15 Best Freelance Websites

Tired of those mundane 9to5 jobs and are now looking to work on your conditions? Look no further and switch from a regular employee to an independent professional. 

You’ll be amazed to know that freelancing made up 36% of the US workforce in 2020 and the percentage is growing constantly. It’s no wonder that freelancers enjoy the freedom of selecting their projects, clients, and workload, making it an ideal career choice for all. 

While the trend of freelancing jobs has been around us for quite a while, it gets a massive boost during the pandemic when companies had recruited lots of freelancers to cope with work demands.

Long gone are the days when freelancing jobs were available in limited domains as nowadays, the number of available freelance jobs is bigger than ever. 

There are plenty of opportunities for freelancers but they need to find a sure-shot destination to find impactful work. As the trend of free lifestyle grows in popularity, the amount of freelance resources out there has increased as well. 

Have you recently stepped into the world of freelancing and have no idea where to begin? Here’s the comprehensive guide to the 15 best freelance websites where you can find genuine employers and decent pay-outs depending on your skills and experience. Without further ado, let’s get started.  

1. Fiverr – One of the biggest and broadest freelance marketplaces 
2. FlexJobs – Best Site to Find Vetted Remote Job Opportunities
3. Toptal  – The largest and globally-distributed network for freelancers and business owners
4. Upwork – The Largest Network of Independent Professionals
5. Freelancer – The world’s work marketplace
6. Craigslist – The Largest Classified Advertisement Platform
7. Guru – The Cost-Effective Platform
8. People Per Hour – One of the most trusted platform
9. 99designs – A go-to Graphic Design Service
10. We Work Remotely – The Largest Remote Work Community in the World
11. Behance – The world’s largest creative network
12. SimplyHired – A Free Job Board for Employers
13. TaskRabbit – A Platform to Find Skilled Taskers 
14. Dribbble – The world’s leading community for Creatives
15. Authentic Jobs – The Leading Board for Creative Pros

Best Freelance websites to Find Work

1. Fiverr – One of the biggest and broadest freelance marketplaces  

With 3.42 million active clients and counting, Fiverr is one of the most sought-after freelancing websites available on the market. This one-stop marketplace bridges the gap between businesses and freelancers in a range of fields, including marketing, graphic design, website development, writing & translation, and much more to count. 

Fiverr is a business solution designed for teams and is equipped with an easy-to-use interface to offer an intuitive user experience. Its immense popularity and wide reach make this platform one of the most competitive marketplaces. It offers a seamless method for freelance job seekers and business owners to interact with each other. 

Before signing up for this website, one must be aware of certain terms that are unique to this platform. Here, freelancers are known as “sellers”, business owners are called “buyers” and the services offered by freelancers are referred to as “gigs.”

Instead of sending out bids, freelancers here can sign up for free, list their services or skills, and set their price range. Meanwhile, business owners can browse through different categories and connect with freelancers (sellers) who fit their budgets and requirements. 

Whenever an employer hires a freelancer, the website automatically charges their account and puts the money on hold. The system will then take commission charges and send freelancers 80% of the offered fee. 

There are multiple options available on the website to withdraw the payment, including debit card, PayPal, and wire transfer. 

Since Fiverr is one of the competitive freelancer websites, it brings lots of pressure on the freelancers (sellers). Sometimes, they have to lower their prices to sustain the competition, which makes it challenging for them to charge the rates they deserve.  You can also check the Fiverr promo code to get discount for your first purchase.

Additionally, Fiverr’s service fee is way more than other websites available over the web. They charge 20% of the what employer is paying to the freelancer and take a bit longer to get your payouts. 

2. FlexJobs – Best Site to Find Vetted Remote Job Opportunities

Counted amongst the best freelance websites to find remote job opportunities, FlexJobs offer both part-time and full-time jobs. At present, they are offering more than 30k jobs in over 50 categories. From education to training to journalism to writing, this website has it all. 

Flexjobs guarantees that every job or employer listed on the platform is legitimate and 100% genuine. It screens all job openings and filters out fake companies and scams while posting the original ones to ease the freelancers. 

What makes this marketplace stand apart from others is its ad-free experience. unlike other online freelancer websites,  FlexJobs never displays any advertisements on its page, offering a hassle-free experience to the users. 

This website is equipped with highly personalized, advanced search tools, which save lots of time and effort while letting you find your desired job within a few minutes. 

The users can narrow down their search to jobs that match their exact work preferences, rather than scrolling endlessly through irrelevant jobs. Choose amongst the broad categories, apply some filters, and you’ll directly land the job opportunities you are searching for. 

