This blog post is all about Fiverr vs Upwork and if you are in one of these below conditions, then it is especially for you:

• If you are thinking to start freelancing but are confused between Fiverr vs Upwork that from which freelance platform you should start first.
• If you are already working on Fiverr and thinking to move on to Upwork.
• If you are already working on Upwork and now thinking to move on to Fiverr.

To better understand the difference, we will discuss 8 points for the Fiverr vs Upwork comparison and we will see how Fiverr and Upwork are different from one another.

There are basically two types of users on both of these platforms.

• Freelancers
• Buyers

How do these platforms work? (Fiverr vs Upwork)

We are going to see what freelancers and buyers can do on both of these platforms.

Freelancers on Fiverr: (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Freelancers on Fiverr can offer their services. They have 2 ways to get the orders on Fiverr.

They can make multiple gigs for the services they want to sell. The number of gigs that freelancers can make depends upon what is their seller level on Fiverr. Below is an example of a gig:

Or they can send proposals to the buyer requests (which are posted by the buyers who are looking for someone to hire for their work/project). This is what the buyer requests section looks like:

If the proposal of any freelancer gets accepted by the buyer who posted that buyer’s request, that freelancer will get that job.

Buyers on Fiverr: (Fiverr vs Upwork)

On the other hand side, buyers can search for the service they are looking for in the search bar on Fiverr. From the search results, they can choose any gig/service and then buy it directly or contact the freelancer first to discuss their project.

Buyers can also post a “buyer request” in which they will write all the details about what work they need with the time and budget details. That buyer request then is shown to all the freelancers of that service category and buyers start getting proposals from freelancers. Then they can accept any proposal they like, or they can also message the freelancer first to discuss the project with that freelancer.

Freelancers on Upwork: (Fiverr vs Upwork)

On Upwork, freelancers can get jobs in 2 different ways. Either they can send their proposals to the clients’ job posts (which work similarly to Fiverr’s buyer requests feature) or they can make gigs like Fiverr but here on Upwork, the gigs are called project catalogs.

Buyers on Upwork: (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Buyers on Upwork have 2 ways to hire a freelancer. They can directly invite a freelancer to their job post, or they can buy a project catalog of any freelancer.

Is there any cost of applying for jobs? (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Fiverr:

Fiverr allows sending a maximum of 10 buyer requests daily and there is no cost for applying on these buyer requests.

Upwork:

To apply for jobs in Upwork “connects” are needed. Have you seen a gift-catching machine for kids in some malls where it works for a limited time if we put a specific number of coins into it? The “connects” on Upwork is a similar thing. To send each proposal we have to connect some “connects” with it, some jobs require 2 “connects”, some require 4, and some require more depending upon how big the budget of that job is.

We have to buy these “connects” from Upwork. When someone gets registered on Upwork first time, that time 40 connects is given to that freelancer for free. After that, if that freelancer passes the readiness test of Upwork, 40 additional “connects” will be awarded to that freelancer.

After that, each month 10 free “connects” are given to the freelancers who are on a basic package of Upwork. If a freelancer sends a proposal and the client message to the freelancer for the interview, the freelancer gets free 10 connects even if that client does not hire that freelancer.

To get more “connects”, freelancers have to buy these from Upwork or they can also join their plus membership (paid).

Do these platforms have any features to promote the service of freelancers? (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Fiverr:

Fiverr has a gig promotion feature where freelancers can promote their gigs by paying per click to Fiverr. So, a freelancer sets a price that he/she is willing to pay per click, then Fiverr shows their gig on top and whenever their gig gets any click, Fiverr charges them the amount of that click.

That amount is not too high. For example, if you have set a $1 per click price for promotion and your service’s minimum price package is $15 then if you get 5 clicks and none of those visitors messaged you or bought your service so you will lose $5, but if your 6th visitor gets turned into your buyer, it can cover the cost of previous 5 clicks and can give you benefit too.

Upwork:

Upwork does not have a promotion feature similar to Fiverr but Upwork has a feature in which Upwork shows an “online now” badge on your profile. To show this badge, freelancers have to spend some “connects” weekly, its price keeps changing depending upon the demand for this feature.

If we keep this badge turned on, the potential buyers who would be visiting your profiles are more likely to message you because they would think that they will get instant replies and available freelancers.

How much fee/commission do these platforms charge from freelancers? (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Fiverr:

Fiverr deduct 20% from freelancers for each order they do. For example, if you did complete a $5 order, you will get $4 and Fiverr will keep $1 which becomes 20% of $5.

Upwork:

• From $0 to $500 earnings, Upwork will deduct a 20% commission/fee
• From $500.01 to $10,000 earnings, Upwork will deduct a 10% commission/fee
• For equal and more than $10,000.01, Upwork will deduct a 5% commission/fee

So, for example, if you earn $700 from a contract on Upwork, the total commission/fee of Upwork will be $140 (20% from the first $500, and 10% from the next 200).

If you would earn the same $700 on Fiverr then the total fee would be $140 (20% of the total amount).

Level/Badges (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Fiverr:

There are 3 seller levels on Fiverr.

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Top-Rated

Each level has different criteria and different benefits.

Upwork:

Upwork has 4 types of badges for the seller. Freelancers get these badges by fulfilling different criteria and these badges also give different benefits to sellers.

• Rising Talent
• Top Rated
• Top Rated Plus
• Expert Vetted

What are the earning withdrawing options? (Fiverr vs Upwork)

Fiverr:

On Fiverr, freelancers can withdraw their earnings using these below methods:

• Payoneer
• Paypal

Upwork:

Upwork has more options to withdraw money as compared to Fiverr. Upwork has these below options for freelancers to withdraw their earnings:

• Direct to U.S. Bank (ACH)
• Direct to Local Bank (outside of U.S.)
• U.S. Dollar Wire Transfer
• Instant Pay for U.S. Freelancers
• Payoneer (outside the U.S.)
• M-Pesa (Kenya only)
• Paypal

Conclusion:

If you are going to start freelancing and if you are not working on any of these platforms yet, then I would say both of these platforms are great to start but if you would like to know the 1 then I would say Fiverr is a great option to start as a freelancer because it has no cost to apply on the jobs.

And if you are already working on any of these platforms and want to move to another platform then I would say that both platforms are great to work on.

I am working on both of them at the same time. Right now this time when I am writing this post, I am a top-rated freelancer at Upwork and at Fiverr, I am a Level-2 seller and my top-rated requirements have been fulfilled but I did not become top-rated yet because Fiverr manually assesses the freelancer at this time even after fulfilling the requirements, they have not shared what they see in this manual evaluation but we have some guesses and I am working on them.

If you would have any questions about this Fiverr vs Upwork topic, feel free to comment below.