Are you looking for an Upwork alternative or Upwork competitor you can count on to deliver your next project?
With a growing demand for niche skills and on-demand talent, the last 10 years have seen an explosion of freelance websites helping you find flexible talent.
Many hiring managers automatically navigate to some of the better-known players, such as Upwork. But they soon feel overwhelmed trying to find the right freelancer for their project.
Well-known industry leaders like Upwork aren’t the best choice for every project. For example, if you are looking to hire highly vetted talent or need help with project management, better options are available.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of Upwork alternatives and similar websites. We will review Upwork competitors, highlight other freelancing sites, and help you identify the best freelance work websites for finding qualified candidates.
The following sites are grouped into five categories:
- Freelance Platforms for Tech Talent
- General Freelance Marketplaces
- Freelance Websites for Designers
- Freelance Websites for Writers
- Other Upwork Competitors
For easy navigation, we’ve arranged the following sections alphabetically. By going through the article, you’ll find apps like Upwork, or perhaps, even freelance sites better than Upwork. Without further ado, let’s dive in and find the best sites for freelancing and for you.
Freelance Platforms for Tech Talent
These Upwork competitors are websites that focus on providing tech talent. These talent include freelancers with the skills to design and develop websites, apps, and other software solutions.
The websites listed here are Upwork alternatives with different levels of vetting and matching support. Some have full-service vetting and quality assurance, while others are completely hands-off. Take a look to find not only freelancing sites like Upwork, but also the best option for your software project below.
1. Arc
Arc is a global marketplace of top remote talent, vetted and ready to interview. You can quickly find top freelance developers, designers, and marketers to hire in days, not months.
Hire a freelancer by inputting the skills you’re looking for, your budget, and any other requirements. Arc will then present a shortlist of matching candidates instantly for developer roles and within 24 to 72 hours for designers and marketers. The candidates come from a pool of highly vetted talent.
Freelance talent on Arc sets their rates, typically charging between $40 to $120+ per hour depending on role, skill, and geo-location. You pay an hourly rate based on actual hours worked. No additional fees. For full-time remote hires, Arc charges a one-time fee based on the annual salary.
While some sites keep you waiting 48 hours or more to see candidates, Arc’s HireAI brings you a shortlist in seconds — literally. Just upload your job description and get introduced to three top developers in moments, not days. No job ads and no manual screening.
Arc can help you recruit pre-vetted freelance contractors and remote full-time team members. If you’re looking to make multiple hires, Arc can also help you hire a remote team with talent based anywhere in the world.
Looking for top talent fast? See how Arc can help you:
⚡️ Find developers, designers, marketers, and more
⚡️ Freelance or full-time remote + fully vetted
⚡️ Save up to 58% with global hires
Hire top talent with Arc risk-free →
2. Codeable
Codeable is an outsourcing platform to find WordPress experts. Codeable has a talent bank of 300+ developers resulting from a vetting process that passes 2% of applicants.
3. Gigster
Gigster is a San Francisco-based freelancing platform of 700+ vetted developers, designers, and product managers. Gigster assembles entire teams, led by a project manager, who the client communicates with exclusively.
Read More: How to Implement a Welcoming Software Developer Onboarding Process
4. Gun.io
Gun.io is a platform for hiring freelance software professionals. Founded in 2011, Gun.io uses a project-based interviewing process to match freelance software developers, designers, and product managers with clients.
5. Hired
Hired matches tech talent with full-time and contract opportunities. It claims to vet 70,000 applicants every month to maintain a substantial candidate pool. Hired.com also claims that companies can fill their talent needs within 25 days.
6. Indiez
Indiez is an invite-only site consisting of developers, designers, and product managers. Product managers coordinate with clients to provide complete solutions for websites, apps, and other custom software projects. Indiez is more like a dev agency, and clients will most likely not be able to communicate with developers.
Read More: What a Freelance Developer Contract Should Include (w/ Templates)
7. Pangara
Pangara sources freelance software engineers from Vietnam to clients all over the world. Pangara vets developers for coding ability, problem-solving, English communication ability, and personality. The site advertises flexibility, with the option to scale your team up or down according to development needs.
8. Scalable Path
Scalable Path is an international network of software developers and project managers. After a 4-stage vetting process, candidates are matched with clients. Clients can hire individual developers or build full teams with the help of a Scalable Path project manager.
9. TopCoder
TopCoder is a crowdsourcing platform that launched in 2001. It includes over 1 million members consisting of designers, developers, and data scientists who compete to win projects.