To find or apply for jobs on FlexJobs, freelancers need to sign up for one of their subscription plans. This website offers four pricing plans to the users, namely – 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year. The weekly subscription starts at $9.95, while monthly and yearly are available at $24.95 and $69.95 respectively. 

However, FlexJobs understands the value of money and hence, offers a money-back guarantee if the user ends up feeling unsatisfied in their first 30-days. All their subscription plans offer unlimited access to every job and regular email notifications. 

Users can pay for their subscription either with a prepaid card or PayPal. The best part about this website is the jobs it offers to pay well and are less competitive so you don’t have to lower your price. 

3. Toptal  – The largest and globally-distributed network for freelancers and business owners

A globally-distributed marketplace to leverage world-class talent, Toptal has a broad range of freelancers, ranging from finance consultants, product managers to web designers and developers. It is one of the largest freelancing websites that connects highly qualified freelance industry experts with popular and well-established tech giants. 

It is a massive and ever-growing network comprised of the most thoroughly screened, talented freelancers. This website provides the highest quality of talent for any technology stack or company size. 

This marketplace connects clients with the top 3% of freelancers around the world. Since Toptal boasts big companies and clients, their application screening process for freelancers is time-consuming, extensive, and difficult. 

Owing to this, approving and setting up an account with this website is not a cakewalk for freelancers. Moreover, this website isn’t beginner-friendly and usually doesn’t even approve their application forms. 

Toptal works with top brands of the industry, including Shopify, Airbnb, Microsoft, Motorola, Salesforce, and more. It, therefore, gives freelancers the best opportunity to land lucrative freelance gigs, which is surely not easy to crack. 

This freelancing website also takes a very hands-on approach, matching their clients directly to freelancers from five broad categories. These are – developers, project managers, product managers, finance experts, and designers.  

What adds a competitive edge to this platform is its No-fee concept. This website never charges any fees from freelancers’ earnings, thus giving them a complete amount sent by an employer. 

Toptal boasts a dedicated service for time tracking and invoicing in the name of Top Tracker. It allows freelancers to get the payments in a timely manner via Payoneer, PayPal, or local bank transfer. 

4. Upwork – The Largest Network of Independent Professionals

Trusted by the leading brands and startups, Upwork is one of the largest freelancer websites with over three million jobs posted annually. With numerous active employers and vast work opportunities, this freelancing platform is a great place to dive in and start fetching the desired jobs immediately. 

From short to long-term contracts and from fixed to hourly rates, Upwork has something for every freelancer. This website connects clients and freelancers from across the globe and provides a myriad of categories, ranging from software development, customer service to web design, and accounting. 

Previously known as oDesk, Upwork accommodates both entry-level and expert-level projects. with over 1.5 million clients, this website is likely to have something for you, whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional. 

The process of job finding and job posting on Upwork is hassle-free and straightforward. Clients can choose to post a job and hire talent. Similarly, freelancers can access the job board and offer a service to sell. 

To get started, begin by creating a profile, including all essential details about yourself, your expertise, and your work experience. Keep in mind that your profile is a first and last impression for the client as most employers decide your worth by scanning through your profile. 

This freelancing platform is equipped with a sliding scale, meaning the more you work, the less money you pay to the platform. The commission fee of Upwork starts from 20% for the first bill of $500 and the amount gradually decreases as you receive more money. Freelancers can withdraw money, using direct transfer, PayPal, and wire transfer.

5. Freelancer – The world’s work marketplace

Counted among the best freelance websites, Freelancer covers many different facets of design work, right from logo design, graphics to copy-writing, website development, and everything in between. 

This website supports different languages, including Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, German, and more, thus known to be the world’s work marketplace. Freelancer classifies jobs into further categories, such as Hourly Rate Projects, Fixed Price Projects, Contests, Languages, and Skills. Job seekers can sort the job based on these categories while saving their time and effort. 

Every job listing on the Freelancer website shows an average bid, along with the number of bidders who already have placed their bids for the particular project. It enables bidders to understand what to expect before applying for the job. Freelancer is an ideal option to find remote work, flex jobs, or other freelance gigs. 

You can either sign up as a freelancer or business owner, depending on your purpose. Signing up as a freelancer will require you to fill out a short registration form, asking for detailed information about your educational background, skills, and work experience. 

While freelancers get full payment after completing the project, the platform charges 10% of your total earnings for fixed jobs and contests. The payments and withdrawals can be easily made by using PayPal and wire transfer. 

One thing that job seekers should be aware of before signing up for the Freelancer website is that it never performs any quality check to assure whether the job listing is genuine. It sometimes lends you fake clients and jobs; hence, you should cross-check employers before starting working for them. 

