What is Fiverr?
Fiverr is a top online freelancing platform that connects sellers and buyers but what is a good Fiverr alternative for startups? Although many recognize the platform from its “Fiverr” slogan and $5 minimum purchase, the company behind the solution has grown much more extensive and much more significant since.
Nowadays, Fiverr offers projects in the tens of thousands of dollars, connecting substantial businesses worth billions to freelancers. By introducing essential programs like “Fiverr Pro” and “Seller Levels,” Fiverr has built up its reputation from a place of cheap work to one of quality brought about by thousands of skilled laborers.
When a deal goes through Fiverr, a business (or customer) is connected to a freelancer through one of their Gigs. These Gigs have multiple tiers, allowing various levels of work and delivery accomplishment. Everything is run through the Fiverr platform, allowing search, request, payment, and delivery to exist within one easily manageable area.
However, unfortunately, that also means that Fiverr charges a substantial 20 percent fee on the Seller side, with an additional 5 percent or $2, whichever is higher. Through this pay scale and heavy service charge, the company has grown increasingly disliked throughout the freelancing and hiring community. Competitive pricing and displays alongside Fiverr’s hefty fees have pushed low-quality services and frequent scams.
Nonetheless, while that is not indicative of the entirety of Fiverr, there are countless Fiverr alternatives — ones like Upwork, which not only serve as competitors to Fiverr’s marketplace but often to the pricing scale and markets presented. Additionally, there are benefits in searching for specific niches and qualities in freelance work, provided exclusively through these Fiverr alternatives. These are our twelve picks for the top Fiverr alternatives, alongside the reasoning behind them.
The Top Fiverr Alternative — Upwork
While Fiverr is a massive name within the freelancing market, Upwork is an even larger one. The company’s origins go back to 2003, and it is often listed as one of the first originators of remote work and freelance hiring. Nonetheless, Upwork hasn’t sat on its laurels, instead choosing to innovate and bring a world-class platform to startups and businesses across the globe.
As such, there are a few key ways that Upwork outperforms Fiverr:
- A minimum service fee of 5 percent versus Fiverr’s 25 percent minimum
- A larger platform for a company with nearly two times the revenue
- More security and information on a seller
- Trusted by major industry players
- Payment only continues after work is approved
- High proof of quality and clarification
- Massive selection of freelance quality
For a deeper dive, check out our article on Upwork vs Fiverr.
| Fiverr | Upwork |
| 20 to 25 percent fees | 5 percent minimum |
| Quantity-based | Quality-based |
| Very large platform | Even larger |
| Heavily US and Israel-based | International presence |
| Founded in 2010 | Predecessor founded in 1999 |
A Fivver Alternative for Salespeople
Profs.co is a top Fiverr Alternative for sales and startups looking for sales help. Profs connects startups with vetted fractional sales talent, consultant, and sales services. Profs is a management marketplace, meaning you will have a concierge style process to ensure fit and success. By speaking with Profs you are not required to vet the talent, nor do you have to waste time interviewing.
Freelance sales roles offered by Profs include
- SDR
- Account Executive
- Fractional Sales Management
- Inside Sales Consulting
- Fractional VP of Sales
- Sales Consultant
Profs also offers help with things such as determining which tooling is right for you. They can help with finding if ZoomInfo Pricing is worth the spend or if you should use a tool like Apollo. A Sales Consultant can help you determine your ICP and provide cold email tips.
A Popular Fiverr Alternative — Freelancer.com
Freelancer.com is an understandably similarly sized freelancing platform, claiming the domain name of the entire industry. Fortunately, that’s not a bad thing — Freelancer.com has one of the most straightforward project submission solutions out there, allowing requests for freelance hire much more quickly than with another platform like Fiverr. Additionally, there is also the option to find freelance work, reaching out directly to a worker in addition to posting a widespread project. This comes in a package that focuses on quality and project security over anything else.
