Wondering which freeancing platform you should choose to hire freelancers to work on your business projects? This comparison article will go through the worlds most popular freelancing platforms – Fiverr, and Freelancer.
Shortly About The Platforms:
Fiverr:
Fiverr was launched in February 2010, where freelancers sell services, referred to as ‘gigs’.
Fiverr used to be known for selling all gigs for $5, however over time the services it offers has evolved and it now provides a variety of different gigs at different price levels.
From March 2019 to March 2020, 2.5 million customers bought services from freelancers across 160 countries, with a million transactions carried out every month.
Pros:
– Fixed-price model: The price you see is the price you pay
– Easy to search for the service you need
Cons:
– Fixed-price model: The price you see is the price you pay
– Easy to search for the service you need
Freelancer:
Freelancer was founded in 2009 in Australia, where freelancers from 247 countries come together to bid on projects to mostly work for the hourly rates. The site has 21 million buyers and sellers registered worldwide.
Pros:
– Can explicitly determine what you need and what you are willing to pay
– Good for building longer-term relationships with sellers
Cons:
– Can take longer to get up and running
– Quality of freelancers can vary
– Some freelancers are excluded from the bidding process
How Fiverr & Freelancer Work?
Fiverr:
Fiverr is slightly different to your standard freelancing portal in that rather than the client requesting what they want and inviting freelancers to bid, it acts as a directory for sellers.
Fiverr works in a simple way – buyers search for what they want and can choose from a vast collection of sellers, sorted by price and star rating.
Sellers provide services, or ‘gigs’ on their page and list what they offer as part of the gig, and how much they charge.
Freelancer:
Freelancer is more of a classic freelancing portal. Clients can post their projects and invite freelancers to bid, or search freelancer profiles and make an offer to freelancers that suit their requirements.
Once you have awarded a project to a freelancer, you can communicate through the website to discuss the project, set expectations and collaborate together.
Fiverr vs Freelancer: User experience
It is free to set up a client account on both sites, and both Freelancer and Fiverr have a mobile app where you can place orders and talk to your freelancers when you are on the go. However, the user experience on both platforms is quite different:
Fiverr:
Fiverr has a very straightforward user experience. Once you have set up your buyer’s account, you can start searching for the service you want to buy. This can be done either by browsing the Fiverr directory or by using the search bar to find the exact service you want.
Sellers are encouraged to optimize their gigs for SEO, so all you need to do is search and go!
Once you have chosen your category, you can drill down by budget, when you need the project completed by and the seller’s level. Sellers on Fiverr are ranked by zero level, level one, level two and pro depending on their seniority on the site, star rating and amount of money earned on the site.
You can also sort by which sellers are online and which are local to you.
When you have found your gig of choice you can access the seller’s profile and see their ratings from other buyers, the prices they charge and other gigs they sell.
Freelancer:
One of the interesting things about the Freelancer site is it has different domains wherever you are in the world, from .com to .co.uk. This helps localise your experience a little bit more than Fiverr does.
When you have set up your account, you can search the freelancer directory to find a freelancer to work with, searching by hourly rate charged and skillset. Like Fiverr you can find freelancers local to you as well as those who are currently online. All you need to do is click the ‘hire me’ button and send your Freelancer of choice a message.
Alternatively if you know what you want you can post a project, detailing what you are after, timescales and your proposed budget.
A noteworthy feature on Freelance is you can set up ‘contests’ where you establish a brief and invite freelancers to enter. For example, if you want content for your website creating, you can ask freelancers to submit a short piece of writing to help you chose who to work with.
It’s a reasonably clear system, but with Fiverr you can buy a service in minutes. In contrast, with Freelancer, it takes a little longer, especially if you don’t know whether to hire a freelancer direct or encourage them to come to you.
Fiverr vs Freelancer: Hiring process
When you are hiring a freelancer, you want to hire the best quality freelancer you can afford.
Both platforms take the hiring process seriously, encouraging freelancers to prove their skills with exams, letting them supply a portfolio as well as making them provide identification, so you can be confident you are working with a real person.
If things don’t go as planned, both platforms have a dispute resolution process, so you are covered if the service promised is not as delivered.
Fiverr:
To hire a freelancer on Fiverr, you can do this one of two ways.
You can go onto their gig page and purchase from there. For each gig, sellers can offer a variety of differently priced packages. For example, a content writer may offer a 500-word, 1,000-word and 1,500-word package. All you need to do is click the green buy button, give the seller more information about what you want, and you’re set!
Some freelancers are open to custom offers. This means you can privately message them if you want something specific. The seller will respond and put together a custom offer for you if they can help.
Once the project is complete, you can rate the seller for their service and provide a comment. This will appear on their gig page for other buyers to see.
Freelancer:
With Freelancer, you can either search for a freelancer or encourage them to come to you by creating a project. With this you state what you want, the timescale you need it by and the price you are willing to pay (either an hourly rate or a total project cost)
Freelancers can then bid to apply for your project, by telling you a little bit about themselves, providing relevant examples of their portfolio and stating how much they are willing to work for. You can then choose who you want to work with and award the project to them.
One thing some buyers on Freelancer have commented on; they often find some freelancers apply for as many projects as they can, copying and pasting a boilerplate response. This may mean you spend a lot of time trawling through irrelevant applications before you find the right Freelancer for your needs.
One other critique of Freelancer is the platform gives preference to users who pay more to subscribe to the service. For example, freelancers on the intro or basic package cannot bid on high-value projects. This could exclude a lot of talented freelancers from your bid.
Fiverr vs Freelancer: Fees and charges
Although it is free to set up an account on both sites, there are fees in place on both Fiverr and Freelancer. These vary depending on the size and value of the project.
Both sites offer a useful feature; ‘milestone’ payments where you can pay for your project in chunks, ideal for when for ensuring high-quality on larger projects.
On both portals, you pay the full amount of the service when you order, but the money is only released once the project is delivered.
Fiverr:
Sellers set their own prices on Fiverr, which can be anything from $5 to $50,000. If you are happy with the work received, you can tip your seller a nominal amount.
As a buyer, you are charged a small service fee by Fiverr for administrative costs. This is $2 on services up to $40 and 5% of the total on services over $40.
Bear in mind once a freelancer has delivered a project on Fiverr, they automatically receive payment within 72 hours unless you request revisions or ask for a refund.
Freelancer:
It is free to post a project, receive bids from freelancers and discuss project requirements.
If you award a project to a freelancer, you are charged an introduction fee. For fixed projects, this is 3% of the cost of the project. For hourly projects, this is 3% of all payments you make to the Freelancer.
Additional fees may also apply if you want to add extra services to your project, for example, if you want your Freelancer to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Final Words:
Several years ago, Freelancer offered a wide range of services Fiverr didn’t, such as the ability to pay by milestones and search for local sellers. However, Fiverr has expanded the range of services it offers over the years, making it a more attractive and reliable choice for clients.
If you have a bespoke project you would like more control over; Freelancer could be a good choice for you.
However, we prefer Fiverr as a freelancer system as the user interface makes it easy to find the service you need at a glance, and the itemized pricing means you know precisely what you are paying for before you commit.
If you are looking for something more bespoke, you can contact the seller of your choice and see if they would be willing to put a custom order together for you.