This topic will be used to discuss Upwork’s competitors. Upwork’s main competitors include LinkedIn, Fiverr, Toptal, Deel and Freelancer.com. Upcoming competitors will also be discussed here. The table below summarizess our view of each competitor.
An instagram channel I am following advertised a freelance plattform called contra.com today that does not charge any commission and accepts crypto.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxVWRbmSxP9/
@Aron Can you have a look into it’s functionality, userbase, etc. + pros and cons compared to Upwork so that we know if they could be a thread?
Overall we have to start developing a closer look at smaller VC funded Freelancing startups and how they develop. Especially in case Upwork fails operationally one of them might be an even larger threat than currently established competitors.
1 Like
I think Contra could be a thread to Upwork given that the two share a lot of similarities. Below are its main selling points and disadvantages compared to Upwork;
Selling Points;
- Contra freelancers and clients do not pay any commission while that of Upwork pay 10% and a contract initiation fee of $4.95.
- Has almost all the tools present in Upwork eg payment, onboarding, contract management and search tools.
- Contra freelancers don’t pay proposal fee while Upwork freelancers pay a fee in the form of connects.
- Contra clients pay a payment processing fee that ranges from 2% to 3% while Upwork clients pay a payment processing fee of 5%.
- Contra accepts crypto payments in all countries except U.S.
Disadvantages;
- Contra requires that clients pay a minimum of $25/hr or a flat fee of $250 while Upwork minimum hourly rate is $3/hr and $5 for fixed contracts.
- Contra has 6 main job categories unlike Upwork that has 12.
I saw that contra claimed they have one million users in one of the articles you linked in the Wiki which is certainly impressive and the most important metric when it comes to judging their current competitive strength.
Have you been able to witness a large number of users when testing it? Usually what I do is I search for the same type of job on different platforms and see how many qualified results I am getting on each to get a feel of it. In relation to this test - a few notes about the ease of use or any advantages/disadvantages from a users perspective would be insightful as well.
I also would be interested in their business model. Is it mainly freelancer monthly subscriptions as those subscriptions offer vital functionality for freelancers or is it something else? Could their commission free model be temporary to accelerate growth with the goal of changing it later?
2 Likes
I got stucked at 78% while trying to create a profile, either due to a bug or they are trying to limit the number of new users. A profile is needed in order to apply for a job in Contra and to access detailed analytics; hence I won’t be able to tell who has applied for a job at the moment. I will try to proceed with my profile creation some other day and see if I can find the number of users.
I noticed that creating a profile in Contra is hectic since you have to show three projects that you have done before and add two services(similar to Upwork project catalogs) that you are providing. But this may be good for the quality of the platform.
Most vital features like tracking your job application and driving traffic to your account needs Contra Pro; hence I would expect many freelancers to be in this category. They also said that they will bring more premium features in future. But I would say at the moment they seem to be trying to win more users with the aim of raising pricing in future.
Here is how a job post look like in Contra:
1 Like
I ran a few queries and got some doubts that it has indeed 1 million freelancers. The only country i found which has 1000+ search results is the united states and if you break down those results by category you will find that it is not exceeding 1000+ search results by a wide margin.
If i had to guess based on a short search i would say the searchable userbase is probably 15,000 - 50,000 with a strong focus on creative areas (design, writing, marketing).
Overall i think the platform has a good UI and interesting concept but is probably not generating significant revenue yet (probably below 5Mio/year) and is not a serious competitor at the moment.
1 Like
Interesting! Their slack community has 10,000+ freelancers and you can only join after creating a Contra profile.
I also believe that Contra still has a long way to catch up with Upwork, especially given its huge minimum hourly and fixed contract rate. Scaling up is another problem given their commission-free pricing.
1 Like
I belief that Fiverr could be an interesting buy. After it’s 6% rally today it only trades at $26 or a market cap of approx. $1billion
2 Likes