UpworkReviews 2,128

Just stay away from UpWork. The worst platform for freelancers.
They use a score system that makes your feedback stars completely useless. I have 5 jobs completed successfully with 5 stars each and my success score is 60%. Many clients refuse to work with me because they ask: Why is your score that low?
I talked to UpWork support team about my score and is like talking to a automated script. They keep sending me pre-made answers and links.
Just stay away from it. You will regret investing time in making good reviews. Is just a waste of time

Has to be the worst, most incompetent, scamming company in the history of scamming companies.
The Freelancer I hired was obviously working on other things while supposedly working on my site and yet Upwork would still not refund any of my money. Even though there are clear screenshots of him working on things other than my site, and it took him 6 hours, over a 1 week period to do 30 minutes worth of work, in such a shoddy manner that it had to be redone, they still refused to refund me anything. On top of that they accused me of trying to pay the person offline, without any evidence whatsoever. The other freelancer I was working with at the same time was a bit better, but I have to say, if you ever hire someone to work on your site, never pay them by the hour. Always insist on a flat fee with a guarantee of what will be done and insist on a set refund if it isn't and pay as they go with strict milestones. Such a ripoff!

Upwork is a colossal predatory business. I've been on the platform for 4 years and saw business practices and treatments that only the worst of corporate monopolies can get away with. Especially after upwork swallowed Elance which was head and shoulders better.

Contractors are screwed with high commission fees which DOUBLED last year and a rating system which forces contractors to constantly drum up new business for these corporate bastards just to keep their 5 star rating which is NOT based on actual performance but also on how much business you constantly bring in to upwork. So you can do flawless work and still get penalized.

Then there is the notoriously bad and unresponsive customer service were you deal with $1/hr robotic contractors from India who show absolute disdain and lack of care when dealing with contractor issues.

If you are a self employed freelancer or a small business offering services, unless you enjoy being a mistreated slave don't just avoid upwork RUN!

***PLEASE- Anyone who is having issues with theft from this company should report them to the Better Business Bureau.*** I would say contact a lawyer as well but as always, these cases are hard to prove and always seem to be in favor of the business so they continue to scam on****

I am having trouble setting up my profile, which I am being forced to do in order to have complete access to the provided tools but their website seems to be having a problem and is not accepting any profile picture I attempt to upload. They have no way of getting in touch with Customer Support and I am being sent in circles to look at templates that do not help me. Any reliable company would have a way to reach them, especially if they are dealing with money and other sensitive information.

I have been a successful freelance writer for years, primarily through Elance and private clients in my industry. I began freelancing on Elance and Odesk and both were considerably more responsive. The Upwork site is difficult to navigate and their policies, including 20% fees for freelancers and holding escrowed money for 6 days after release by client is ridiculous. I never work there intentionally but sometimes respond to interview requests.

My partner joined up work as freelancer and received 5 starts for every job he did. He applied for multiple jobs and wasn't contracted to all of them so upwork indefinitely suspended his account saying that his skills weren't good enough! What the. That's disgusting, no support for freelancers, my partner is a graphic design student and charged bugger all for jobs he just didn't get contracted to some because he aimed too high, if he knew up work would do this he never would have applied for high skill jobs even though he actually is highly skilled just didn't have enough proof, this website is a disgusting discriminating piece of work! Very angry.

I wrote a review about their unintuitive website and missing phone contact. They are threatening to close my account instead of improving the website. My crime: I cancelled a duplicate order, while the original order has been completed and paid - how stupid!

Dabeer Mallik

I've been hiring freelancers for many years with my first full time freelancer in 2007. I've used all of the platforms and really liked Elance before they became (or merged into) Upwork. I can't see Upwork being a good solution for hiring freelancers in long or short term situation unless you just can't find the talent somewhere else.

My initial experience after Elance became Upwork was somewhere between horrible and bad but I stuck it out with the hope it would improve. When Upwork completely jacked the pricing up so high that it was no longer even worth it, that was strike 2.

I typically got more qualified freelancers through Upwork than others but with the new pricing and absolutely HORRIBLE customer service in the last few months, that is a huge strike 3.

Much higher prices with much worse service = I am happy to terminate all work through Upwork and use another service.

WASTE OF TIME!

Applied to the site a freelancer - I have 15+ years of experience, and a Master's Degree from a top school, my own consulting firm, etc. Application was rejected as they say there are too many people with my skill set in their system? I'm a digital, general AND brand marketer and have ton of different skills.

When I asked for more specific info, like "do you need analytics skills vs. creative?" as I have experience across the board, I keep get an auto response with the same message.