When you have a job to be done, and you do not want to hire a full-time employee or schedule interviews for the right talent, freelancing portals and apps are a saviour. Freelancing websites are a fantastic marketplace where you can find a lot of experts to do your job as a freelancer. There are many platforms for freelancing, such as Upwork, Freelancer.com, Guru, Fiverr, etc., and every platform has its own pros and cons. So, as a newbie, you might get confused, which platform is suitable for your need. In this article, I will discuss the two most popular freelancing portals Upwork and Guru and the differences between them.
Upwork Introduction
Upwork is the most popular freelancing platform, which has many freelancers and many jobs available on the portal. It is the best online market for freelance jobs. This platform has a large number of employers and job hunters, making it the most significant online workplace site. Work is piling up really fast, and fortunately, there is a place that makes it easy to connect with top freelancers ready to lend a hand. Upwork is where you will find skilled contractors delivering great work and maximum value. They range from web and mobile developers to graphic designers, writers, customer support, and more.
Here is how Upwork works. First, find your freelancer by posting a job on Upwork, it’s fast and straightforward. Then you tell Upwork about your project and what skills you need and add your budget and deadlines. Right away, Upwork will send you a shortlist of people who they think best match your needs, and the freelancers will begin bidding on your job. Then there are your choices by browsing freelancer profile pages to compare ratings, reviews, portfolios, and previous job experience. Next, you are ready to hire and chat with finalists, pick your favourite freelancer candidate. Before the work begins, you need to agree on scope, timelines, and price.
Upwork gives you multiple payment options, you can hire by the hour or pay a fixed price for the entire job. Once this is done, now you are ready to work on the project. Upwork gives you everything you need to chat, share files, and provide feedback in real-time from your desktop or on the go. Once the job is finished, you pay through Upwork payment protection insurance, and invoices are submitted on Upwork, and you can pay with a credit card, PayPal, or bank account. Upwork collects a small fee and passes the rest onto the freelancer. So that is how Upwork works overall.
Below are the main Features of Upwork:
- Job Posting
- Candidates Shortlist
- Proposal Reviewing
- Work Diary
- Chat Scheduling
- Feedback Sharing
- Global Payments
- Needs Analysis
- Send & Receive Files
- Profile Browsing
- Mobile Access
- Invoicing & Reporting
Guru Introduction
Guru.com was founded in 1998 and is the oldest marketplace that connect freelancing talent with individuals and businesses. Today it has a global network of more than 3 million freelancers who can take up high-quality jobs at affordable prices.
On Guru, you can create agreements for your jobs, define tasks and milestones for the freelancers, and also options to communicate and share files. Therefore, this platform is very suitable for small and middle-sized businesses with job requirements related to creating applications, content writing, building a website, etc.
The payment on Guru happens only when the freelancer has completed the job given by the employer. The platform offers multiple payment methods such as PayPal, credit card, E-check, or direct wire transfer. As a client, you need to deposit on SafePay with the minimum balance before you start working. Another option n which you can opt for is AutoPay, where the payments are released automatically after you finish the assignment.
Guru.com also has an enterprise-level solution that can be used by enterprise companies that require a bigger group of talents for a bigger group of job requirements. This is one of the reasons why many big organizations prefer Guru to identify a group of talent on the fly. And on top of that, the organizations who opt for Guru’s enterprise-level solution
get dedicated representatives from guru.com to provide personalized service.
Below are the main features of Guru.com:
- SafePay & PayPal payment providers
- Work Collection Viewing
- Check & Money Order Support
- Credit Card Transactions
- No-Cost Job Posting
- Project Promotion
- E-Check Support
- Messaging
- Time Tracker
- Status Alerts
- File Sharing
- Team Management
- Project Dashboard
- Milestone Definition
- Feedback Management
- Wire Transfer Support
- Cash Account
- Auto-Pay
Now let me tell you about the differences between Upwork and Guru.
