Upwork vs. PeoplePerHour: A Guide for Indian Freelancers in 2021
With everything getting digitalized, freelance platforms are becoming the best source of earning. It does not require you to approach an office or special workplace. You can work from a remote area or from the comfort of your home as well. Today, the scenario is such that online business is booming extensively. Considering the need, freelancing platforms such as Upwork and PeoplePerHour are becoming the talk of the town. Both these have their significance and offer high-end features. Apart from this, you can find a variety of job opportunities that range from a freelancer writer to website designer, affiliate marketer, video editor, web developer, musician, and many more.
Understanding Upwork and PeoplePerHour:
Upwork is an online option for expert freelancers in the area of graphic design, writing, and web development. Through this website, professionals can find a suitable project, stay connected with their clients, and get paid for the work delivered. Be it a newbie or an experienced freelancer, Upwork helps in getting the best of remote jobs, and you can make money without any difficulty. Indeed, the new workers tend to work at a lower rate. Also, Upwork has a variety of job opportunities that pay different prices. So, you must choose the gigs wisely that suit your needs.
As a qualitative freelance work provider, PeoplePerHour is a trustworthy website that allows selecting distant outsourcers and experts in a specified area. Indeed, contractors can be hired that makes this website an ideal source of some extra income. The applicant can choose from an array of job categories suiting their skill level. Being known as the longest operating freelancing service provider in the United Kingdom, the platform was developed to link freelancers with organizations looking for professional assistance.
Setting Up an Upwork Account:
1. First of all, you must make a profile on Upwork. This requires you to fill the form with qualifications, job type, expert area, detailed background, past experience, and hours to be devoted for work in a week.
2. After this, you can select from the membership plans that come with varied features. The basic plan at Upwork involves payment security for hourly as well as project-based payments. Though, this basic plan is free; freelancers are required to pay 0.15 dollars to connect with every customer.
3. Further, you have to set a price as per your choice. But, do remember that Upwork will charge 20 percent of your earning up to 500 dollars from a client. As the payment crosses this mark, the percent lowers to 10 percent. It is not deducted from the consolidated amount; rather, deductions are made from the project submitted.
4. You can select from the wide range of projects available on the Upwork platform. This can range from hourly-based ones to assignment-based as well.
5. When it comes to the matter of payment, the freelancers get paid via PayPal, wire transfer, and direct deposit. All the projects are paid on weekly basis into your account on these payment platforms.
Features of Upwork:
· Plus Membership:
1. Verified Freelance History
2. High-end Customer Support
3. Built-in Collaboration Features
4. Proper Account Management
5. Job Posting Assistance
· Enterprise Membership:
1. Verified Freelance History
2. High-end Customer Support
3. Built-in Collaboration Features
4. Proper Account Management
5. Customized Job Posting Support
6. Customized Team Reporting and Assignment Tracking
7. Associated Billing and Invoicing
8. Worker Ordering Defiance Services
9. Project-based Solutions
10. Steadfast Account Executive
11. Custom Configurable Contractual and On-boarding Development
How Peopleperhour Works?
When it comes to the matter of Peopleperhour’s functional prospects, organizations tend to post projects. Further to this, the freelancers draft proposals and send them to apply for the projects. After this, the organizations select the most suitable freelancer as per their need. You can choose to apply from 15 job categories such as IT, SEO, marketing, translation, video, social media, writing, design, tutorials, administration, and many more.
To stay in communication, the website’s messaging feature can be used. The best thing about this website is that people or customers start giving reviews of your work after getting satisfied. This adds to your reputation, which may enable you to get increased rates in the future. Apart from this, freelancers can also opt for endorsing from non-PPH clients. It will add credibility to the account of freelancers as well.
Getting Started on Peopleperhour:
1. At first, you are required to make an account that needs to be approved by Peopleperhour. As the profile gets approved, add some professional expertise details, work samples, and even the preferred per-hour rate.
2. Further to this, look out for projects that suit your skillset and experience. Though, Peopleperhour does this on a quick basis; but, you can find yourself too and get notified for new jobs.
3. As you get the preferred job, you can apply by sending a qualitative proposal. Make the proposal engaging; so that the client shows a positive response. On the other hand, Peopleperhour allows you to make general proposals about professional services on the website. In this way, the clients will approach you.
- After the proposal is accepted and the rates are agreed upon, your client will make a deposit in a safe account. This is done to protect organizations and freelancers at the time of doing business. In this matter, the accounts department of Peopleperhour manages the entire invoicing and payment procedure. As the client authorizes the payment, it gets transferred to your Peopleperhour account. You must transfer the PPH account money to your bank within 60 days; else fee of about 6 pounds is charged. The bank transfers take about three days.
- It should be noted that a fee of 20 percent is charged on a per-project basis that bills around 250 pounds. As the sales increase over 250 pounds till 5000 pounds, the fee reduces to 7.5 percent and 3.5 percent on the sales of more than 5000 pounds. Apart from this, you are required to pay a small fee of about 2.5 pounds for every invoice generated.
- Another thing to be noted is that you will be charged a fee of about 6 pounds for 5 more proposals on crossing 15 free proposals in a month. If you cross 10 more proposals; then, a fee of 9 pounds is charged. Also, 15 pounds for 25 more proposals and 20 pounds for 50 more projects.
Features on Peopleperhour:
1. Job Posting without Any Cost
2. Post Contest without Any Cost
3. Access to Local and Global Freelance Directory
4. Fixed Price for Freelancers
5. Excellent Communication
6. High-end File Sharing
7. Methodical Transferring of Funds
8. Tracking Project’s Progress
9. Qualitative Account Management
10. Proper Invoicing
11. Maintaining History
12. Authenticated Seller Ratings
Comparison between Upwork and Peopleperhour:
With so many freelancing platforms available on the internet, Upwork and Peopleperhour have managed to extensive recognition. Both of them charge a fee for getting projects through their platform. But, it should be noted that Upwork has a basic plan, which is free of cost and comes with limited features as compared to the paid plans. On the other hand, Peopleperhour offers 15 free client proposals every month. Though, they charge a fee after crossing the bar. Another thing that distinguishes Peopleperhour from Upwork is location-specific accessibility, which enables the clients to hire expert professionals from their local region. This ensures easy payment processing too. Moreover, it comes with long-term job opportunities for freelancers.
The factor that makes Peopleperhour more reliable than Upwork is that it offers better-paying jobs. This does not mean that Upwork is not worthy of looking for freelancing jobs. An aspect that gives Upwork a little edge over Peopleperhour is that it has more job categories. Such an opportunity will enable more freelancers to get jobs than the restricted categories in Peopleperhour. Still, the issue with Upwork is that it has a higher service fee that will allow you to earn a little less than the Peopleperhour platform. Moreover, Peopleperhour has a smart artificial intelligence system that matches your skills to the job requirements on its own. It reduces the competition on this platform as well.
The matter with Peopleperhour is that your profile will only get accepted on matching the skills; otherwise, you will not be accepted on this platform. On the other hand, Upwork accepts almost all the registrations that enable more people to find a job with a bit less experience. But, this increases the competition as well. It is because proposals with less charge are more likely to get accepted by clients with a limited budget. This can leave you in utter dismay and disappointment too. Besides this, Upwork gives you mobile access that might not be possible in the Peopleperhour. So, you are not required to sit for applying on the laptop. Both freelancing platforms have their pros and cons that should be measured before making an account. It will help you in earning better as a freelancer.