Fiverr or Upwork: Which Is Better for Freelancers & Buyers?

Which is the best website to get started a freelancing business or to get a freelancer for your business Fiverr or Upwork? Here is what you need to know about the comparison and pros & cons of both sites.

We’re going to be talking about two game-changing freelancing websites Upwork and Fiverr.

So, both Fiverr and Upwork are good websites to make money as a freelancer or find freelancers for your business. But which one is the best website Fiverr or Upwork?

Fiverr or Upwork, Which Is the Better Freelancing Website?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of both Fiverr and Upwork because as content creators many people absolutely thrive off of these websites for money and also services for their business.

After reading this article I hope it will help you with your decision on choosing Fiverr or Upwork. So first we’re going to start with Fiverr.

What Is Fiverr?

Fiverr Freelancing Website for freelancers
Fiverr Freelancing Website for freelancers

Fiverr is a marketplace for freelancers and buyers who are looking to get freelance work done. It was a $5 gig, and most of today’s gigs will cost a lot more than the $5.

Fiverr is more gig-based, so you post a gig on Fiverr and then clients come to you to buy your services. And if you’re that who finds a freelancer for your business you can get freelancers by visiting their gigs.

The Pros of Being a Freelancer on Fiverr

Fiverr Pros for Freelancer: 1st Pro…

The first pro about being a freelancer on Fiverr is that it is very well known there are tons of ads that I’m always seeing, and they even had a Super Bowl commercial this year (2020-2021).

It’s also very easy to blow up and make a lot of money on Fiverr. “Because” once the orders start rolling in Fiverr is going to push your gig to more people saying hey this is a very good seller buy from them.

Fiverr Pros for Freelancer: 2nd Pro…

The next pro is that it is free to apply to buyer requests on Fiverr. But the caveat to that is you can only apply to 10 buy requests a day. So on Fiverr, there is a portion where the clients can just post their work similar to Upwork.

But on a smaller scale, you can click on the buy request tabs, and you can go through and apply to the jobs you want to do based on the price and the amount of time they want this job completed and it’s completely free.

Fiverr Pros for Freelancer: 3rd Pro…

Fiverr also encourages the clients to tip. Whenever you deliver your order on Fiverr the client accepts it and then Fiverr prompts them to leave a tip.

Fiverr Pros for Freelancer: 4th Pro…

The Fiverr app is super easy to use, and it’s one app for being a buyer and a freelancer on Fiverr.

Fiverr Mobile App

Fiverr Pros for Freelancer: 5th Pro…

The Fiverr app is also very easy to map out your services on Fiverr when you create your gig it is a tiered gig. So you can have three different packages for one offer.

So when someone goes to purchase from you, they can see exactly what’s included in each gig they will get, and it’s no gray area.

  • Now we’re going to touch on some cons of being a Fiverr freelancer:

The Cons of Being a Freelancer on Fiverr

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 1st Con…

The biggest one is the customer service Fiverr customer service is great, but they always lean towards the buyer they have a buyer is always right mentality,

And freelancers’ experience with every problem they have had to take to Fiverr has resulted in the buyer getting all of their money back regardless of how much work they delivered to the buyer.

I have friends who work in freelancing one of the worst experiences one of my friends has actually had on the Fiverr platform is a client that was being discriminatory.

So she has a product photography gig on Fiverr and the task was to create 10 product photos it was very vague, but the client did not want to have any black models in their final delivery,

And while she delivered a variety of shots they wanted her to go back and reshoot the ones with the black models because that’s not what they wanted, and she said that this was discriminatory and also was not specified.

She should not have to go back and do this they can pay her more money and she can, of course, deliver more work, but she should be paid for the work that she did.

So eventually it went to Fiverr customer support, and they voted in favor of the buyer and this is one instance out of a lot.

Where you have had to contact customer support no matter how big the problem was or how dire it was for you as a freelancer you did not feel protected.

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 2nd Con…

The next con is that it’s actually hard to find jobs on Fiverr with the buyer’s request. In some of the categories like I mentioned before being a product photographer, there aren’t a lot of people actually requesting a job most of the time on Fiverr you’ll get people buying directly from you.

This is also a con because they do not have to talk to you first they can just go on your profile and buy a gig but the caveat to that is once they buy a gig if they purchase the wrong thing or if they did it by mistake, and you cancel that order it drastically negatively impacts your account.