6. Craigslist – The Largest Classified Advertisement Platform

Founded in 1995, Craigslist is the largest global online platform for classified advertisements. This American website connects job providers with potential job seekers across different parts of the world. 

Unlike other advertisement platforms, it offers free services to seekers and providers. Craigslist also hosts a large community section with political forums, local news and events, and discussion forums. It has consistently ranked in the top 20 most visited websites in the US with an estimated 50 billion views per month. 

Referred to the best freelancer websites, Craigslist receives more than 2 million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world. On Craigslist, all negotiations and transactions happen directly between the buyer and the seller. Moreover, this platform is currently available in over 70 countries and supports different languages to facilitate job seekers and providers. 

What makes this job listing website different from others is its geographical location feature, which helps the users search listing more precisely. Anyone from any location can find all the listed across the globe. 

Craigslist mainly works on a peer-to-peer business model. It has a section known as Gigs, where users can post small or unpaid jobs for free. 

7. Guru – The Cost-Effective Platform

Guru is an ideal platform for those freelancers looking for a job who doesn’t have enough money to spend over. This secure and cost-effective platform makes it easy for job seekers to browse the listing and submit quotes to clients. 

Sign by and create your freelancer profile by adding your work experience, skills, and educational qualifications, and the system will then start offering you the job recommendation based on it. 

Job seekers can quickly bid for long or short-term projects, depending on their requirements, and give a fixed price for each job listing. Every freelancer on this website gets a free basic membership with limited benefits. To get full-fledged access, job seekers need to opt for paid membership plans that include more tools and offers. 

Like all other freelancing websites, Guru also offers multiple payment withdrawal methods to receive your earnings, including Wire Transfer and PayPal. What makes it worth trying is their payment protection. The site ensures that freelancers will get timely payments and the transaction is 100% secured with SafePay protection. 

This platform encourages transparency and values trust. Their job listings communicate what a project entails. It has a built-in vetting process for freelancers, which helps them prove their credibility to potential employers. 

Most importantly, invoicing for your work is simple too. This platform offers round-the-clock customer support to resolve all your queries over the phone or by email. They charge the lowest commission fee in the industry, offering you the maximum value at a nominal price. 

8. People Per Hour – One of the most trusted platform

As the name suggests, People Per Hour helps employers find professional freelancers to hire on an hourly basis. Since this platform is equipped with anti-fraud protection, it is touted as one of the reliable freelancing websites to go for. 

Job providers can easily find freelancers to cater to their project needs as this platform boasts millions of active job seekers from different industries. The best part about this website is that it is incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is create an account for free and start setting up a profile. There, you must add your educational qualifications, skill set, work experience, and minimal personal details. 

However, keep in mind that all profiles are first reviewed by moderators before approving them. Once the application gets approved, freelancers will start browsing for jobs in various categories. 

While finding the project, freelancers can send their offers and set the prices based on what they expect or desire. Once they finish all this, they can raise an invoice from their dashboard. 

Like most other freelancer websites, People Per Hour also charges freelancers a service fee per client. For instance, it takes as low as 20% for $350 earnings. Also, the service charges automatically decrease as you earn more. 

9. 99designs – A go-to Graphic Design Service

Are you a freelance graphic designer looking for remote jobs? Turn to 99designs and get plenty of options at your fingertips. This freelance website is specifically tailored to bridge the gap between businesses and designers. 

Moreover, it features various design projects to cater to your needs, ranging from book covers to clothing to logo design to merchandise, and everything in between. Sign up to create a profile, and you will be prompted to enter your work experience. Once you are done with signing up, the curation team of this website will review your application and determine your level. The higher is your level; the more visible is your profile on the website. 

In addition to this, 99designs lets freelance designers find the job of their dreams with much ease and comfort. You can easily sort your favorite projects by selecting styles, design categories, and industries. 

While this platform boasts one of the lowest service fees among other best freelance websites, it will charge the highest introduction fee of $100 when you start working with a new client. 

The service fee of the platform ranges from 5% to 15%, depending on the project. You will get payments via Payoneer or PayPal within three business days. There are two ways to get work on 99designs – either freelancer can work directly with clients on a one-on-one project with payment upfront or compete with other designers to earn money and new clients. 

10. We Work Remotely – The Largest Remote Work Community in the World

Touted as the largest remote work community globally, We Work Remotely is the one-stop destination to find and list incredible remote jobs. This platform boasts around 3 million users a month, along with a multitude of job postings. 

