These past few years, people have become more fascinated by the idea of working remotely – whether it is from home or from anywhere in the world. This is why the number of freelancers accepting freelance jobs also increased. More than 50% of the global workforce prefers to work remotely. Thus, more and more people are looking for the best freelancing sites in hopes of finding a job there. In the US alone, telecommuting significantly increased by 115%, and the Philippines is not lagging. PayPal estimates that in April 2018, at least 1.5 million Filipinos were working remotely.
With all these upward trends, you can confidently say that freelancing is here to stay. If you’re considering starting a career in freelancing, you need to be aware of the best freelancing sites where you can find part-time or long-term clients.
What are freelancing WEBsites?
Freelancing sites allow freelancers and gig workers to find jobs and make money remotely.
Let’s look at these top 20 best freelancing sites for beginners.
1. Upwork
For those who started freelancing in early 2000, you’re well aware that this platform used to be oDesk. When oDesk merged with Elance, the two became the freelance marketplace we call Upwork. The way Upwork operates is the same as its two predecessors. You need to create an Upwork profile and submit proposals or bids. After that, you will wait for potential clients to contact you or schedule you for a virtual interview.
Once you were chosen for the task, a work contract commences. For verified employer accounts, a certain amount will be put in Escrow by Upwork to protect the freelancers. You can find a variety of entry-level, longer-term, or short-term projects on Upwork’s job boards. For seasoned freelancers, you can be awarded the top-rated status and peg for high-paying expert-level rates and projects.
Upwork has become famous for freelancers and is one of the best sites.
2. PeoplePerHour
This freelance portal features gigs related to mobile development, software development, social media, translation, writing, support, sales and marketing, web development, audio, video, and web design.
PPH was able to replicate what Fiverr has been doing. Freelancers will have to list all the services they can offer, and clients can hire them and pay them for the hour it took them to complete the work.
3. Fiverr
Fiverr is not like your ordinary freelancer marketplace. Freelancers list down all the services they can offer for $5. Clients will search for these offers and place an order.
For freelancers who don’t have services to offer for $5, don’t fret. You can add perks for a better price. The downside of Fiverr is the fee they withhold for every paid and completed gig. Since every gig is usually paid $5, Fiverr takes the 20% or $1 as an admin fee.
4. Freelancer
Freelancer.com first started to operate under the website name GetAFreelancer or GAF. Over the years, the company was able to buy out other freelance websites like vWorker RentACoder, and ScriptLance.
Freelancer.com is a huge freelancing marketplace. With millions of individual clients and small businesses using their platform, they rank second to Upwork in terms of users and number of full-time and part-time job opportunities.
5. LinkedIn
This is one of the best freelancing sites where you can build your portfolio and connect with different business owners. Unknown to some, freelancers have been using LinkedIn to find work.
If you’re looking for full-time jobs, you can find a lot of clients here. There are also a few part-time job opportunities available. You can follow companies you’re eyeing to apply and get updates if they have vacancies. If you find a position that fits your expertise, you can easily apply via LinkedIn.
6. Guru
Despite being a miniature marketplace, Guru has the most straightforward hiring and screening process. Clients and freelancers can quickly meet and start a project together. Guru is smaller in the number of clients and freelancers than other more established freelancing sites. One of their most prized features is the availability of the Workroom, wherein you can manage all jobs.
The only downside is since you don’t see as many freelancers as in Freelancer.com or Upwork, the price for each gig is also less competitive.
7. iWriter
If you’re planning to start a writing career online, explore the services offered by iWriter. It’s one of the best freelancing sites in 2021 for people skilled in writing. This platform is probably one of the largest marketplaces for new and seasoned writers seeking freelance writing gigs. Here, you can find all types of writing jobs, from article writing, rewriting, eBooks, product descriptions, and blog posts.
Currently, iWriter doesn’t accept writer applications, but when they do, and you get hired, you can write as many or as little as you want. Payments are sent weekly via Paypal, and you only need a minimum of $20 in your earnings to make a withdrawal. Your rate will largely depend on the length of the article and your status as a writer. Elite and Elite Plus writers are paid higher than Standard and Premium writers.
8. 99Designs
If you’re into web, logo, or graphic design – 99Designs can help you meet with different clients who can pay for your services. This is one of the best freelancing sites for creatives and people who are into design. The process is a bit easy for clients. All they need to do is submit a design brief. From there, 99Designs will launch a contest or post jobs, and all willing freelancers can participate. These freelancers will then send their respective entries. The client will choose who will win the said contest.
9. TopTal
Unlike other freelancing sites wherein anyone can sign up and bid for jobs, TopTal developed a stricter hiring process. They’re marketing their platform as only hiring the top 3% of talent. To join TopTal, you can either sign up online or receive an invite. Either way, you’ll still need to review their quick but rigorous hiring procedure.
Only after you pass the screening process will you gain access to their available freelancer projects. The upside of this process is they cut down on the low price and low-quality proposals. For clients, this process ensures that they’re only working with the best of the best.
10. DesignHill
Though not as huge as other design-focus freelancing platforms, Designhill is slowly building a reputation as the next-best marketplace for graphic, web, and logo design projects. Because of their less intuitive sign-up option, there are fewer designers registering. This glitch is helpful for the already registered designers as it trims down the competition. And with fewer people fighting for the job, designers can peg a higher price for their outputs.
11. Hubstaff Talent
One of the best reasons Hubstaff is every freelancer’s best friend is that they don’t charge their freelancers and clients for the use of the website. This means clients are free to post job opportunities and hire talents. The freelancers can also get paid in full without any admin fee taken from their earnings.
Currently, the platform is already home to more than 7,000 freelancers. If you want to be part of this freelancing website, now is the right time to sign up. This is one of the best freelancing sites for beginners as well.
12. Broxer
Broxer also replicated the mechanism applied by Fiverr, only that they are more focused on the Indian market. One of the best advantages of using this platform is its low commission structure. Unlike its contemporaries, Broxer only charges a 2% commission, and the client or buyer is responsible for shouldering all project-related fees.
13. Amazon Mechanical Turk
Also known as MTurk, Amazon Mechanical Turk is a platform for business owners and individuals to outsource and delegate their technical tasks virtually. The jobs here range from simple data validation to content moderation and survey participation.
Freelancers and clients love MTurk because of the on-demand and different jobs they can generate through their flexible and streamlined user interface. Their tools and interface can easily integrate with an API.
14. FlexJobs
With over 40,000 individuals and organizations offering to hire freelancers, FlexJobs can be considered a stable source of freelance gigs and projects. Freelancers love the schedule flexibility offered by FlexJobs. Currently, there are over 50 career categories you can choose from. You can even ask for help from their support team to analyze job listings that look promising. This is one of the best freelancing sites that offer flexible job opportunities for people who need side gigs.
15. Solid Gigs
In freelancing, you need to know how to manage your time effectively. If you spend so much time searching for gigs, you can waste so much time not earning a dime.
If you don’t want to waste time skimming through job postings, seek Solid Gigs. As the name suggests, the platform does the scaling of the jobs and selects the very best they can share with their users.
16. Cloud Peeps
If your freelancing portfolio is already extensive, then it’s time to seek better and quality freelancing gigs in Cloud Peeps. This complete freelancer task management system is powered and backed up by a community of laudable, seasoned freelancers.
If you want to build a team of freelance workers to take on bigger and more complex tasks, you can do that here in Cloudpeeps. The jobs they currently cater to include content writing, social media management, SEO, paid ads, admin support, PR, email support, design, and copywriting.
17. ServiceScape
This freelance platform was launched in 2000, and since then, it has been the universal marketplace for various tasks and for freelancers who have different skills. You can find designing, translating, editing, and writing jobs here. The platform has over 80,000 clients and over 200,000 completed projects. If you plan to work closely with startups and large businesses, this is the perfect platform and one of the best freelancing sites.
18. Contena
If content creation, writing, and editing are your specializations, Contena should be on your top list. Here, you can find a steady stream of writing tasks that can keep you busy and productive every day.
The company is also planning to merge full-time remote jobs with freelancing. This platform allows you to write in specific categories like photography, sport, technology, and different industries.
19. Freelance Writing
This online freelancer platform started operating in 1997. Since then, it has continued to offer various writing opportunities for experienced writers.
20. Codeable
If you’re looking for WordPress jobs, then Codeable is the best platform to visit. Plenty of WordPress developer tasks are here so that you can grab as many projects as possible.
Other freelancing sites for writers
Other freelancing sites for designers
- Behance
- Dribbble
- Wellfound (formerly Angel List Talent)
- AwesomeWeb
- The Creative Group
Other freelancing sites for virtual assistants
So, what is the best freelancing site for beginners?
Beginners and even seasoned freelancers can use all of these platforms. It is just a matter of finding the best site for your skills.
As you may often hear, freelancing is not for the faint-hearted. Since you’ll be your boss, you must also fend for yourself, grow, and survive in the industry alone. You need to learn the tricks of the trade and go over a few freelancing guides to be successful.
If you’re looking for a way to jumpstart your freelance career, these top 20 sites will open many opportunities. Take time to look into them, and who knows, you might be writing and sharing your freelancing success story tomorrow.
Hope this helps! Read more of our blogs if you want to know more about how to get clients as a freelancer. Happy Freelancing!
Angeline Licerio
Angeline Licerio is the blogger behind Dollarmize.com. After working online as a writer and SEO strategist, she decided to start this blog to give advise to people who would like to earn money online. She is also the founder of SEO Tutorials for FREE, a Facebook community that helps aspiring freelancers and SEO specialists to kickstart their work from home journey.