10. Toptal
Toptal is a network of freelance software developers, designers, marketing experts, finance experts, product managers, and project managers around the world. The company was founded in 2010 and focuses on delivering vetted freelance talent.
11. X-Team
X-Team was founded in 2006, and provides staffing solutions for software development needs. X-Team provides full-time individual developers or teams to work on software projects. Clients are responsible for running their own projects while X-Team provides onboarding support for the developers they place.
Read More: 21+ Important Freelance Interview Questions to Ask Software Engineers
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
Try Arc and hire top talent now →
General Freelance Marketplaces
The general freelance marketplace websites listed in this section offer a wide range of service and talent categories. Typically, the diversity of talent options provided by general marketplace platforms means a less involved vetting process. What you can expect from loose screening processes is potentially landing more budget-friendly pricing packages.
12. Contra
Contra is an all-in-one platform to source, manage, and pay freelance, contract, and fractional talent. Founded in 2019, Contra aims to help companies scale their flexible teams with a shared network of freelancers and contractors in one place.
13. Crackerjack
Crackerjack is a service marketplace that effortlessly connects individuals and businesses with local professionals and freelancers perfectly suited for their specific projects. With an impressive selection of over 100 different categories, Crackerjack offers an extensive range of services that cater to the diverse needs of users across the United States.
14. Freelancer.com
Freelancer.com is a well-known Australian-based Upwork competitor. Freelancer.com provides talent-sourcing solutions for software development, writing, design, and more. The site uses a bidding system to filter out prospective freelancers and clients can choose talent based on project proposals and review of past work.
Read More: 5 Tips on How to Treat Freelance Developers Like In-House Employees
15. Fiverr
Fiverr describes itself as “freelance services for the lean entrepreneur,” hinting that they offer budget freelance options, starting at just $5. The freelancer-centric site refers to freelancers as “sellers.” There are over 100 categories of services “sellers” can offer their skills in.
Although it is one of the more popular freelance work websites, Fiverr reviews are mixed for both “sellers” and “buyers.”
16. Guru
Guru boasts over 3 million services available from 1.5 million members worldwide. Guru has its own Work Room for clients to manage partnerships. It can be used for everything from creating agreements to defining milestones.
Using their SafePay system, the site releases payments to “Gurus” once work has been approved by clients. Commonly known Guru alternatives include Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer but we’ve listed more freelancer websites for you to choose from.
17. Localancers
Localancers is a site focused on sourcing “local freelancers.” Recruiters can search for talent by time zone, country, and language, and filter by skillset. Freelancers skilled in creative design, IT development, writing, and more can be found on the platform.
Read More: Freelance Payment Terms: Fixed Cost vs Hourly vs Retainer Payments
18. Onsite
Onsite is a curated marketplace of freelancers for on-site or off-site opportunities. Onsite is an invite-only platform with all freelancers required to provide work examples prior to admission. While Onsite provides a screening process for freelancers, it does not take a commission from clients.
19. People Per Hour
Peopleperhour’s platform allows freelancers to search for jobs, and clients can directly contact freelancers after reviewing their profiles and portfolios. The platform is geared towards small businesses, which can award projects based on proposals, and hold payments in escrow until work is reviewed.
20. Speedlancer
Speedlancer’s selling point is its promise to deliver finished projects within 4 hours. What this means is time tracking is the priority for Speedlancer. Based on project descriptions, “speedlancers” select projects which they commit to completing within 4 hours, notwithstanding revision requests. The hourly rates are agreed upon between clients and “speedlancers.”
21. Working Nomads
Working Nomads is a platform designed for digital nomads looking for remote jobs. Recruiters pay a fee to post their job listing for temporary or regular employment.
22. Yeeply
Yeeply has a vetting process where 5% of candidates are passed into the talent pool. Clients provide the details of their projects and then invite freelancers to submit project proposals. Yeeply takes responsibility for crafting formal project proposals with the freelancer and ensuring the contract is carried out.
Read More: 14 Toptal Alternatives to Hire Freelance Software Developers & More
Freelance Websites for Designers
Need some creative design work done? Need assistance with graphic design projects? Some design-based platforms have built up strong networks of professionals who share designs, refer jobs, and endorse one another. Check out this section for some worthy design-focused Upwork competitors.
23. Behance
Behance is a social media platform focused primarily on creative professionals to showcase their work and connect with a global community. Their site boasts creatives who are available for freelance projects and full-time opportunities.
24. Crowdspring
Crowdspring guarantees delivery of a design within 7 days. Payment is made upfront through one of three differently priced membership packages. Clients create a project brief, review submissions, and pick a winning design to move forward.