While this freelance website may feel a bit less personal than other design-based platforms, the volume of job postings is enough to satisfy the hype. It charges $299 from companies or employers looking for designers. This high amount is mainly fixed to screen the genuine job providers while weeding out low-quality job leads or fraudsters. 

Some of the high-profile clients of We Work Remotely are Google, InVision, and Amazon, making it a legit platform. What’s adds more value to it is that you don’t have to create a profile. All you have to do is click on a job link, and it will directly take you there. 

This platform is an ideal choice for both part-time and full-time freelancers and offers plenty of jobs that fit their skill set. their advanced search feature is more extensive and diverse, thus helping you find and narrow down the best freelance jobs with much ease and comfort. 

11. Behance – The world’s largest creative network

Listed among the best freelance websites, Behance is a creative-focused social media platform with a robust job board. It is owned by Adobe and offers jobs in various categories, including logo design, illustration, photography, and more. 

This network has 10+ million active members, making it a great place to host and show off your portfolio. It highly promotes networking and lets you make new connections, which in turn leads to more work opportunities. 

Behance is a go-to platform for anyone looking for creative freelancers. The network features so much great work to the skillful people. You can easily scroll through hundreds of available opportunities or use the search filter to put in a specific keyword. You have to select “Freelance”, enter the location and creative category, and get a never-ending list of job opportunities. 

While creating a Behance profile, you have to upload your project samples which then put you in front of an audience of like-minded people. You’ll get even more positive exposure if your work earns a coveted spot. 

In addition to a freelancer website, Behance also works as a social media network to connect with other designers. Expand your list by following other creative people and get a chance to discover more work opportunities. 

It features a job list, where every freelancer will get a personalized job recommendation according to their skill-sets and category, making it simpler to find freelance work that matches one’s expertise. 

12. SimplyHired – A Free Job Board for Employers

Are you still looking for the best freelancer websites to find work? Turn to SimplyHired and open the world of opportunities for yourself. It comes with many great resources that go beyond a simple freelance job board.

It is a one-stop destination where employers can post a job for free. SimplyHired also collects job offers from all over the internet onto one page to facilitate the users. The site features a clean and straightforward user interface, making it easy to browse jobs by category. 

It offers freelance opportunities in various fields, including finance and marketing. To find a specific job, you have to fill out the search box with related keywords and narrow the results by entering your city, state, or ZIP code. 

Moreover, SimplyHired even has a free online resume builder, so you can easily use it to revamp your resume. Since the site doesn’t charge anything for job postings, it opens a floodgate of job opportunities. 

While the portal offers plenty of job opportunities, it also features spam jobs or fraudsters, so freelancers must beware of them. Job seekers are recommended to access the company page first to learn more about their salary overview, list of benefits offered, and reviews submitted by honest employees before starting working with them. 

People can easily browse through SimplyHired without a profile. However, signing up for an account will give you more access to various job-related tools, including salary estimator, resume builder, etc. 

13. TaskRabbit – A Platform to Find Skilled Taskers 

Unlike other freelancing websites listed above, TaskRabbit specializes in local freelance jobs. This marketplace is mainly designed to connect freelance workers with people in the same area who need help in odd jobs, like grocery shopping, furniture assembling, and more. 

TaskRabbit offers a list of simple errands, like lighting installation, household chores, and other various day-to-day tasks. All you have to make is the account, choose your area and category, and set an hourly rate to get started. 

TaskRabbit team reviews every application and runs a background check to ensure that a job seeker is genuine with a clean background. Also, once a profile is approved, the applicants have to pay $25 to the platform to get listed. After that, they can start discovering jobs and managing work through the mobile application. 

Whenever freelancers complete a job or task, they send an invoice for hours worked, and the client directly deposits money to the registered bank account. It only charges service fees from clients, so freelancers will get a total amount of the rate they charge. 

The simple user interface and physical job opportunities make this platform a perfect destination for anyone who wants to take on occasional freelance gigs in their area. 

14. Dribbble – The world’s leading community for Creatives

The world’s leading platform for creative talents, Dribble allows like-minded people to meet, connect, and interact with each other. This network is used by designers and artists to build portfolios and promote their brands. 

Freelance designers, illustrators, and more can easily display and promote their work to gain exposure to new job opportunities. The more people like your portfolio, the more your work is boosted over others. 

Moreover, what makes this platform worth considering is its ease of use. The job board is pretty simple, offering helpful search filters to find jobs that meet your criteria. This platform can filter the job search by project budget, ensuring you don’t waste time on gigs beneath your hourly rate. 

