business logo of Upwork

UpworkReviews 2,134

2.3

On Sitejabber, businesses may not offer incentives or pay to remove reviews. Learn more about our Review Guidelines.

How would you rate Upwork?
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star

Upwork Reviews Summary

Upwork has a rating of 2.3 stars from 2,134 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Upwork most frequently mention customer service, credit card and job success. Upwork ranks 8th among Freelancing sites.

service
543
value
525
shipping
287
returns
333
quality
514
This company does not typically respond to reviews

We monitor reviews for authenticity

New Jersey
1 review
3 helpful votes
Follow christopher b.
Unfollow christopher b.
Share Review
Report Review

I'm trying to find a lawyer and they asked for all type of private information for me to even do so. Then they suspended me after sending offers to lawyers. So basically they stole my private information and unethically suspended me

Date of experience: August 31, 2023
California
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Ben R.
Unfollow Ben R.
Share Review
Report Review

SCAM
August 22, 2023

Do not trust the freelancers reviews on Upwork. They can delete reviews which they don't like. We worked with an 'expert' and he did not deliver anything. He promised and promised and in the end he promised to give us our money back but he didn't. The project was canceled but on his profile it was 'finished' and it did NOT have an effect on his 'job success rate'. In reality that guy is the worst person ever and a scam. Unfortunately we did not receive any help from Upwork's customer service when we lost our money. Either way, you will have to pay. Worst company ever!

Date of experience: August 22, 2023
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow David R.
Unfollow David R.
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork Sucks!
August 21, 2023

Re: UPWORK Not!.
Q: Is UPWORK profitable?.
A: No, UPWORK is not profitable. In 2022, UPWORK'S net losses were a sad $89.9 million.
In a time when you should be making money— and you're not--it's time to rethink the business model.
FYI: It's no wonder UPWORK is a failing company. The website needs work—but UPWORK doesn't take to kindly to suggestions. For instance, to randomly reset our user privacy setting (to invisible to clients) is nonsense and the sad excuse for doing so is ridiculous. Upwork is not doing anyone a favor by blocking accounts and for such frivolous reasons as it's just doing dirty to freelancers and employers, alike. Plus, it was very childish of Upwork to suspend my account for suggesting they stop playing with our privacy settings and proves my point that UPWORK is useless.
Your account has been suspended. Please contact customer support.
I don't need to contact anyone. You're not the boss of me!.
Unfortunately, Upwork practices a crude and sloppy way of doing business. To treat its users with such utter disrespect is not good PR, for sure.
It's no wonder Upwork is suffering big loses when every day it wastes even more money, effort, and resources defending its stupid decisions on too many similar complaints. Without doubt, Upwork doesn't follow the SDLC or process improvement methodology. And surely Upwork never tests its website properly or with qualified users. And there are other problems with Upwork and its website too numerous to mention.
To be in business for profit or not—Upwork just doesn't have the know-how to get it right—which is indicative of piss-poor management. Just try to get in touch with them and you'll find it's intentionally a big hassle and indicative of people who just don't give a damn. So I don't see this iteration of Upwork lasting much longer as flushing good money down the toilet to support a crap site in dire need of a full upgrade by incompetent folks who are obviously clueless is evidently not the best investment.

Date of experience: August 21, 2023
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow c h.
Unfollow c h.
Share Review
Report Review

World's Worst Website
August 15, 2023

Slow as crap. Slow page loads, partial pages loaded, and "Wait" buttons pop up constantly. This is a legitimate business? WORLDS WORST WEBSITE!

Date of experience: August 15, 2023
Egypt
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Tarek E.
Unfollow Tarek E.
Share Review
Report Review

رأي الجميع
July 16, 2023

تعدر الأراء شيئ مهم في المجتمع وا الأراء الصحيحه تنتج اشياء عظيمة وعجيبه اما الأراء السيئه عند تنفيزها قد تؤديالي سقوط دول

Date of experience: July 16, 2023
Washington
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Bruce S.
Unfollow Bruce S.
Share Review
Report Review

I hired a highly rated Thai translator. He was supposed to do translation for a piece for me. It had some Isan words in it but he was meeting with a Thai person that knew those definitions. He not only didn't have the discussion, he charged me for work he didn't do. When I followed up with him, our entire discussion was why he charged me for work he didn't do. So he then charged me for the discussion as well. I was charged the highest rate, 30.00 an hour for this.

