job marketplaces as you can.
Fortunately, there are a lot of job listings on other freelance websites as well, so try not to limit your options to Freelancer alone. Of course, to succeed in any job marketplace, make sure to take your time crafting your profile, going over job opportunities in detail, and connecting with potential employers. Do your best when you get a legit job! Often, the ratings and feedback you get from these sites are instrumental in helping you land another opportunity.
Have you tried Freelancer.com to find jobs? What are your thoughts about his platform? Let’s connect in the comments.
HJEngland
I took a job on freelancer.com and I got totally screwed. Freelancer advertised that this person was verified— and had “auto billing”— after work g for them for a week, they disconnected their “auto billing” and Freelancer told me this was not “their problem” and to get in touch with the client. Since I had no information about this client, I contacted them via the Freelancer platform, of course, to no avail. Freelancer then sent me a “warning” for “contacting” them outside the platform, which was not even possible, I was told it was because I had contact with them on Discord, which is also a lie— because the job I was actually hired to do was ON the Discord server— I was being paid to chat with people about crypto and NFTSs. Freelancer is a complete rip off site and not only is 90% of the jobs on their scam jobs, the platform itself is one giant scam. I urge other freelancers to completely steer clear of this ripoff site.
Jane
Hi! I am sorry to hear about your horrible experience at Freelancer.com! I never got scammed at freelancer.com because I would always ask for an upfront payment. I would usually divide the project into 4 parts and charge 25% of the total project cost upfront. If the employer failed to make the payment, I would NOT start working. I do agree with you that there are lots of scammers out there. The site is legit and not a scam BUT it is definitely NOT the most freelancer-friendly freelancing platform. And you have really to watch out for scams!
The best way to work on FReelancer or any other freelance site is to always ask for an upfront payment. I personally recommend FlexJobs if you’re looking freelance jobs. Because it’s a paid jobs platform, the company makes sure to filter out scam jobs so you are assured that you are only applying to real jobs.