For example, I’ve had people who have bought things by accident and wanted to cancel the order which they can do through customer support and it can automatically be canceled. My account has suffered some dire consequences and I have been knocked down levels.

So Fiverr has a leveling system where you become a level one level two and top-rated seller and there are different perks for being each one and there are different things that you have to accomplish to go from level to level,

But you can be knocked back down no matter how many orders you’ve done no matter how many good reviews you can be knocked back down very easily with canceled orders and negative reviews.

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 3rd Con…

If you take too long to respond to clients which is another con I think Fiverr tracks your ratings too harshly so let’s say that if you get a message at 3 am, and don’t respond until 10 am your response rate will go down.

On Fiverr Respond Fast to Clients

Because you have taken too long to respond to that customer and all of that is being tracked on your profile and clients can see your response rate.

But the longer you take to respond the more your ratings go down and the closer you get to being demoted back to level one or no level at all this one became a con.

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 4th Con…

Fiverr takes 20 of all of your earnings no matter how much you make whereas Upwork on the other hand has a tiered system depending on how much money you have made with a particular client

And you may say oh that’s not a lot of money, but what about when you get a ten thousand dollar gig? that’s two thousand dollars that are in Fiverr’s pocket.

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 5th Con…

From my personal experience in my gig categories, people want cheap work and I don’t provide cheap work I provide high-quality services, so I get a lot of people that are trying to haggle me down on my prices and I have to respond to them for my ratings to stay high.

But sometimes this can be a little frustrating because people want to get work done for $10 and $15, and I provide them with this high-quality service and charge them at least $100, and they want to get it for a tenth of the price.

Fiverr Cons for Freelancer: 6th Con…

The last con of being a freelancer on Fiverr is the invoicing software so being a freelancer you have to track all of your expenses and all of your income. On Fiverr, you can export a CSV file to keep track of your earnings.

But it’s very hard to understand, and they only show you the net profit they don’t show you the amount that you made prior to them taking out 20 and this is crucial because that 20 is basically a fee for using their platform which is deductible it’s a write-off.

So you should be able to track it too, so I think it really needs to be updated, is there a way to solve it you just use the reverse percentage finding method it’s like this math equation, but I just think the invoicing software needs to be updated.

  • Now we’re going to move on to the buyer pros and cons of using Fiverr:

Hiring a freelancer online can be risky, If you choose the wrong platform, you could end up with low-quality work, no deadline, or worse a huge loss of money if your freelancer just disappears with your cash.

The Pros of Being a Buyer on Fiverr

Fiverr Pros for Buyers: 1st Pro…

The first pro, of being a buyer on Fiverr which I am is that customer support is always on your side because this is what makes the website go so if you have a problem customer support will do everything they can.

Fiverr Pros for Buyers: 2nd Pro…

You get a convenient detailed invoice on what you ordered every time you purchase something on Fiverr that I can just file away and categorize for tax purposes.

Fiverr Pros for Buyers: 3rd Pro…

Something that I really love about being a buyer on Fiverr is that there are a plethora of options at different price points.

Fiverr has a different price range.
Fiverr has a different price range. Here is some example

If you want to pay five dollars they have those freelancers if you want to pay like mid-range like 75 they have those freelancers they also have freelancers that are experts in the field, and you can pay upwards of two thousand dollars for a job I just really love that you have those options on Fiverr.

Fiverr Pros for Buyers: 4th Pro…

The last pro that I have is that you can collaborate with a team on Fiverr you can also do this on Upwork but on Fiverr you can collaborate with the team, and you can see everything that your team is doing and really make it an all-inclusive project by working with these freelancers on Fiverr.

The Cons of Being a Buyer on Fiverr

Fiverr Cons for Buyers: 1st Con…

The cons of being a buyer on Fiverr the biggest one is that there are a lot of sellers that are selling fake work. People have bought a lot of stuff on Fiverr that has not looked like the seller’s gig gallery, and they were really upset.

Because their time was wasted, and they had to find another freelancer, so definitely look at their reviews and definitely look at the work that they have delivered to make sure that what they are delivering matches what’s in their gig gallery and the gig gallery is what you see whenever you’re coming across all of these different gigs.