When I asked for a refund, he accepted the refund. He gave me back 1.00. That closed my options for a dispute.

The second translator I had do a presentation I was giving. She was supposed to give me the Thai translation. She gave me this stuff that had multiple options in it, with notes about the work mixed into the translation I was supposed to cut out. She asked me, a person who I made it very clear could not read or write Thai (that's why I hired her!) to proofread her work, pick the best word all in Thai, no English whatsoever to guide me, then edit out the stuff that was just notes to me. Incredible. I'm done with UpWork,. They also did not publish either of my negative reviews, so this whole website feels shady.

Date of experience: July 5, 2023
Singapore
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Maulana J.
Unfollow Maulana J.
Share Review
Report Review

I am thoroughly enjoying my experience with upwork as this website helps me to make some extra money online without much hassle. Thank you upwork!

Date of experience: June 29, 2023
Hong Kong
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Loray L.
Unfollow Loray L.
Share Review
Report Review

They suspend clients' account for no reason
June 27, 2023

My account has been suspended for one month, the customer service said it was a bug, but the technical team can't solve it and keep me waiting. I wonder if the technical team is really working.

Date of experience: June 27, 2023
Philippines
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Maria P.
Unfollow Maria P.
Share Review
Report Review

I am just starting working at Upwork and do not have much experience, but I am enjoying it so far. Can recommend to try.

Date of experience: June 26, 2023
California
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Todd C.
Unfollow Todd C.
Share Review
Report Review

I have used Upwrok.com for many years now. Recently, I got into a dispute with a freelancer who overcharged me $700 over a 3-month period. After we got to some resolution of my getting some money back, he was able to remove my honest feedback about the situation. You cannot trust freelancer reviews!

Date of experience: June 12, 2023
Florida
1 review
3 helpful votes
Follow Vincent P.
Unfollow Vincent P.
Share Review
Report Review

This has been the worst experince of any I have had online. Upwork literally allows coders to deliver substandard wok and still get paid. The force you to disute into binding arbitration. We hire a coder Kiran Sutar, to develop our app. We had numerous meeting and he became irate because we keep telling him he was not giving us what we asked for. Found out he really did not know whaat he was doing. Reported this to upwork. The still paid him, we never got any work product or access to it even though the forced us to pay him $4000. The will not protect their customers.

Date of experience: June 2, 2023
GB
8 reviews
2 helpful votes
Follow mischa g.
Unfollow mischa g.
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork is a great tool to make some extra cash on the side. All fees are upfront. Prepare yourself... you need to build your profile and do a handful of jobs before you get a proper rating. So do all sorts of quick and cheap jobs to start with to earn yourself a rating so that you can secure bigger tasks

Date of experience: May 18, 2023
Texas
1 review
1 helpful vote
Follow Lucy M.
Unfollow Lucy M.
Share Review
Report Review

Honest Opinion
May 6, 2023

Upwork is just like any other big business, making money for themselves. Freelancers are obviously there because they need work, yet you have to pay to try to get work. That makes a lot of sense! And I say try because you have to bid on a job you're interested in. The more you pay, the better place in line they put you in to try to get you noticed. On top of that, you have to pay even more money once you get a job. They take a percentage of anything you make. I say anything because you're lucky if you even get a job. Most people that post jobs are either scammers or want to pay you absolutely nothing. If you need help with anything, you can never talk to a live person. And if you're lucky enough to get a response from Upwork via email, their response has nothing to do with your question. So it's absolutely pointless! It's just not worth it. These guys tried to create something new, but it's just a money grab. Stick to temp services.

Date of experience: May 6, 2023
GB
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow R H.
Unfollow R H.
Share Review
Report Review

-It cost roughly £7.50 to apply for a semi popular job (20-50 people applied)
-You have to pay to say you are available for the job (despite having just applied for the job) This price can go up or down depending on "demand."
-The £12 membership only gives you 80 connects for the month. If you bid for a semi popular job you half your connects, whilst having to spend 20-30% of them on saying that you are available for the month.
-On top of this they take 20% of earnings, you also loose out each time over transfer costs.
-I'm pretty sure the clients don't know they take 20% and so continue to low ball you.
-In the automatic Upwork contract you have to give over your files (the files you work on) which is absurd and should be down to you.
-Very little response from Upwork if you need help/ when the community is angry. So many people spoke out about the connects system and they SHUT DOWN those forums. (Example of someone complaining below)

As you can imagine when applying for jobs you apply to multiple, and it simply isn't doable with Upwork. It costs and arm and a leg to apply to two-three jobs with the next person quickly outbidding you so you stand no chance. Joke of a website who don't care about the freelancers who make their site work. I would be fine the 20% off my earnings if they got rid of the connects.