Upwork vs Guru: Key Differences
Platform Fees
The Guru platform has 5 membership plans, including the free (basic) one, where Guru charges a 9% fee for its freelancing members. It also has Basic+, Professional, Business, and Executive plans where the job fee charged to freelancers range between 9% to 5%. The Basic+ plan is $8.95, Professional is $15.95, business is $24.95, and Executive is $39.95, all per month.
On Upwork, freelancers are charged on a sliding-based fee for their lifetime billings. For earnings ranging between $0 to $500, Upwork charges 20%. For earning between $500 to $10,000, they charge 10%, and for earnings above $10,000, Upwork charges only 5%. So, whether the jobs are on an hourly rate, fixed price, or project basis, the service fees charged by Upwork are the same.
Job Opportunities
You will find a variety of job opportunities on both platforms. Plenty of developer jobs, writing, and design jobs are available on Guru. This platform has job opportunities covering 100+ skills.
On Upwork, millions of freelancers work full-time and earn their living off this freelancing platform. However, most of them use it for a side job to make some extra money. On Upwork, you have job opportunities for almost all kinds of professions. Even organizations like Microsoft, Airbnb, GoDaddy, etc., post their freelancing job requirements on the Upwork portal.
Customer Support Reviews
Both the platforms Guru and Upwork have a majority of good customer support reviews and few horrible stories also. Guru provides 24/7 support for freelancers and clients in case they face any issue on the platform.
Upwork also provides customer support 24/7, but clients are happier about this service than freelancers. The complaint filing on Upwork from its freelancers is higher when compared to guru.
Stats
Below are few common stats of Guru:
- 800,000 Employers Worldwide
- 1 Million Paid Invoices
- $250 Million Paid to Freelancers
- 99% Customer Satisfaction Rate
Below are some common stats of Upwork:
- 4.9/5 rating of clients by professionals
- G2 2021 #1 freelance platform
- $2.3B freelancers earned on Upwork in 2020
- 49K+ signed contracts every week
Security
The policies of Upwork are very strict, and it is proactive in eliminating fraudulent behaviours and transactions. Upwork’s team easily identifies scams and fake employer/employee profiles on a regular basis through their policies. Thus, it helps them in maintaining their site’s integrity and also protects the legitimate users. Because of such well-placed security measures, Upwork becomes the go-to site for freelancers and employers worldwide without any worry.
Compared to Upwork, the authenticity of a freelancer on the Guru is less. This is because they do not have stringent security checks or verification policies in place. So, you need to be sure if you are going with a new freelancer without any work history on the Guru platform.
Which freelancing platform is better, Upwork or Guru.com?
At present, I would say most freelancers prefer Upwork over Guru. But Upwork is not always the first option for all freelancers, for multiple kinds of jobs, Guru is preferred. But joining Upwork is complex than Guru.
The screening process is not easy and also, if Upwork has enough freelancers for a particular skill on its platform, it won’t let new freelancers sign up for those skills. And if you are an enterprise organization, Guru would be a better option as it has a dedicated service for bigger organizations.
Below is a summarized table that shows the key differences between Upwork and Guru.
| Comparison | Upwork | Guru |
| Founded In | 2015 (1999 as Elance, 2003 as oDesk) | 1998 |
| Core Features | Job Posting
Profile Browsing Proposal Reviewing Feedback Sharing Mobile Access Work Diary Invoicing and Reporting |
No-Cost Job posting
SafePay Integration PayPal Integration Wire Transfer Support E-Check Support Messaging Time Tracker |
| Pricing | $49.99 per month | Start as low as $11.95 and upgrade upto $49.95 |
| Security | Fake clients and freelancers hardly get through the screening process |
Fake clients and freelancers still get through |
| Handling / Processing fee | 3% | 2.9% |
Final Thoughts
So that was all about the two most popular freelancing platforms, Upwork and Guru. You can find the ideal platform for yourself by evaluating all their features depending on your requirements. These platforms will get any IT work done by the best talents, saving a lot of your time, money, and headache. As both platforms have millions of users, you can try out any of them if you just want to get started with freelancing.