If you type in YouTube banner or website design maker the pictures that you see that is their gig gallery but make sure that you check pictures of their delivered work and if they don’t have any delivered work You don’t have to work with them.

Fiverr Cons for Buyers: 2nd Con…

The other con of being a buyer on Fiverr is that Fiverr is such a huge marketplace that there are tons of foreign sellers and by foreign sellers I mean people who don’t live in the same country as you.

If you live in the United States you’ll find a lot of sellers from the UK from India from other places that don’t speak English, and it can be kind of hard to communicate with them.

Now of course you can see exactly where these people are from but unlike Upwork, you can’t filter out people who are not from the same place as you so you’ll get all of these people, and you have to pilfer through yourself if you want to work with somebody who lives in the same country as you.

  • Now let’s move on to Upwork which I think is a little more user-friendly overall than Fiverr, so let’s start with the general introduction of Upwork.

What is Upwork?

Upwork Official Website

Upwork is a freelancing platform where businesses and individuals connect in order to conduct business it gives freelancers the opportunity to find work no matter where they are in the world and earn money.

It also allows businesses to quickly and effectively hire experts in any field to help them with the completion of the projects.

The principle of the platform is very simple if you have a business then you create a job description and post it in a matter of minutes you will start receiving proposals from freelancers that can get the job done for you.

If you are a freelancer then you simply select the type of job that you want to do, and you browse and apply to the jobs that you’re interested in.

  • Now let’s move on to the Pros of being a freelancer on Upwork:

The Pros of Being a Freelancer on Upwork

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 1st Pro…

Let’s get into the pros of being a freelancer on Upwork one of the great things about Upwork is that they have a timesheet option this is huge because with Fiverr you can only do fixed-rate jobs but on Upwork, you have the option to do fixed rate or hourly.

So this is important because on jobs that take hundreds of hours you can actually be paid for all of your time versus trying to calculate how much all of that time would be worth.

I think this part is not a good thing for every freelancer some of them are didn’t like hourly works, or they want more time to work, so it all depends on you.

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 2nd Pro…

Upwork also has very good customer service I commend them on this as a freelancer I feel protected and as a buyer, I also feel protected.

If there’s a situation where you’re not satisfied with the delivery as a buyer, or you are a seller and the buyer is being mean, or they want extra things you can file a dispute and go through a negotiation period with customer service,

And they can help you settle whatever is going on, but the biggest thing is if you did work for a buyer you will never be shortchanged meaning they will never say okay you get absolutely nothing if you actually did the work.

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 3rd Pro…

Another pro is that there are many more job postings on Upwork, so you just go on the app and just like Craigslist or you can see what is out there and apply directly to that job and clients can also invite you to their jobs.

Which is dope and I touched on it earlier the more money you make in the lifetime of working with a client the less money Upwork takes.

How Upwork payment works?

Upwork starts out by taking twenty percent up to five hundred dollars, ten percent up to ten thousand dollars, and over ten thousand dollars during the lifetime of working with this client they only take five percent.

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 4th Pro…

The more work you do the more money you take home unlike Fiverr there are no harsh deadlines to attend to I didn’t mention this earlier but with Fiverr you’re on a deadline so when someone buys from you, it gives a time frame.

So if you say you’ll do this in five days but then something comes up and you have to deliver it late that negatively impacts your account.

Whereas with Upwork, there is no countdown clock on you so there is no added stress of feeling rushed to get a job done.

I’ve also encountered a lot of higher-paying clients on Upwork I feel like Upwork is like target and Fiverr is like Walmart in terms of the amount that you are going into paying it.

I think that comes from the fact that Fiverr started off being a five-dollar Fiverr gig website and people sometimes still may associate it with being more on the affordable side.

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 5th Pro…

The next pro of being a freelancer on Upwork is that invoicing and keeping track of all the work you have done is so much easier you can download each invoice separately, and you can also download it as one big spreadsheet it’s easy to read.

It’s so much easier than on Fiverr’s website you can see the gross amount that you made you can see the twenty, ten, or five percent that Upwork took, and then you see your net profit which is super important when you are doing your taxes as a freelancer.

Upwork Pros for Freelancer: 6th Pro…

The last pro that I have about being a freelancer on Upwork is that you have to actually accept a proposal from a client they can’t just say okay you’re going to do this work,

And that’s big because your account is not negatively impacted by having to cancel orders and all of that stuff from having a client that just went off and purchased without talking to you first.

