Today, we analyze the most powerful freelancer platforms to offer your professional services to companies of all types, both Spanish and international. Each of these platforms has its own characteristics and fees, which are essential to know before joining them, so we will analyze them in detail.
The 10 Best Freelancer Platforms:
With more than 60 million users from over 247 countries, it is the largest freelancer platform in the world. Companies post projects they need help with, and users bid to secure them. This platform also stands out for the diversity of areas in which the offers are categorized, with more than 2,000 available (software development, writing, engineering, design, marketing, sciences, or legal services, among many others).
There are different types of subscriptions, as well as the possibility of adding extra features or including customization options. Although the platform does not have access fees, mandatory subscriptions, monthly fees, or annual fees. There are also no fees for posting a project.
For fixed-price projects, the platform charges a fee based on the value of the selected bid. If later, the person hiring the work pays more than the original bid amount, a fee is also charged on the excess. For hourly projects, a 3% fee is applied to each payment made to the freelancer. The fee for fixed-price projects is 3% or 3 US dollars, whichever is greater.
User accounts that have not logged in for six months will have to pay a maintenance fee of up to 15.40 US dollars per month until the account is canceled or reactivated. This is due to the costs of storage, bandwidth, support, and management of the user’s profile hosting, portfolio storage, directory listing, file storage, and message storage. The money can be refunded upon user request in a subsequent reactivation.
Guru was founded in 1998 and has 2 million experts in all kinds of categories. It operates, similar to Freelancer.com, with a bidding and subscription system.
The commission for freelancers varies between 5% and 9% depending on the type of subscription. There are five subscription plans, with the most basic being free and the most comprehensive at the Executive level ($49,95/month). The maximum number of allowed bids per month is set at 50 with any paid plan, except with the free one, which is limited to 10 monthly bids.
To sell your work through the platform, simply register, describe the services you offer, attach examples of work, browse the offers, or get recommendations based on your skills with Top Match and Good Match jobs, choose from the four payment conditions offered by Guru (fixed price, hourly, task-based, or recurring payments), and send the quote to the client.
Toptal is one of the most exclusive freelancer networks in this ranking, not surprisingly, its name comes from the fusion of the words “top talent.” It focuses on quality over quantity. It offers access to the best freelancers (software developers, designers, finance experts, product managers, and project managers), which is why they only accept 3% of all registration applications they receive, or fewer.
Signing up on the platform requires passing a thorough and rigorous registration and skill validation process, which can last from 3 to 8 weeks, all to ensure that only the best freelance professionals are admitted.
It is not surprising that Toptal users have experience in some of the world’s most valuable companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, etc., have been founders of successful startups or renowned authors and researchers.
The prices paid for completed projects are generally much higher than those on other platforms precisely due to the profile of the participating freelancers and companies.
It is one of the best-known freelancer platforms, where all kinds of services can be offered and hired. Development, IT, design, creativity, sales, marketing, writing, translation, administration, customer service, accounting, or finance among many others.
The prices and quality of completed work are generally higher than on other platforms, such as Fiverr. This is because joining requires getting your profile approved, favoring during registration agencies and experienced professionals.
As a freelancer, you will pay a 10% service fee on the income you generate in all your contracts with a client, whether they are hourly, fixed price, or a Project Catalog project. You can choose to be paid by direct deposit, PayPal, Payoneer, and wire transfer, among other options.
If you have created a direct contract with a client who does not have an Upwork account, but who pays you through Upwork, you will pay a 3.4% processing fee, but you will not have to pay any service commission.
You can also pay for the Freelancer Plus membership, which offers additional services such as promoting your work, viewing your competitors’ bids to gain a winning edge, accessing an AI application that helps you start and complete your work faster.
It is one of the fastest-growing freelancer platforms. Originally from Israel, it was founded in 2010, and it has not stopped growing since. More than 4 million clients worldwide worked with freelance talent on Fiverr in 2024.
Users can post samples of their work as a lure and offer their professional services in more than 550 categories (graphic design, digital advertising, writing, video and animation, photography, etc.) setting the price they want for their services. The platform recommends adding a 20% provision to cover the 20% Fiverr deducts for promoting your service, generating invoices, using the platform, and more.
