Upwork Alternatives for Every Service

The global freelancer market has been exploding in recent years. Roughly 70% of US businesses worked with a freelancer in 2022, and 81% plan on working with a freelancer in the coming year.

Lots of these businesses connect with freelancers on Upwork—the world’s largest freelance marketplace. But Upwork isn’t the only option out there, and it definitely isn’t a perfect option.

In this guide, we’ll be looking into a few alternative freelancer marketplaces for finding high-quality writing talent. We’ll also look into some alternatives—like Embarque—that solve some of the problems that are common with freelancer marketplaces.

Ready to find the perfect SEO freelancer? Let’s dive in.

Challenges To Consider When Using Freelancer Marketplaces

Freelancer marketplaces are great for connecting with flexible, on-demand talent. If they weren't, they wouldn't be so popular.

However, they also come with a few challenges that you should be aware of before diving in:

1. Quality Assurance

Since anyone can be a freelancer, it's hard to ensure the quality of talent on the platform.

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Most platforms have checks and balances in place to ensure quality. For instance, Fiverr has badges like “Buyers keep returning” and “Pro Verified” that goes to freelancers who consistently deliver high-quality work. These aren't always reliable, though.

This is one of the main benefits of working with an agency like Embarque—we vet the writing talent, so you can trust the quality of work you’ll receive.

2. Time Consuming

There are hundreds of thousands of profiles and gigs across all the freelance marketplaces. That means you’ll have to sift through many profiles to find the right fit for your project.

Plus, every freelancer you work with will need time to get to know your business, goals, and requirements. This can add up to a significant amount of time spent on onboarding new freelance writers.

With an agency like Embarque, you have a team of experts who are already familiar with your needs. We match you, with the right writers quickly and easily, so you can get back to running your business.

3. Lack of Support

When you work with a freelancer, they often don’t have any support team behind them. If a problem arises, you’ll need to wait for them to find time in their schedule to address it.

Plus, lots of freelancer marketplaces have unreliable dispute resolution systems. This can make it difficult to get the help you need if a project doesn’t go as planned.

Upwork Alternatives

1. Embarque - Highly curated SEO services

Is an agency like Embarque really an Upwork alternative?

If you’re only interested in considering freelance marketplaces… no, of course it isn’t. But if you're looking for an alternative that nets you all the positives of working with freelancers, while eliminating the negatives, then it might be the perfect choice for you.

Embarque is a full-service SEO content marketing agency that helps companies drive traffic, leads, and sales with their content. We offer a variety of services ranging from content creation to SEO audits to social media management.

We have several case studies to go through and reviews that go through a third-party phone verification process.

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Unlike Upwork, Embarque provides you with a team of dedicated professionals who are hand-picked for their expertise and background in content marketing. We also take care of all the project management, so you don’t have to worry about searching for freelancers, managing their workloads, or dealing with any of the other headaches that come along with using a freelance site.

Plus, Embarque offers a variety of packages to fit your budget and needs, so you don’t have to worry about overpaying for services.

2. Fiverr - A cheaper version of Upwork

Fiverr is Upwork’s main competitor in the realm of freelancer marketplaces.

It has roughly the same price point as Upwork, but it has a very different business model. Upwork is designed to support long-term buyer-client relationships, with individual milestones and projects under the umbrella of a single contract. Fiverr is better suited to small, one-off projects, although it does have the ability to create milestones on higher-ticket orders.

With Fiverr, you definitely get what you pay for. It isn’t hard to find gigs advertising 1,000 articles for $15, $10—even $5. These aren’t usually going to get you the results you’re looking for, though. There are high-quality services to be found on the platform, but you may need to try out several sellers before you find one who fits your needs.

Fiverr’s rating system can give you some clues into the quality of the work you’ll receive, but you may still need to do some trial and error before you find a freelancer who can match your brand voice and style.

3. Legiit - A growing marketplace with some gems

Legiit is a freelance marketplace that’s similar to Fiverr in terms of UX. It has the same kinds of gigs, including:

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SEO Content
Graphic design
Virtual assistance
Business ops
Backlink Analysis
Keyword Research
On-Site Optimization

Like Upwork and Fiverr, the quality of work that you might receive can vary from seller to seller. But Legiit does run a more intensive vetting program than Fiverr does. The Legiit team will regularly hire industry professions to act as “mystery shoppers” who place orders with freelancers. If they're impressed, the freelancer gets a Legiit Checked badge attached to their gig.

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The biggest problem with Legiit is its newness. The platform was only launched in 2017, so it hasn't built up a massive catalog of services, sellers, or categories yet. Most of its offerings are based around SEO, PPC, and affiliate marketing, though—good news for anyone looking to hire freelance writers.

4. Toptal - Highly-vetted Upwork alternative

Toptal is a freelancer platform that’s very different from Upwork and Fiverr.

The platform's main differentiator is its claim of only accepting the top 3% of freelancers into its network. To get in, you have to pass a number of challenging tests and interviews, proving your skills and knowledge.

This makes Toptal an attractive option for businesses looking to hire higher-end talent, like content strategists, UX directors, and developers.

The downside is that because the selection process is so rigorous, Toptal only has a limited number of freelancers available to hire. Plus, its pricing is significantly higher than Upwork or Fiverr—upwards of $80/hour. But if you’re looking for a top-notch writer who can help you create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, Toptal may be worth the price tag.

5. Workhoppers - Hire freelancers based on a brief

Workhoppers is a bit different than the other platforms on this list.

Rather than searching for freelancers yourself, all you need to do is post a job. Workhoppers’ AI-powered algorithm will then run through all the freelancers who meet your criteria and send them a link to apply. This helps save you time by making sure only qualified applicants can apply.

Workhoppers also has a different fee structure than the other freelance marketplaces we’ve covered. Instead of charging a percentage of each transaction, Workhoppers uses a subscription model. Businesses pay a fee ranging from $39/month to $389/month for access to features like multiple job postings, access to the talent database, and more.

Workhoppers is less a freelance marketplace and more a temporary job site. Since it caters to in-person work as well as jobs that can be done remotely, it offers many more different job categories and positions than other freelance sites. This is a good thing if you’re looking to fill a range of roles, but not so much if you’re only looking for a content writer or SEO expert.

6. LinkedIn - B2B social media platform

LinkedIn is seeing a rise in freelancers who are using the platform to promote their services and build authority. If you are planning to use LinkedIn to find freelance talent, you have a couple of options.

Make a job listing. It’s totally free, but you can pay to promote it to a specific audience if you’d like.
Reach out to your network to find people who fit the bill. This is a great way to get personalized recommendations from people you know and trust.
Use LinkedIn’s search tools to scan the platform for talent. This can be a bit tricky if you don’t have LinkedIn Premium—you won’t be able to message most users without adding them to your network first.

The advantage to LinkedIn is that the platform is home to some incredibly talented writers, especially niches like business, finance, and tech.

The drawback is that since LinkedIn is not designed to be used as a freelance platform, there are no built-in contracts or payment systems in place. Your best bet is using LinkedIn as a discovery tool that you supplement with communication and payment tools.

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