Comparison between various freelancing sites like odesk, elance, guru, peopleperhour, freelancer and

Comparison between various freelancing sites like Odesk, Elance, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer and GeeksPerHr.com Freelance sites are gaining more and more importance due to ever-growing number of both buyers and sellers who use their services. There are many freelancing sites available on internet.

Some of the most popular sites are Odesk, Freelancer, Elance, Guru, PeoplePerHour and GeeksPerHr.com. All these freelancing sites have large number of buyer and sellers. However, if I were to choose one particular site for getting my project6 done, I will choose GPH. GPH has many features which make it an ideal freelancing site. But before I site all reasons for my preference, let’s compare all these sites.

Here is the comparison between top 6 freelancing sitesOdesk Odesk is easy, quick, and great resource for online jobs. Odesk is also one of the best 500 websites in the world and the second best freelancing website according to Alexa rank.

Why should you choose Odesk??

1. Hundreds or even thousands of online jobs are posted every day.

2. Hourly jobs that pay freelancers per hour and insure their rights of payment in case of any dispute between freelancers and employers.

3. Mini job description below every job post to give a preview about the job and this feature can really help you to decide your level of interest in jobs.

4. Large network of developers, tools for tracking employees (keyboard, mouse activity, screenshots).

What are The Expected Problems with Odesk?

1. Fixed Jobs where employees pay you for the whole project unlike hourly jobs. The payment for this fixed job is not guaranteed by Odesk.

2. It takes long time to prepare your profile to look good.

3. Competition may make it harder for you to get your first job.

4. No limit on bids so jobs often reduce to pricing wars and quality.

5. Users can gain profile ratings by hiding negative ratings and having friends provide feedback, etc.

Freelancer Freelancer is one of the highest ranked freelancing websites in Alexa database. It is actually in the top 500 sites all over the world and the FIRST of top 10 Freelancing websites.

What are the best qualities of Freelancer.com?

1. Free market where you can buy and sell items and services 2. Referral bonus when you invite your friends to Freelancer.com and sign up for jobs.

3. Signing up to Freelancer email list will get you lots of job suggestions so that you can find great jobs sent to you by mail 4. Payment is based on millstones, suited to smaller jobs, good for project-based work

Now, what are the expected problems if you were using Freelancer.com?

1. First and the most important, payment options are not very flexible for some people. I mean that there is no "Direct wire money transfer" to your bank account.

2. Also, PayPal and Money Bookers are not supported in some countries. So, make sure that you check the payment option via Freelancer.com to make sure that they are valid for you before bidding for jobs.

3. Some postings are without any description.

4. Users can gain profile ratings by hiding negative ratings and having friends provide feedback, etc.

5. Lack of talent in pool.

Elance Elance is a huge freelance marketplace that welcomes project posters and freelancers alike- in areas like creative writing, sales writing, website programming, logo design, research and much more. There are many benefits of using the site, whether you're a freelancer or a business owner who often finds himself or herself looking for talented providers.

Below are the top ways in which Elance.com can benefit you 1. The Ability to Screen Before You Buy/Provide: It doesn't matter whether you're a freelancer or a buyer - with Elance, you can check the prospective buyer or freelancer before you work with them. Elance has a pretty in-depth feedback system where clients and providers can rate each other on how satisfied they are with the work as far as quality, professionalism, communication, etc. This helps you ensure that you're getting the best freelancer, or that it's alright to work for a particular employer or client.

2. Categories: You don't have to compete with several other bids in many different categories with Elance. You can simply sign up under your preferred category and start looking for work in just that area. It's organized and easy to use. As a project poster, your project will be immediately visible by those who work in the particular category you chose.

3. Escrow: With the Elance escrow program, both parties can be assured that the transaction will go over well. The project poster can place the payment in escrow, to be delivered once he or she is satisfied with the work. The freelancer will see that the escrow payment is pending, so fears of not getting paid are lessened.

Following are the disadvantages of Elance

1. Elance is also not providing any guarantee in fixed price job. It totally depends on the buyers or sellers mutual understanding or communication.

2. Second thing is that there are so many jobs posted on Elance, which don’t have any description and some of them are posted repeatedly. This is wastage of the time for both buyers and sellers.

Guru Guru.com is a freelance marketplace. It allows companies to find freelance workers for completion of work. The goal of the website is to provide a place where people obtain regular income. Guru.com launched in 2004 and has been going strong as one of the largest marketplace for freelancers. They are only one of many online job sites on the internet.

What we like 1. Guru.com is a great site if you’re beginning a freelance writing career. The free membership offers a lot for beginners. You can upload a resume, samples of your work, list your skills, create a bio, upload your picture, and much more.

2. Once you sign up with Guru.com, you’ll start to receive notifications about projects.

Your success depends on how well you build your profile. You can receive one or two a day; it depends on what the employer is looking for. Plus, it’s up to you how many projects you receive and accept.

3. If you have no idea how to create a bid or proposal, don’t sweat it. Guru.com provides samples of a bid and proposal. Some online job sites may not provide this information. At least you’ll have a guide for future reference.

4. Lots of US-based workers.

What I don’t like 1. Unfortunately, there’s a down side sometimes server gets too slow to work 2. Freelancers pay a lot of fees just to get paid.