To join Fiverr, there are no membership or subscription fees. You retain 80% of each completed transaction. Once you deliver the order and the buyer accepts it, your 80% share is transferred to your account and can be viewed on the earnings page.
Fiverr also has a proprietary learning platform where it offers specialized courses in different fields.
This UK-based platform, founded in 2007, has 1 million companies and 3 million freelancers. The first step to using PeoplePerHour as a freelancer is to complete your application to join their community, and once your profile has been validated, you can access a multitude of projects from different countries.
Users can bid for free on 15 projects each month, although if they wish to submit more bids, they can buy additional credit. The platform features an artificial intelligence system that assigns the most suitable projects based on your profile and skills. However, you can also manually search for projects or save automatic searches to be notified about new projects.
When a project catches your attention, you simply need to submit a proposal and send it to the client. Once the project is completed, the same system generates invoices automatically, the client receives an instant notification and, once the payment is authorized, the funds are transferred from the protected escrow account of the project to your account on PeoplePerHour.
The commissions for less than $275 earned are 20%, commissions for earnings between $275 and $5,500 are 7.5%, and if you earn more than $5,500, the commission will be 3.5%.
Wexpertos is a platform created in 2005 by 3 friends and web developers. It is based on trust and exclusivity, which is why it is comprised of a maximum of up to 10 companies or freelancers specializing in design, development, and programming of web pages and online stores. Currently, the professional network of the platform consists of 8 companies, so there are only 2 spots available. If you wish to apply, you will need to pass a test to be admitted.
It does not charge commissions for paid work, but instead operates with a subscription system:
Once your subscription is complete and active, you will need to identify yourself to access the “Requested Budgets” section where you can see all the project data and contact clients. Wexpertos does not act as an intermediary between clients and freelancers, so quotations and payments must be agreed upon between the parties. You can contact and send proposals to as many potential clients as you wish, which are currently 44.
The registration on this platform is free for all its users, both freelancers and clients. When you create an account as a freelancer, you can create a portfolio and upload your resume, additionally, you will have access to all the projects published by clients to choose the one that best suits you.
The publication of new projects is free. They will be available for 30 days during which you can receive proposals and choose the one that suits you best. Client payments are received via PayPal or AirTM.
The free account allows you to apply to one project per day, and the commission applied to a paid project will be 20%. If you want to reduce that commission to 10% and gain advantages such as unlimited portfolio, higher visibility in searches, higher visibility in your applications for offers, ability to attach files in your offers, use of chat with clients, etc., you can do so by subscribing to the “Elite account” for 10.99 dollars per month.
Besides allowing you to publish samples of your work and serving as an online portfolio, it also allows you to find full-time jobs and freelance projects.
Founded in 2009, Dribbble specializes in design professionals, and it has over 3 million registered users. In 2020, it acquired Creative Market, adding up to 12 million active monthly users combined.
The platform offers the Dribbble Pro subscription, enabling designers to generate potential clients, for 17.60 dollars/month or 105.60 dollars/year. It is also possible to subscribe to the Dribble Job Board for a recurrent monthly subscription of 165 dollars.
ProntoPro is a platform of Italian origin founded in 2015 where you can find freelancers from various sectors, some related to marketing, and others quite different, such as nutritionists, psychologists, dermatologists, and many more. In total, there are 300 trades covered throughout Spain by 100,000 professionals.
In 2022, the company joined forces with Armut, Turkey’s number one in offering freelancers, and closed an investment round of 16.5 million dollars, increasing the number of operational countries to 14 in the EMEA region. They are one of the most important companies in the sector in Italy, Turkey, Romania, and Egypt.
You can create an account for free, explore verified job offers, and bid on those that interest you. You will receive emails with offers related to your services. If you are interested, you must send a quote. The system automatically closes the request after a maximum of 4 service providers have submitted their quotes.
The platform does not report exact figures on commissions or intermediary costs. In this regard, it is the least transparent. It also does not manage payments; in fact, it recommends freelancers to seal agreements in writing to avoid future unpaid situations.
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