However, Freelancer also provides freelance hire with fees of just 3 percent or $3, with an entire week to cancel projects for a refund. That’s on top of features in the platform’s work contests, time-keeping software, and more. In comparison to Fiverr, Freelancer.com boasts:
- Lower fees
- Greater additional add-ons like contests and bidding
- A more recognizable platform (with the Freelancer.com domain)
- Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
- The ability to both post-work listings quickly and contact freelancers directly
- Detailed freelancer portfolios
Looking for Top 3% Engineering Talent — Toptal
While Fiverr is best known for its widespread talent and reach throughout every industry, Toptal works the opposite way: the company focuses on the “Top 3% of Freelance Talent,” a saying that Toptal even reserves. Fortunately, that’s for a good reason. Toptal has become very well known throughout the freelancing community for being a beacon of quality and work security.
Only the top 3% of those applying to work through Toptal are accepted, with rigorous background checks and performing analyses. Toptal prides itself on focusing on efficiency and quality, only allowing the best of the best within its platform. As such, the platform is most heavily used for development and programming, two of the most skill-based work options. In opposition to Fiverr, Toptal is heavy:
- Focused on high-cost, high-skill services
- Quote-based and less reliant on rigid pricing standards
- Flexible invoicing and payment security
- Vetting and constantly adjusting the freelancing talent on the platform
- Reliant on a $500 initial deposit
- Priced with frequently minimum hourly rates of $60
That isn’t to say that Toptal doesn’t service other markets, but there is an incredibly high focus on developmental jobs and services that require very high precision and talent. After all, the company only hires the top 3 percent, leaving only a few significant services to choose from. Nonetheless, Toptal is much more heavily focused on larger companies that can stomach the $500 deposit, upwards of $250/hour costs, and hefty fees to gain access to the world’s top workers.
The Fiverr Alternative for Designs and Creative Projects — Dribbble
Dribbble refers to itself as the “#1 creative community online,” attracting millions of visitors interested in purchasing quality design and creative material from a selection of talented artists. For businesses looking primarily for artistic work, Dribbble is often a top choice. In comparison to Fiverr and as an alternative to Upwork, Dribbble is a much more concentrated solution attached to the idea of selling art and design services.
However, that is something the company does well, attracting hiring companies in Starbucks, Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce, and more. That is partly due to Dribbble’s easy access to the top freelancing talent, allowing preview-able job board listings without creating an account. Through Dribble, there’s a heavy focus on accessibility and letting creative freedom roam wild, which is why the company thrives in a niche market. Some of these reasons include:
- Easy accessibility to hiring tools
- Cheap Pro memberships which verify artist portfolios
- Stalwart buyers and millions of other users
- Directed exclusively to creatives and design projects
- Great accessibility for startups and those wanting to not deal with picky hires
- Transparency and quantity while keeping confirmable quality
- Potentially no fees with freelance work
Dribbble is exclusively a design and creative platform for startups and businesses looking for those services. While Fiverr offers quite a few design services and products, they are nowhere near as interconnected and targeted explicitly as with Dribbble, which potentially does not require fees on all purchases and hires.
Posting Jobs for Long-Term Work — Outsourcely
While Fiverr is a platform for sellers to market towards buyers, Outsourcely is the opposite. This site prides itself on being a dashboard and home base for businesses and people looking to work with and hire freelancers consistently. Outsourcely uses hundreds of thousands of freelancers to provide buyers with a talent for whatever project comes their way.
Outsourcely supplies businesses with integrated tools, such as private chat, live video and voice calls, messaging, and email services. Even with these functions and other qualities, Outsourcely charges no commission fees, saving both you and a freelancer lots of money along the way. While it seems too good to be true, Outsourcely is a legitimate freelancing platform. However, there are a few significant points to note:
- There are three subscription tiers | Free users get one job post per month, with subscriptions starting at $79/month for additional options
- Great tools and additional services are available with basic plans
- Primarily a search database and connector to freelance talent
- Incredibly detail-oriented and holds reliable, quality freelancers
Outsourcely is an exciting alternative, focusing on allowing a small startup or business to serve as the platform rather than letting a company like Fiverr do so. Instead of routing buyers and sellers to one another, Outsourcely serves as a company’s manuscript, allowing buyers to look for precisely what they want without any commissions or fees past a monthly subscription.
Fiverr Alternative for Logos and Graphic Designs — 99designs
99designs is an exciting platform, straying entirely from the concepts that most other freelancing platforms are built from. Nonetheless, it manages to do so significantly, focusing on providing buyers and businesses with craft contests to collect the most accurate and highest quality content from sellers.