You simply need to create a work portfolio on the website, upload your designs, and expand your chances of getting hired. Another way to find job opportunities is to open the job board on your browser. However, you should remember that access to freelance job lists is limited to premium users. 

The premium version of Dribble is available from $5 – $15/ month. A pro user can easily upload videos and multi-shot images to their profile. Moreover, a premium account will also get priority placement on the hiring search listings. 

15. Authentic Jobs – The Leading Board for Creative Pros

Let’s wrap up the list of the best freelance websites with yet another popular platform, namely Authentic Jobs. It is a leading job board for soft designers, creatives, and software developers and bridges the gap between employers and job seekers. 

The best thing about this freelancer website is that you can easily look for freelance gigs, part-time, full-time, and internships, depending on your requirement. Moreover, this platform is loaded with tons of jobs opportunities, including UI/ UX jobs, development jobs, digital marketing options, and more. 

Additionally, this marketplace features an easy-to-use interface and can be easily accessed by beginners without undergoing any tutorial or anything. However, you must remember that job packages are subscription-based and can be renewed every 30 days. Authentic Jobs offers two types of job listings – Standard ($149/ month) and Featured ($199/ month).

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is freelancing?

Freelancing referred to the process of working alone as an independent company rather than being employed by someone else. Freelancers are hired by employers on a part-time or full-time basis, depending on their requirements. 

Since freelancers are self-employed individuals, they make direct contact with clients to discuss hiring terms and conditions while determining their own service rate. Moreover, freelancers also don’t receive the compensation and benefits of full-time employees. 

2. How to become a freelancer?

The simple pathway to becoming a freelancer is mentioned here.

• Understand your skills and talent to define your service and offering. 
• Find your target audience that will be a good fit for your service. 
• Create a pricing structure and set your price. 
• Develop your portfolio with past jobs highlighting your best work related to your service offering. 
• Make a great proposal while taking that extra up-front time to demonstrate your sincerity and professionalism. 
• Create a relationship with your client. 
• Be flexible and ready to upgrade your skills. 

3. What are the best freelance jobs?

While most jobs are available for freelancing, we have curated the eight best, in-demand, high-paying freelance jobs here. 

• Web Designer or Developer
• Graphic designer
• Virtual Assistant
• Content Writer and Editor
• Accountant or Financial Consultant
• Social Media Specialist
• App Developer
• Data Entry Specialist 

4. How to find freelance work?

Since freelancing opportunities is increasing day-by-day, finding such jobs isn’t as difficult as it may seem. All you have to do is find the best freelance websites, create your profile, enter your work experience and skills, upload your portfolio (in the case of graphic designers), and start browsing the jobs. 

Once your find the project you are looking for, bid for the same and wait for the client’s response. Make sure to check whether the client is reliable or a fraudster by visiting his profile and history. 

5. What are freelancing websites?

Freelancing websites, as the name implies, are the marketplaces or job boards where employers post jobs for different categories. Such portals are mainly created to bridge the gap between job providers and job seekers. 

Freelancers can find both part-time and full-time work opportunities on this platform. There are so many job boards designed for freelancers to let them find new jobs in just a few clicks. 

So, in the nutshell, Freelancer websites are networks where talented job seekers find an ideal work opportunity for them and earn money. These platforms are very simple to browse and find jobs that match your skills.

6. What are the best freelance websites for beginners?

While the internet is packed with tons of freelancer websites, not all of them work best for you. Some are created for professional and experienced job seekers while others are created to cater to beginners and less experienced persons. 

Here’s a quick rundown of the best beginner-friendly freelance websites. 

• Toptal
• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Fiverr
• Guru

7. What is the best way to find freelancers?

The best and easiest way to find freelancers is to start with the people you know and see if they have any recommendations. You can also join networking groups to find the best freelancer workers. Moreover, if you already work with freelancers, you can ask them if they know other people who meet your requirements. 

However, if all these things don’t work or don’t deliver the desired results, join the best freelance websites, post a job listing, and find a skillful person according to your project need and budget.  

Summary 

That’s all about the list of the best freelance websites to find a job online in 2022. We hope our in-depth guide will help you make the most appropriate choice. The days are long gone when finding freelance work used to be a challenging task as now is the time when you can easily connect with clients seeking your services at the desired rate. 

All you have to do is create your profile on any of the freelancer websites and start looking for the job of your dreams. However, remember that fraudsters and spammers are present everywhere; hence you should be aware of them. 

Do not forget to double-check each of the freelancer websites and the employer before signing up for a contract or project. Consider the service fee, payment methods, and withdrawal system before creating your profile on the portal. 

So, look no further and pick any of the websites listed above to kick start your freelancing career right away.