Date of experience: April 12, 2023
North Carolina
1 review
4 helpful votes
Follow William S.
Unfollow William S.
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork Won't Give Me My Earnings
April 11, 2023

Upwork won't give me my earnings. The only way to reach a human is on a subdomain with an HTTP login prompt that belongs in the 1990s, like they're trying to make it more difficult for users to reach any actual support. They provide certification for race and orientation. I didn't know I was joining the Nazi Party. They withhold earnings without warning for no good reason. They are some lying woke thieves at Upwork.

Date of experience: April 11, 2023
Canada
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
Follow Anonymous J.
Unfollow Anonymous J.
Share Review
Report Review

Terrible customer service, absolutely atrocious. I have never in my days delt with a company that charged me for a product and then locked me out of the account without providing the service, saying I must verify my identity, and then after seeing all the information is all that's needed for access. I provided all necessary verification info including license and credit card info and now they are asks for the identity information of other living in my household as well including MY HUSBAND! Have you ever heard of a verification needing to also know other people who live with you? I made an account, bought a service, and in the same day was locked out, yet my bank account is still charged and its 14 days later with the same run around! I said no he will not provide his information as it has nothing to do with MY account, and that I will take a refund and take my services elsewhere. They said they can't give me my money back until THEY 'unsuspend the account," So I said then unsuspend it and give me my refund and then close it. NO RESPONSE. This is crazy, I have filed a dispute with my bank AND am heading over to BBB and will also file with Canadian consumer affairs to do an investigation on this, overarching personal information request!
Date of experience: March 28,2023

Date of experience: April 3, 2023
Washington
1 review
7 helpful votes
Follow Debra W.
Unfollow Debra W.
Share Review
Report Review

Got scammed
March 30, 2023

The person i hired to do accounting did nothing and charged almost $2000. I was able to get some money back, but read the terms, they keep some. It gets worse. The contacts of tenants and rental owners in my program are systematically being scammed using my company information. They are contacting tenants as my company saying they owe rent and to send the money. I really thought it was a great concept, but executed poorly. The person that i hired is still on here and still has two profiles. Hire at you own risk.

Date of experience: March 30, 2023
Spain
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Viacheslav O.
Unfollow Viacheslav O.
Share Review
Report Review

Upwork has worst support system ever.

THREE MONTHS! Have passed since my application.
There is no solution to the problem with my profile.

I write more and more new messages to my ticket, but I only get "the issue was transferred to our Technical team."

I have worked with Upwork for 7 years now and have a great reputation, but now I am not getting new orders at all because my profile is not working.

Be careful when working with this company. You may one day get similar problems with tech support.

Date of experience: March 28, 2023
Kenya
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Florence M.
Unfollow Florence M.
Share Review
Report Review

Academic writer
March 17, 2023

I am an experienced academic writer and can work under no supervision and within the limited time we

Date of experience: March 16, 2023
Arizona
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Violet I.
Unfollow Violet I.
Share Review
Report Review

Worst company ever!
March 5, 2023

Do not sign up with this company on any of your future projects. Poor costumer service and bad support. I hired someone to finish a job for me, the name of this stupid unprofessional person is Sanjivani P. Do not hire this person! She was sitting in a cave in India probably watching YouTube videos how to build a website. Very poor service and no creativity at all. I've been charged $287 for a work that was not done properly and the job I assigned her was not done. She messed up all my previous work and she has no basic idea how to upload photos on a website. Poor communication and bad service. Whatever you say or do Noone will stand up for you. They don't care about their clients, they are trying to get as many hours as they can and as many money from you. Horrible experience!

Date of experience: March 5, 2023

From the business

Find freelancers and freelance jobs on Upwork - the world's largest online workplace where savvy businesses and professional freelancers go to work!


upwork.com
Founded in 2015
Mountain View,, CA, United States