3. Costly if non-member (10+ %), otherwise monthly fee PeoplePerHour PeoplePerHour is a relatively newcomer in the freelancing scene but has already established itself as a promising player. If you’ve been on the freelancing market for a while, you’ll be aware of market leaders such as Freelancer.com, Guru.com, Odesk and Elance. While these sites focus on the mass market with millions of members and fierce competition, the relatively small PeoplePerHour focuses on quality and has a much smaller client.

Pros of using PeoplePerHour for your Freelancing Business

1. The best thing I find about PeoplePerHour compared to other freelancing sites is quality leads. We’re talking about a UK-based business with a large following of online workers in the digital, media and creative industries that are willing to charge higher prices because their customers demand higher quality.

2. The other big plus of PeoplePerHour is that payment for all contracts is held in Escrow – an important feature if you’re familiar with the pitfalls of making contracts online.

Cons of using PeoplePerHour for your Freelancing Business 1. No small budget projects for beginners.

2. Freelancers pay a lot of fees just to get paid.

3. Limited bids available.

4. Very difficult to get first project.

GeeksPerHr.com GeeksPerHr.com is the brain child of Mr. Sudesh Agrawal. GeeksPerHr.com is launched in 2011 and has been going strong as one of the largest marketplace for small businesses and freelancers.

Currently working areas of the GPH are web development, design, application development, Internet marketing, mobile app development.

Main USP of GeeksPerHr.com: - Instant Access to WorkWith GeeksPerHr.com you get instant work done. Whether you're a small web development company, small business, freelancer or someone who need help in projects, there is no need to go searching around the web for a talented freelancer. You just go with GeeksperHr.com. You don’t need to post project and wait for proposal or no need to pay 10-20% of the project cost to the freelancing site. You just purchase the hourly packages. Their starter package is just $0.99/hour.

In my opinion GPH is an ideal freelancing site and it’s totally different from other freelancing sites like odesk, elance, guru, freelancer, PeoplePerHour etc.

How It Works!

1. Sign up with GeeksPerHr.com 2. Place an order of 'Starter Pack' - Just $0.99 per hr 3. You will be assigned a geek within 12 hours via email and in-built private messaging system.

4. The assigned geek will confirm all the details with you.

5. You authorize the geek to begin work via email and/or in-built private message system.

6. You can ask for any changes, additions, graphics, programming, etc.

7. Geek uses work tracking system to keep track of work done (via Dropbox and Auto Screenshot) 8. You get the real-time tracking as Geek works on the project Pros of GPH1. You just place an order with project details and you're assigned a prescreened and managed developer.

2. The developer that most closely fits to the project demand is assign, thus you don’t need to invest times in finding the proper developer.

3. There's virtually no wait in project execution.

4. The assigned developer updates daily without fails, thus you don’t have to prompt him for updates.

5. He verifies his work on all devices, all browsers before he updates you thus you don’t need to spend lot of time doing testing.

6. He takes the most effective approach to execute the project.

7. Since he is technically skilled he uses professional coding standards and comments his code, thus maintaining.

8. GeeksPerHr.com also has backup developer that tracks the project behind the scene, thus just in case the developer is on leave he can jump in and continue with development.

9. Low price – trial package is just 99 cents per hour.

10. There is 24/7 live chat on the website. You can chat with them anytime in case of emergencies or pressing requirements, which I think is a huge plus.

Comparison Chart: Features Odesk Service fees

10% of total job cost

Elance $10 to post jobs 8.75% if < $10000 7.75%if >$10000 6.75%if>$400

Guru

Freelancer

$4.95 to $8.95 10% of the Money transfer total job cost and membership are charged separately

PeoplePerHour GeeksPer Hr 3.5% to 15% None

Membersh None ip fees

00 +$0 to $60/month To see the jobs posted $0 to $60/month

$0 to $49.95/month

Country

United States Yes

United States

Time Tracker Fixed price project Hourly project Support via phone Emergenc y support Hourly projects terms Fixed price Project terms

United States

$0 to $12400/mo nth Australia

$0 to $31.95 None depend on bid amount United Kingdom India

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Guarante ed Pay

Guaranteed Pay

Guaranteed Pay

Guaranteed Guaranteed Pay Pay

Guarantee d Pay

Worker is paid solely at employerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; s discretion.

No dispute resolution employer has ultimate

Employer prepays the project via escrow and authorizes when the millstone or the project is completed.

Employer prepays the project via escrow and authorizes when the millstone or the project is completed.

For non escrow projects, employer pay

Employer can prepay via noncompulsory option and authorize funds releases when the millstones get completed.

Guarantee d Pay

Employer prepays the project via escrow and authorizes when the millstone or the project is completed.

control Bids allowed per month Funds handling

Payment methods

at the end

520/week

40-100/month

10-50/month

815-100/month 1500/month

No need to bid

1. pay for hours at the end of the week 2. pay broker at the end of the project Credit cards, PayPal

1. pay for hours at the end of the week 2. pay in advance(escro w)

1. pay for hours at the end of the week 2. pay in advance(escro w)

1. pay for hours at the end of the week 2. pay at the end of the project

1. pay for hours at the end of the week 2. pay in advance(escro w)

1.pay for hour(when you purchase hours )

Credit cards, PayPal

Credit cards, PayPal

Credit cards, PayPal

Credit cards, PayPal

PayPal

Author Alvina Brown USA