The company focuses exclusively on designs, although more restricted than Fiverr or design-oriented Dribbble. Prices are much higher on the platform, although 99designs exists to provide incredibly high-quality, secure projects and resolutions to requests. Every designer is vetted for quality, with their portfolio available for easy viewing access.
As such, 99designs is incredibly standout with:
- 5 percent client-side fees with 15 to 5 percent designer fees
- Focus on bulk packages with money-back guarantees, copyright ownership, and vetting
- Incredible priority on seller quality and pricing
- High-cost basis and standard contest-style design selection
- Ownership by Vista, a design conglomerate
Selling Marketing, Websites, and Programming Content — Envato Studio
Although Envato Studio advertises heavily with logo design services, it is likely best known for its WordPress development and creative services. Envato Studio offers “over 3,000 unique services” with hand-picked freelance developers, according to its site.
For its standout ability, Envato Studio promises a four-step job completion: find “Talent,” supply a brief, manage the work online, and approve the order. Envato Studio is another quality-focused Fiverr alternative with hand-picked professionals, running primarily from autonomous workers with top-in-class skills.
As such, much of the hiring runs directly to the freelance talent, which works throughout any of Envato’s ten, primarily development or design-based, work categories. For each type, as they are hand-selected, the workers are contacted directly to place orders based on their pricing and your specifications. Compared to Fiverr, Envato Studio:
- Has higher fees, with a base of 30 percent drawn when a job is closed
- Additionally has payment options in $5 increments
- Focuses more heavily on the quality of its work base and talent
- Is much better for developmental work and one-on-one tasks
- Has tailors pointing more substantially to businesses
The Best Fiverr Alternatives for Low Fees— Guru.com
Guru.com, unlike Fiverr, is a business platform. While Fiverr offers services across thousands of subcategories and options, Guru keeps it simple and straight to the point — freelancers are available for hire across just nine unique skill categories. However, the limitations are limited to selecting content and categories presented.
The systems within Guru itself are highly tailored to businesses, allowing for great use through the platform. Additionally, there is only a 2.9 percent fee on invoices, although checks and transfers have no fees whatsoever. By using Guru for free, businesses gain access to unlimited job posts, quote requests, WorkRooms conferencing, meager fees, and more.
As Guru puts it, the company stands out against Fiverr and Upwork for these reasons:
- High worker credibility and validity
- Heavy job flexibility and high work customization
- Leading security and privacy options
- Incredibly low fees and no subscription required
- The ability to pay a fixed price, hourly, task-based, or recurringly
Guru is one of the best options for a business, allowing for complete customization and the best-tailored services out of this bunch. High reliability, excellent services, and virtually no fees mark a standout Fiverr alternative and Upwork competitor.
A Top Professional Upwork Alternative — CloudPeeps
CloudPeeps serves as a management system, connecting to and managing freelance work compared to many freelance platforms. While Fiverr and other leading services view freelancers as a thing to be related to a seller, CloudPeeps views the relationship as a recurring business transaction, allowing its service users to almost hire freelancers within their company.
Once you’ve listed a job post on the website, Peeps (the company’s freelance talent) contact you with specialized proposals, if not contacted first. Afterward, they’re incorporated within the CloudPeeps management system with integrated services to build a team of specialized freelancers. While CloudPeeps starts with 15 percent fees, external clients hold just 1 percent fees, and subscription services decrease the overall expenses.
While CloudPeeps is free, the company’s services can’t be used to propose to freelancers. Nonetheless, CloudPeeps is standout for its:
- Use as an integrated business platform
- Low fees (5%) at the highest, $29/month subscription service
- Wide-ranging supply of clients and customers
- Minimalistic approach to freelance hiring
- Focus on contacting and retaining smaller amounts of freelance talent
A Fiverr Alternative for Finding Physical and Virtual Work — Bark.com
Bark.com is best known for local services and in-person professional work, although the company hosts high-quality virtual work. For businesses looking for freelance work locally, Bark.com is the only option on this list, providing heavy integration with your own business through the singular fact that these people are there and ready to work for you. Bark primarily focuses on:
- Virtual business services for growing companies
- Low fees and quality professionals
- A credit system to keep unnecessary prices nonexistent
- Easy access to local workers and near-instant quotes
Nonetheless, there are also Bark’s abilities for virtual work, with a heavy lean on business services in the form of financial and website-centric services. While the company is much more utilizable for its in-person work, those who access Bark.com for other services aren’t disappointed. Local employment is available within minutes, and Bark doesn’t charge commissions or fees, relying on credit packs instead and serving as a unique option for catering to in-person heavy businesses.
