Best Websites for Freelance Jobs

Founded in 2009, Freelancer is currently the largest online marketplace for freelance work, connecting over 58 million employers and freelancers from over 247 countries.

It’s completely free to create a Freelancer account and complete your profile. Once your profile is filled out, you’re free to search and pitch yourself for any opportunities. On Freelancer, you can search and apply to local and remote jobs in dozens of fields, such as accounting, architecture, design, human resources, content writing, social media marketing, sales, software development, and more. 

Even though Freelancer is free initially, the site does take a percentage of your earnings once a client accepts your proposal. The fee structure is as follows: 

• Fixed-price projects: 10% fee or $5, whichever is more
• Hourly projects: Flat 10% fee
• Services: 20% fee
• Account inactive for six months or more: $10 per month
• Employer referral: No fee for any work you book with that client

Throughout each project, freelancers can communicate with clients through the platform and track hours, send invoices, and receive payments.

Upwork was initially founded in 1998 as Elance. 

Creating a profile on Upwork is completely free. You can populate your profile with your rates, work samples, resume, case studies, and personal statement to get started. Unlike Freelancer, Upwork needs to approve your profile to join the platform before you can start applying for projects.

Upwork caters to dozens of industries, including but not limited to consulting, customer service, engineering, marketing, IT, translation, and web development. If Upwork determines that your skillset does not meet their standards or the market is too saturated, your application to join may be rejected. If approved, you can search Upwork for relevant projects and start bidding. 

After you book a client through Upwork, you’ll use the platform to communicate with them, send invoices, track billable hours, and get paid. Like Freelancer, Upwork has no up-front costs but takes a percentage of your earnings once you successfully book a client. Upwork’s fee structure is as follows (Though in some situation other fees can apply.): 

• 20% for the first $500 billed to a client
• 10% for lifetime billings with a client between $500.01 and $10,000
• 5% for lifetime billings with a client that exceed $10,000

Craigslist was founded in 1995 as an email newsletter and migrated to the web in 1996. Today, Craigslist serves 700 cities in over 70 countries and remains one of the most visited sites in the U.S.

Craigslist lists jobs and gigs across dozens of categories, including but not limited to finance, marketing, general labor, domestic work, IT, education, writing and editing, and more. To apply to a job posting, simply respond to the listing with a courteous, professional email, or follow the instructions to apply through an external site, if applicable. 

You can certainly find amazing clients and opportunities on Craigslist, but be wary of fraudulent listings while searching. You can actually search for work outside of your immediate area by visiting other cities’ Craigslist pages. You may be able to find work outside your local area if the employer is willing to work with remote candidates.

FlexJobs was created in 2007 to respond to the lack of a centralized place to find legitimate work-from-home opportunities. Since then, it has grown to become the largest site for hand-screened remote jobs. 

FlexJobs uses the proceeds from its membership fees to fund its extensive vetting process. As a result, its members have access to a scam-free, up-to-date database of freelance opportunities across over 50 industries. Members also get exclusive discounts and deals on products and services like Intuit QuickBooks, Dell laptops, and career coaching.

FlexJobs charges $9.95 for a one-week membership, $24.95 for a one-month membership, and $39.85 for a three-month term. Users also can opt to pay $64.95 for a full year.

Founded in 2010, Fiverr gets its name because many of its sellers offer services for as little as $5 and the platform has handled over 50 million total transactions to date. In fact, one gig is sold every four seconds. 

Fiverr skews heavily toward creative and design fields, but some sellers offer project management, legal, career counseling, relationship coaching, IT services, and more. To get started as a Fiverr seller, create a free profile highlighting your areas of expertise and then add the services or “gigs” you’re offering to potential clients. As a seller, you can add up to seven unique packages to the Gig section of your profile. You can also send custom offers to potential clients.

Fiverr takes a 20% commission of every sale made (Including tips) and holds your payment for 14 days after you complete a job because they offer a 14-day refund guarantee to clients. Once 14 days have passed, sellers can deposit their earnings into a bank account or PayPal account.

Not every freelance job requires a laptop. Since 2008, TaskRabbit has been connecting people with freelancers who help out with odd jobs like shopping, plumbing, assembling furniture, moving, and more.

To book jobs through TaskRabbit, you must create a profile and list all of the task categories you feel comfortable completing, along with your rate. After you’ve completed your profile, you need to pass background and ID checks. Once your background check has cleared, you also have to attend an onboarding orientation session, which costs $25. 

As a “Tasker,” you can choose which tasks you’re interested in completing, and once you complete the task, you can submit an invoice to your client directly through the platform. Like Upwork and Fiverr, your TaskRabbit clients can leave you ratings and reviews based on your performance.

If you plan to use TaskRabbit to find gigs regularly, positive reviews can help boost your visibility on the platform and land you repeat clients.

WNW was founded in 2011 to connect creative talent to the most innovative companies, including Apple, Google, Airbnb, Facebook, and Nike. 

WNW doubles as a resume site and job board. To apply for jobs and display your portfolio and work history, you’ll need to complete a detailed profile highlighting your past work experiences and links to any external portfolios. Once complete, you’ll be able to apply for jobs on the “All Jobs” tab.

When you “favorite” a job by clicking the star icon, the employer listed can see that you’re interested in working for their company. Like LinkedIn, companies actively recruiting through the WNW can also send you a message directly if they feel your profile matches their needs.

WNW is completely free for freelancers; they don’t charge any membership fees or take commissions for work found through their platform.

What started as a blog and portfolio site for writer Deb Ng eventually became Freelance Writing Jobs (FWJ), an aggregator that curates the best freelance writing jobs across the web. 

FWJ is more of a traditional job website in that you don’t need to create proposals or bid on opportunities. Simply browse through the job board or run a search based on job title, location, or category. FWJ posts content writing, grant writing, copywriting, editing, and essay writing jobs across all industries and is completely free to use.

Guru was founded in 1998 to connect companies with quality freelancers. Today, Guru serves 800,000 employers, has paid $250 million to freelancers across the globe, and boasts an impressive 99% client satisfaction rate.

Guru caters to freelancers in nine main areas: administrative and secretarial, business and finance, engineering and architecture, design, sales and marketing, programming, writing and translation, education and training, and legal. After you’ve completed your profile on Guru, you can browse through job listings to find clients who are likely to be a good fit.

When you find a listing that matches your interest and skill set, you can submit a quote for it. You can also work on projects with other freelancers through Guru’s virtual WorkRooms feature. Like many other freelance job sites we reviewed, freelancers use Guru’s platform to communicate with clients, draft contracts, send invoices, and get paid. 

It’s free to make a profile on Guru, but the platform sells tiered membership packages to help boost your rankings in search, send messages to clients before bidding on a project, and up the number of jobs you can bid for. Guru’s paid plans are as follows: