Introduction
Freelancing websites are a great way to support the growth of your business. That's why we’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of all the best freelancing sites out there. Keep reading for more information about how freelancing sites work and where you can find the best freelance digital marketing talent.
What is a freelancing site?
Freelance websites help companies of all sizes find and connect with independent workers to support specialist short-term and long-term projects. Freelance platforms help businesses, especially start ups, outsource work on projects that require specific skill sets, giving permanent members of staff time to focus on other business requirements.
Some freelancer websites tend to focus on creating a marketplace for freelancers with specific skills such as graphic design or development. While others look to bring together a wide range of subject matter experts in one place. Although freelance platforms are a great way to source talent, they’re not the right solution for all businesses and some may choose to use a recruitment agency or staffing agency instead.
How do freelancing sites work?
Freelance sites work in two ways. They create unique pools of talent for companies to browse and select candidates based on their skills and experience. Or they allow companies to create job posts to attract suitable freelancers.
Related: How to Hire Freelancers
Best Freelancing Sites for Digital Talent
Passionfruit
Passionfruit matches businesses with freelance marketing experts in just 72 hours, saving high-growth startups time. Unlike competitor sites Passionfruit screens freelancers based on their skills, experience and professionalism, conducting video interviews and in-depth reviews of previous work. From here freelancers are invited to take part in a written challenge to assess their technical knowledge and share references from previous employees.
To get started all business owners need to do is speak to a member of the Passionfruit team and outline their scope of work. The Passionfruit team will then identify the right freelancer for the job and introduce you over a video call. Providing everything goes well, project managers are then encouraged to kick-off the project and manage the freelancer with ongoing support from Passionfruit throughout the project lifecycle.
"By removing the friction that exists (business development, financial security etc.) and providing a single operating system for independent workers to start, sell, market and manage their professional services, we are changing the face of freelance.” -Raffi Salama, Co-Founder of Passionfruit
Passionfruit is known for matchmaking start-ups with top-quality freelance marketing talent, ensuring every specialist is well-placed to deliver the work they set. Passionfruit also takes care of the electronic payment process, simplifying the admin for busy business owners, making it easier than ever to find and manage successful freelancers. Passionfruit ensures you’re matched with the right freelancing talent, meaning less stress and less risk of choosing the wrong person.
Deazy
Unlike Passionfruit which is known for matching start-ups with freelance marketing professionals, Deazy is on a mission to make hiring development talent simpler than ever. Deazy recognises that no two development teams are the same and so offers businesses smart, flexible and scalable ways to engage with stellar developers.
Deazy is easy to use, all business owners need to do is brief the Deazy team about their project and complete a quick briefing form. Once the Deazy team has all the necessary information, they’ll create and share potential candidates capable of delivering the task in hand, helping to save employers time on admin by finding you the perfect team.
The service is easy to use and offers businesses access to top-quality, vetted freelance development talent. To add to that one of the big bonuses to using Deazy is that their experienced team oversees the delivery of each project ensuring everything runs smoothly - no matter how big or small.
Although, Deazy is the perfect option for businesses looking to hire developers. The one downside for businesses looking to iterate fast is that it can take up to two weeks to screen and hire a developer.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a good freelancing platform for business owners looking for support with a wide variety of business requirements including website design, content writing, app design, video and animation. Originally known for connecting creative freelancers with business owners to complete quick projects for five dollars, it has grown to become a go-to platform for business owners looking for immediate support with small projects. It’s free to join and offers access to a huge database of freelance talent - over three million businesses have used the platform since its inception in 2010, including Facebook and Netflix.
While diversity of talent is one of the many benefits to using Fiverr. It is also cheaper and simple to use. Freelancers or ‘sellers’ as they are known on the platform simply sign up for free, list their ‘gig’ (services) and set their price. Leaving buyers (businesses) free to purchase the services that work best for them without requiring freelancers to send bids or pitch for the work. As a business owner you also have the option to upgrade your membership to one that offers verified freelancers, hand-picked talent matching, and a dashboard to manage your projects.
Another benefit to using Fiverr for start-ups is that it has a built in payment platform, meaning business owners and project managers don’t need to worry about processing invoices on top of their daily to-do-list. It’s so efficient that as soon as a buyer purchases a gig, Fiverr automatically withdraws the money from their account and puts the money on hold, meaning you no longer have to worry about it. Once the work is complete the seller can choose from three different ways to withdraw the funds (debit-card, PayPal or wire transfer). Buyers and sellers also benefit from protected payments and 24-hour customer support.
Fiverr is a great option for businesses looking to hire freelance talent for less. That said, Fiverr does not screen freelancers who use the site meaning it might take time to find a reliable match. Free listings also mean Fiverr's service fees are a little higher as the platform takes 20% commission for every transaction.
Upwork
Upwork is one of the largest freelancing platforms in the world. It provides business owners with access to subject matter experts in a wide range of disciplines from website design to customer service, accounting and social media management.
There are several ways to use the website. You can choose to share a job post and wait for freelancers to bid for the project, allowing you to choose the best candidate for the job or buy a predefined service from an Upwork freelancer by searching the Project Catalogue. One of the best things about Upwork is that it verifies freelancers meaning you can be confident you’re hiring a capable and honest individual. You can also request examples of a freelancer's work before agreeing to work with them - something we would always recommend before hiring freelance talent.
The platform also makes it easy for business owners and freelancers to chat thanks to text and video messaging. Like Fiverr, business owners have the option to upgrade their membership to gain access to Upwork's Talent Scout feature which matches projects with top-quality freelancers. While the benefits, like access to a wide range of talent, certainly outweigh the cons, it is worth remembering that Upwork charges a service fee and unlike Passionfruit, does not screen freelancers who use the site. Due to the vast number of people on Upwork the hiring process can also take longer than on other platforms.
Onlinejobs.ph
Onlinejobs.ph is the largest online marketplaces for virtual assistants from the Philippines. While the freelance site is known primarily as a go-to site for virtual assistants, a lot of the freelancers connected with the site also support start-ups with marketing jobs like SEO, graphic design, copy writing and social media management. There are currently over 250,000 profiles on Onlinejobs.ph, with an estimated 10,000 people joining every month.
One of the many benefits of Onlinejobs.ph is that you are able to recruit talent on your terms. That means there are no ongoing commitments or fees, meaning you can communicate, hire and pay workers directly. To get started business owners must create an account and post a job on Onlinejobs.ph job board. Onlinejobs.ph advanced algorithm will then match job posts with the strongest freelance candidates. It is then up to business owners to interview and recruit the candidates best suited to complete the required job.
While Onlinejobs.ph matches business owners with extremely capable remote workers in the Philippines, depending on your location the time difference may make it harder to manage talent remotely. That means that while the work is likely to be executed to a high standard there is little window to connect in real time and discuss the project/ task in depth. To add to this, business owners who use Onlinejobs.ph also have to screen every candidate independently of the platform. And, although there are several tools available to make this easy, it takes time which most high-growth startups cannot spare.
Design Pickle
Design Pickle is an easy to use subscription platform that connects businesses with creative professionals including expert graphic designers, illustrators and animators. Built to simplify the creative process, Design Pickle makes graphic design more affordable and accessible, allowing business owners to manage the design process from start to finish in one place.
For a monthly fee of $499, business owners can unlock access to freelance designers and illustrators to support everything from infographics, email templates and social media graphics. For an increased fee of $995 business owners can unlock Graphics Pro allowing them to engage with graphic designers, illustrators and presentation designers. And, for $1,695 businesses can access graphic designers, illustrators, presentation designers and video animators via Graphics Premium. Included in each plan are unlimited revisions, meaning employers will always be 100% satisfied with the end design.
To get started all business owners need to do is submit their scope of work and wait for a designer to share their work - most designers take between 1-3 days to complete any one task depending on the level of membership. With over 500+ creatives associated with the site, the website is well equipped to deal with every kind of graphic design request.
One of the downsides of using Design Pickle is that you need to pay more to ensure strong communication with the designers you choose to work with as Pro and Premium users can contact their designers in real time through Slack or connect with an onboarding manager at any time. Businesses who choose to use the basic plan can only chat to their designer through the in-app chat.
Webflow Experts
Webflow Experts is a freelance platform dedicated to matching business with talented and experienced freelance developers who know Webflow inside and out. Webflow experts are officially verified and endorsed by Webflow, making it the best place to find help on your next Webflow project.
The process of finding a service provider on Webflow Experts is very user-friendly. The first thing you have to do is decide which of the two main categories of partner you’re looking for. A Professional Partner or Enterprise Partner. Professional Partners are freelancers, consultants, and digital studios providing services to mid-market customers, and Enterprise Partners are full-service digital agencies providing services to large customers. The former will build your entire website for you, no problem. But the latter will provide a service that incorporates building a Webflow website, but goes potentially far beyond that.
Once you have made this decision you’re free to get started. To hire a webflow expert, businesses either wait to be matched with qualified freelancers or browse the experts directory. While Webflow Experts is great for connecting businesses with remote technical talent, the screening process can take longer than other platforms.
Lemon.io
Lemon.io helps start-ups find and hire skilled developers without squandering time and money - all in just 48 hours. All business owners need to do is explain their business needs to the experts at Lemon.io and wait to be matched with the perfect developer. From here business leaders and product managers are free to collaborate and bring to life the best interaction of their product to date.
Ahead of being matched with a start-up, each developer who applies to be a part of Lemon.io must share their CV for review as this helps to determine whether or not applicants have the right skills to deliver the tasks in hand. All successful applicants must then undergo a video chemistry meeting to determine their soft skills and language proficiency, ensuring they are strong communicators, bursting with a can-do attitude. And, lastly, candidates must complete a task that is then reviewed by highly-skilled developers to ensure they have the right technical skills to succeed.
One of the great things about Lemon.io is business leaders/ project managers get a weekly update on project milestones conquered by the developer they hired. They’ll also receive around the clock support from the Lemon.io team, ensuring their project remains on track and destined for greatness.
Conclusion
Freelance websites create amazing freelance marketplaces where business owners can find verified and expert talent capable of delivering specific projects. While each online hiring platform discussed above offers access to top-notch talent, it is worth taking the time to decide what platform best suits you in terms of its offering. Are you looking to hire a freelance product designer? If so, Passionfruit might be a better solution for you than Upwork or Fiverr as it specialises in matching businesses with experienced product designers, quickly. Good luck!
“Agencies can be scary and not the right fit for startups, especially with their crazy fees. Passionfruit is the total opposite. As a startup they understand. You trust them to put forward the best recommendations and it’s really great being able to try something without committing long-term.
“Working with Passionfruit has been incredibly easy. The process is exactly how you want things to be - no chasing, super efficient and connecting us with high-quality people that are incredibly effective.” -Richard Murray, Co-Founder and CEO, ORCA
