Upwork has been in the freelancer market space for over a decade. It is currently one of the best-known platforms for anyone seeking remote work. Upwork has boosted millions of freelancers in a multitude of fields by connecting them with employers from all over the globe. Upwork is most recognized as a freelance service platform that offers a range of professionals with different skill sets and expertise levels. But you might want to look into some Upwork competitors if your talent requirement is niche or if you prefer pre-vetted expert talents.
Here are some of the top reasons why would require Upwork competitors:
Upwork makes it extremely easy for freelancers to join the platform, create their profiles, and start offering services to clients. But as a result, it does not provide a series of screening processes to ensure the talent is legitimate and skillful. hence, for those in search of pre-vetted talent to ensure the quality of services, there are other Upwork competitors that you may want to consider.
While this may seem as a positive, for a serious and specific hiring requirement, it would be difficult for the client to peruse the range of services that are offered at different skill levels and rates in order to narrow down on your potential candidates. This may result in extended time required to finalize a hire. hence for those wishing to fill requirements fast, an Upwork competitor that caters to your niche market would be a better fit.
Upwork’s customer support team can be slow at providing feedback and are often uninterested in solving systematic problems. As a result, the platform’s unable to solve complex issues.
Up next, we present the best Upwork competitors for hiring freelance talent:
Listed below are some of the key features of the most popular Upwork competitors to help you explore competitor freelance platforms and find one that suits your requirements.
CloudDevs is an exclusive platform of vetted developers and designers and is a highly recommended Upwork competitor for startups and entrepreneurs searching for quality tech talent. Unlike other tech talent platforms, CloudDevs offers some of the most reasonable pricing scales in the market. With a talent pool of 8000+ elite senior developers and designers from Europe and Latin America, CloudDevs ensures that its clients’ demands are met within 24 hours. It is one of the top-ranked Upwork competitors for hiring freelancers for web development, and mobile app development as well as for building e-commerce and Shopify sites at a reasonable cost without sacrificing quality.
Why should you consider CloudDevs as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: CloudDevs charges a transparent rate of $45 to $70 per hour.
Unicorn.Dev is an exclusive global pool of highly vetted, remote developers and designers for hire. They are specialized in the tech talent niche and are considered one of the most affordable tech talent platforms in the market. With a focus on the quality of talent Unicorn.Dev ensures their talent has a minimum of 5 years of work experience within their specialties. These freelance programmers and designers are all senior talents and they've undergone five stages of screening and vetting to enter the exclusive platform. Whether you're looking to hire freelancers to fill a short-term requirement or require an entire developer team for a project, Unicorn.Dev can provide you with a shortlist of elite programmers, in record time.
Why should you consider Unicorn.Dev as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: Unicorn.Dev charges a flat fee of $35/hr for all their senior pre-vetted talent.
Toptal is a prominent player in the online freelance marketplace, positioning itself as a strong competitor to Upwork. As a leading platform, Toptal specializes in connecting businesses with highly skilled freelancers across a range of disciplines, including software development, project management, design, and DevOps engineering. With a rigorous screening process, Toptal ensures that only the top 3% of freelancers make it into their talent pool, providing businesses access to exceptional expertise and professionalism. Why should you consider Toptal as an Upwork competitor?
Fiverr calls itself the world’s largest on-demand freelance marketplace. But long gone are its days of offering freelance services at $5. You can discover a variety of freelancers who can handle just about any kind of service. It is ideal for short-term freelance projects such as voiceovers, animations, simple graphic designs, and data entry work.
Why should you consider Fiverr as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: Fiverr freelancers charge between $5 - $995 per project.
5. Hubstaff Talent 
Hubstaff Talent specializes in remote team building and management. It efficiently and effectively connects freelance professionals with clients. The platform displays a freelancer’s hourly rate, skills, experience, availability, resume, and languages spoken. This makes it easy for candidates to select the right freelancer. You can filter profiles by skill, availability, years of experience, or country and also run a search for keywords or phrases. When you want to find freelancers and agencies, you can simply browse profiles on Hubstaff Talent, contact the chosen freelancers, decide on work terms, and get started.
Why should you consider Hubstaff Talent as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: Starting from $5.83/user/mo
6. PeoplePerHour 
PeoplePerHour is a trusted dynamic platform where you can post a job and have freelancers apply for it. Freelancers get to set their own prices for their services on the platform. It uses a system of projects and proposals to make sure the right freelancers and clients connect. PeoplePerHour is a good way to work with a freelancer on a long-term basis.
Why should you consider PeoplePerHour as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: You could expect to pay on an hourly basis of around $25-$55.
7. Guru 
Guru is another on of the generic freelancer platforms that offers all manners of services within its platform. It provides freelancers and employees with a straightforward experience. It has a large pool of talent to pick from, giving you a variety of options. If you have the time and patience to sift through them all, you can most definitely find a good talent that suits your needs.
Why should you consider Guru as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: Starting from $11.95/mo
8. 99 designs 
99 Designs doesn’t bill itself as a “freelance marketplace” like most platforms but perform the same core function. 99 designs focus exclusively on design services and have gained recognition as one of the best in their niche. Small & medium-sized businesses turn to this platform looking for graphic or web designers to help them with almost everything from logos to product packaging. 99 designs value excellent service and make sure that every new freelancer is evaluated and assigned a rank.
Why should you consider 99 Designs as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: Starting from $199
9. Credo 
Credo is one of the oldest in the online marketing services space and is known for its high standards. Credo aims to solve the issue of untrustworthy freelancers by allowing clients to check out the freelancers’ portfolios. Unlike most freelance marketplaces, Credo specializes in SEO and marketing and it has a list of services that you can choose from. This includes SEO consulting, SEO site audits, content marketing, paid social ads, and more. Credo makes sure to closely vet its providers so that you can be confident about getting top-notch talent.
Why should you consider Credo as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: You have to contact them to get a quote directly.
Gigster specializes in offering entire tech teams for hire. It provides access to a pool of top-quality developers and project managers. The company uses AI-based algorithms to put together the ideal team for your project. Its global network of developers extends across multiple time zones. Gigster guarantees that they will locate suitable candidates for your project in less than 10 days.
Why should you consider Gigster as an Upwork competitor?
Pricing: They charge a minimum of $52,000 per project license.