25. Designhill
Designhill offers various services for clients to fill their design needs. Clients can launch contests and view hundreds of submissions, browse curated galleries, or select a designer directly. Designers can be chosen from the design categories that best suit their project.
26. Dribbble
Dribbble is a platform for finding and hiring designers. It builds its talent pool from Dribbble’s original site — a community for designers to share screenshots of their work, processes, and projects. They offer a job board and a full hiring suite.
27. Penji
Penji is a creative technology company that leverages the skill set of the world’s most talented graphic designers to solve your business’s most expensive mistake – hiring the wrong designer. Penji doesn’t bill by the hour. They have a fixed-rate monthly billing model giving you unlimited design projects done without limitations.
28. 99designs
99designs is a popular design-based platform. Clients can launch design contests with different awards attached as the prize — the greater the award the more design submissions. Clients can also select designers directly, or utilize a pro option to take advantage of vetting and management support.
Looking for top talent fast? See how Arc can help you:
⚡️ Find developers, designers, marketers, and more
⚡️ Freelance or full-time remote + fully vetted
⚡️ Save up to 58% with global hires
Hire top talent with Arc risk-free →
Read More: Hiring Developers: Freelance vs Recruitment Agencies vs In-House
Freelance Sites for Writers
No matter what industry you’re in, the written word is almost definitely part of it. From product descriptions, blog posts, and email campaigns to press releases, every business needs talented writers from time to time. Here are some freelance platforms that provide skilled writers on-demand.
29. Freelance Writing Gigs
Freelance Writing Gigs has its own job board for posting and applying to writing jobs. It also has a curated list of freelance and remote writing jobs of all kinds.
30. Problogger
Problogger launched in 2004 and is a platform for bloggers to develop and grow their blogs, as well as monetize their content. A community of writers is available to respond to job posts calling for talent to help with content creation.
31. Scripted
Scripted is a paid membership platform, with the first month free. There are set prices for standardized content and base prices are used to calculate special requests or niche talent needs.
32. Text Broker
Text Broker allows businesses and entrepreneurs to place content orders for blog posts, product descriptions, technical content, and more from native speakers in up to 15 different languages.
33. Writer Access
Writer Access claims to be the fastest-growing content sourcing platform to find, manage, and hire writers. There is a membership fee for the platform, and content is priced per word or content type. You can find freelance writers to produce deliverables that include everything from blog posts to ebooks.
Read More: Toptal vs Upwork, Fiverr, Arc: Where to Find Great Freelance Developers?
Other Upwork Competitors
Some freelance platforms don’t fit perfectly into any one category but nevertheless offer valuable services. Here are a few you may find useful!
34. Airfleet
Airfleet bills itself as a “marketers’ development partner.” Airfleet matches developers and coding teams with companies launching marketing campaigns. Areas of assistance include company website development, marketing tools integration, promotional games and apps, and site maintenance.
35. Credo
Credo connects businesses to reputable online marketing consultants and agencies. You can browse and contact consultants directly, or they can create a project and receive talent-matching recommendations from Credo. Hiring occurs outside of the platform, and the service is free for clients.
36. Crossover
Crossover is a platform to help skilled digital nomads find long-term remote contracts. Crossover has a rigorous vetting process that only 1% of candidates pass. Crossover helps to connect vetted talent with companies and can also help manage remote teams.
37. SoundBetter
SoundBetter is music production marketplace that helps musicians connect and hire top music professionals. The site has thousands of vetted, songwriters, vocalists, musicians, mixing engineers, and music production pros of all kinds. Clients can browse and hire the right talent based on specialty, budget, genre, credits, reviews, and sound samples.
Read More: How to Pay Freelancers: A Complete Guide for 2024
Conclusion
While we certainly didn’t cover them all, this is a good sampling of the many freelance platforms and talent-sourcing options out there. Upwork is a respectable freelance website; however, it may not always satisfy your business goals.
No project or business is the same. The unique needs of each talent vacancy should guide your choice in selecting a freelance platform. Hopefully, this list of the best freelancing platforms will help get you started in the right direction!
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
Try Arc and hire top talent now →
Disclaimer: Arc does not claim ownership of mentioned platforms’ logos, slogans, and trademarks, which were used for descriptive purposes only and belong to their respective owners. We are not affiliated with or sponsored by the platforms mentioned in this post. The information provided is based on our research, and we do not claim that any of the information was approved by third parties (e.g., the platforms mentioned in this post). Platform service offers also change over time. We encourage all readers to do their own research.