  • Now let’s move on to the cons:

The Cons of Being a Freelancer on Upwork

Upwork Cons for Freelancer: 1st Con…

The biggest con on Upwork is that there are a lot of talented freelancers, so it’s very competitive it’s also competitive on Fiverr’s website, but I personally feel like it’s a little more competitive on Upwork.

Upwork Cons for Freelancer: 2nd Con…

You have to pay to apply to gigs on Upwork, so on Upwork, you have these things called connects, and for each job, you apply to they need a certain amount of connects for you to submit your proposal and your cover letter each connect costs about $0.15-$0.90 cents when you start off with Upwork.

They do give you free connects, and you can also use money that you’ve made off Upwork to buy these connects, but you got to buy these connects to apply to the jobs to make money.

Upwork Cons for Freelancer: 3rd Con…

Another con is that you spend a lot of time applying to jobs you have to answer the interview questions you have created a cover letter have to send in your proposal for every single job that you apply to.

Whereas with Fiverr, it’s a little easier because you just send them the gig page to whatever work they’re requesting to get done.

Upwork Cons for Freelancer: 4th Con…

You have to have two separate apps to be a buyer and a freelancer on Upwork which is pretty annoying because you can’t be signed in to both at the same time.

Upwork Mobile Apps for Clients and for Freelancers.

If you buy an offer on Upwork and you also sell on Upwork, so you want to switch between apps you have to constantly log in and log out and switch from app to app.

  • Now let’s move on to the Pros of being a buyer on Upwork:

The Pros of Being a Buyer on Upwork

Upwork Pros for Buyer: 1st Pro…

The biggest pro again is customer support the customer support takes care of both the buyer and the freelancer which is very good.

Upwork Pros for Buyer: 2nd Pro…

Another pro of being a buyer on Upwork is that there are tons of talented freelancers also when you put a job out there as a buyer you can set the amount you are willing to pay.

You can also filter freelancers based on where they live, their qualifications or ratings, and how much money they make on the platform.

From my experience, it’s also a lot easier to build long-lasting relationships with freelancers on Upwork because of the simple fact that there are hourly contracts.

So you can really have like a virtual employee and have a long-lasting relationship with this person and just keep working with them for years.

Upwork Pros for Buyer: 3rd Pro…

The last pro that I really hope that Fiverr starts to implement is that Upwork has a phone call feature through the app so the biggest thing with all these freelancing websites is that they say do not contact the freelancer or the buyer outside the app.

But Fiverr does not have phone call software, and sometimes it’s a bit difficult to explain what you need through text, so having phone software is a game-changer.

  • Now let’s move on to the cons:

The Cons of Being a Buyer on Upwork

Upwork Cons for Buyer: 1st Con…

I only have two cons for being a buyer on Upwork and the first one is that you have to pay to invite freelancers to your job.

For example, when you post a job Upwork will say hey here are some great freelancers, but you cannot contact those freelancers unless they apply for the job, so you start out with 15 free invites but after that, you have to pay to invite.

Upwork Cons for Buyer: 2nd Con…

Upwork has tiered memberships so there’s a free membership and then there’s like a middle one and then there’s like the premium or something like that, but I stick with the free one but there are different options, and you have to pay for them.

Whereas Fiverr you don’t have to buy a membership or anything to use the platform and to clarify both Fiverr and Upwork have service fees attached to every purchase you make as a buyer.

Final Words

I know it seemed like I had a lot more cons for Fiverr but overall I think they are two very good freelancing websites whether you’re an artist or a creative, or you own a business, and you want for freelancing, I suggest you use these two platforms because they are different in themselves, and they are good freelancing websites than other sites.

Finally, that was all about Fiverr and Upwork comparison and their pros and cons for both freelancers and buyers.

So if you are ready to start freelancing or “If” you want a freelancer for your business, I hope this article will help you with a lot of information for your question “Fiverr or Upwork?”. So thank you for your reading! and buy for now.

Firaol Birhanu
Firaol Birhanu

I am Firaol Birhanu, owner of the Fira All Reviews blog. I am a part-time online marketer and have been working on online marketing since 2017. The Fira All Reviews blog provides you with a valuable and relevant source of information on career opportunities, online business, as well as reviews on digital products, software, and online services.

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