A Fiverr Alternative Built from Hourly Pay — PeoplePerHour.com
PeoplePerHour.com is a freelance platform incredibly like Fiverr. The same design, rating system, delivery options, gig structure, response information, and even things like the hearts on a gig, add-ons, and reviews. However, there is a much heavier focus on hourly pay.
As the name suggests, PeoplePerHour heavily emphasizes its “pay-as-you-go” strategy, although the company has dramatically focused on Fiverr substitutions as it goes. In this manner, the site is near-identical to Fiverr, although it does have a few fundamental changes:
- Fees are incredibly low, at just 3.5 percent after $5,000 in lifetime billings
- A vested interest in startups and creating new businesses on the platform
- Heavier focus on posting projects and accessibility to hiring freelance talent
- The ability to pay by the hour, whether on your terms or the freelancer’s
- Bundles of skills and content available for purchase
While PeoplePerHour is primarily a Fiverr replacement with better fees, some features under the surface make it much better in more than a few aspects. Businesses looking to launch themselves from freelance work can find much worse than PeoplePerHour. The company has a significant focus on supporting the buyers interested in using the talent on its platform.
One of the Best IT Alternatives to Upwork — Supersourcing
While Supersourcing launched as an India-centric freelancing platform with remote content, it has become a leading globally leading information technology (IT) freelancing solution. The company has heavily expanded throughout the years, leading by example in customer satisfaction and service quality.
Supersourcing prides itself on a 2:3 shortlisting ratio to save “>60% of your time,” careful interviews and vetting, 5–10-day onboarding, 7-day replacement policies, and a customer success team. Since its inception, Supersourcing has built hundreds of startups, including helping build the IT portions of Amazon, Walmart, Spotify, Uber, and more.
For businesses looking to build their technology ends or start new, Supersourcing is likely the best option. The company focuses very heavily on small businesses, creating IT resources and constructing the best options for companies along any business life cycle. Additionally, the freelancers in the company are professional engineers, making the perfect IT solution to whatever project is wanted. Finally, the company doesn’t charge commissions or hidden costs, instead of relying on contracts and contacts between partners.
Finding the Best Fiverr Alternative For You
Although these are twelve of the best options as an alternative to Upwork and Fiverr, they’re not the only ones. There are countless freelancing and hiring solutions across the internet and in the real world, and they all have their benefits.
While the listings here focus primarily on unique aspects that differentiate themselves from Fiverr, they are all relatively niche and likely won’t work for every startup or business. Each person and company has its own needs and its staffing requirements. While Fiverr is a good platform for hiring talent across every industry, it isn’t necessarily a premiere choice in all of them.
For example, if a business is looking for design work, it is likely more beneficial to use a website like 99design or Dribbble, which has dedicated artists, even at a higher cost. A solution like Guru.com might be necessary for a business that needs to cut costs or spend the least in fees possible, then a solution like Guru.com might be required. For a company with more than enough money to spend on the best quality, then obviously a better focus might be Toptal, with a primary objective of providing the best of the best.
Example
| Wants | Platform |
| Designs and Graphics | 99design or Dribbble |
| Cheap Payments | Guru.com |
| Best of the Line Talent | Toptal |
When it comes to choosing the right freelancing/hiring platform for a startup or business, each answer is unique and dependent on the business’ needs. It’s worth doing individual research into:
- fees of platforms,
- the content available,
- protections and security,
- talent vetting and verification,
- payment methods,
- hidden fees,
- contracts,
- services, and more.
Every opportunity and situation has its unique aspects, meaning that there’s no one solution for a startup or business. The only way to find what’s best is to develop knowledge for what is necessary for a platform, narrowing the search and investigation to match what you’re looking for. That’s in opposition to the idea that businesses need to adjust their expectations to fit what’s available. When dealing with Fiverr and Upwork alternatives, it is anything but.
