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To date, freelancers represent a real army. In Europe, almost 10 million have chosen to set up their own business and represent about 4% of the workforce. Even in Italy, the freelance profession is gaining ground. According to the latest Eurostat data, with a percentage of 23.8%, Italy ranks second in the whole of the European Union as a nation with the highest number of self-employed. There are several marketplaces on the market where freelancers can get in touch with individuals and companies, send applications and start collaborating.

World’s 10 Best Freelance Websites 2021

  • 1. UPWORK

  • 2. FIVERR

  • 3. FREELANCER

  • 4. PEOPLEPERHOUR

  • 5. GURU

  • 6. bcloud

  • 7. Elance

  • 8. 99Designs

  • 9. Evanto Studio

  • 10. Toptal

Are you among those who have decided to quit their job as an employee and start a freelance career?

Well, here are the main sites to find work:

  • 1. UPWORK
    Upwork is one of the world’s biggest platforms, available in English, born from the merger between Elance and ODesk to connect companies and specialized talents who work remotely from anywhere in the world. In addition to fixed-price projects, there are also activities at an hourly rate, which are controlled through special software that monitors the freelancer’s actual working time. Specialized in IT projects, the platform can purchase additional credits over the 60 provided free of charge every month.
  • 2. FIVERR
    Fiverr is one of the most popular marketplaces for small projects. In the portal, it is possible to publish services better known as “GIG” which focus in particular on individual skills, competences and skills. All services have a basic fixed price of $ 5, but it is possible to publish “EXTRA GIG” and “PREMIUM GIG”, with which to make up to $ 500 per sale. On the platform it is possible to find requests of any kind, but the main proposals concern design, advertising, social media, videos, writing and translations.
  • 3. FREELANCER
    There are 20 million users registered worldwide, Freelancer is the go-to platform for all freelancers and the most popular and famous in the world. Within this portal, there are numerous professionals divided into particular categories. Services for the IT sector, for bloggers, graphic designers, voice actors, translators and copywriters are in great demand. The Italian language has also been recently introduced and indeed represents an excellent opportunity for both beginners and established professionals.
  • 4. PEOPLEPERHOUR
    Peopleperhour is another attractive brokerage platform born in 2012 that offers many opportunities to propose yourself as a freelancer by setting the price of your works. Also, you have a showcase in which to display your skills which will then be visible to potential and future customers. You have the option to set up payment on both an hourly and a fixed basis per project. The most sought after services? Design, development and programming, seo and promotion for social media.
  • 5. GURU
    Guru is an excellent international service that allows freelancers from worldwide to offer their skills to companies looking for specific skills, both in the IT field and for freelancers in the legal and engineering sector. You will not be able to see the offers of other opponents and therefore to secure a project you will have to propose the best offer, about your skills and competences.

  • 6. bcloud

    bcloudis the platform that allows you to make your freelance services available to interested users in the name of transparency and flexibility.

In addition to using the site as a channel to organize and discuss projects, bcloud also offers the possibility of contacting people outside the site.

The projects that are the most popular are those related to niche specialization fields such as legal content but also internet marketing, advertising and vast expertise required for everything related to the strategies of the web world and its potential.

  • 7. Elance
    Elance was one of the first freelance sites to debut on the web before many others relied on this flexible job to offer services to their users.

On Elance there is a wide range of highly sought after specialization fields such as graphic designers, communicators, data entry, journalists, webmasters, SEO experts, web editors, writers and much more.

On this site, compared to others, communication is the keyword with a high number of requests to communicate messages and concepts of the reality of the business world through the services of a web content creator.

  • 8. 99Designs
    If you think about a design-specific freelance platform, 99Designs is the one that will probably come to your mind. 99Designs offers a plethora of services, including brand and logo design, stationery design, mobile and web app design, book cover and magazine design, graphic design and more. The platform offers four different pricing tiers for customers; Bronze, silver, gold and platinum. As the names suggest, the price increases from Bronze to Platinum, and so does the work quality.

First, enter your request and then choose one of the four packages mentioned above, then launch the contest. Different designers will send their designs, and you can select the one you like best. Remember that you are only paying for the design you are accepting and not for all of them. It’s the best way to get multiple working samples at no extra cost. There is a lot of work here for freelancers, and if you are good at what you do, you will surely earn good money for your talent.

  • 9. Evanto Studio

    Evanto Studio defines itself as a community of designers, developers and creatives; however, their main works revolve around design and graphics, whether for apps, websites, logos, or videos and animations. As a customer, you can compare prices, portfolios, community recommendations, and more to select the talent you’re most excited to work with. Then you can send your project brief to the professionals you would like to work with. Once the project has been submitted, you pay in advance, but the money is saved in the Evanto Studio account. Cash is paid out to professionals only when the project is completed and you are satisfied with the project.

  • 10. Toptal
    Toptal cannot be classified in any category as it is very different from all other freelance platforms mentioned in this list. Toptal promises to bring 3% of freelance talent just for you. There is no need to bid or choose from a variety of developers. All you have to do is tell Toptal what kind of freelance talent you are looking for, and the service will select the perfect talent for you.

Toptal focuses on making the freelancer a part of your team and not someone who does overtime work for you. Because Toptal focuses on quality, it only offers a handful of services, including software developers, designers, and financial experts. If you are ready to pay the price, Toptal is the best place to do your job.

If, on the other hand, your speciality is writing, try to show your talent on sites like: Textbroker, O2O, Scribox, Melascrivi, Greatcontent. For creatives, Starbytes and Zoopa are the best solutions. Starbytes, is dedicated to IT and digital technology experts while Zooppa is dedicated to creatives in the marketing sector, video makers and graphic designers. It offers the possibility to participate in competitions and competitions for the realization of commercials. Regarding the contests, other valid platforms are 99designs.it, Designcrowd.com (graphics and web), Link2Me (graphics, web, photography and design) and Bestcreativity.com (graphics and web design).

For communication projects, a great platform is Lavoricreativi, where it is possible to get in touch with companies that operate mostly on the Web and in the multimedia field. The most requested positions: graphic designers, photographers, copywriters, illustrators, entertainment, events, fashion design.

Designers can register on WebDesigner.it which offers freelancers the opportunity to enter portfolios and skills and be contacted directly by the company while Findstringers.com offers freelance journalists the opportunity to propose and sell their stories or reports such as Newsmodo.com connects freelance journalists with news agencies, publishers and publishing houses.

  • Let me give you some helpful advice:

  • Identify the platforms with requests most relevant to your skills
  • Promote yourself online through social media and blogs.
  • Learn to manage time if you have more tasks to perform, giving priority to the customer who offers you the highest compensation.
  • Structure a professional cover letter, submit your portfolio and make yourself available for an initial interview via call and video call.
  • Create a list of the contacts you have collected and update it regularly.

Finally, I suggest that you carefully choose projects that reflect your skills, avoiding spending time and effort on other activities that are not within your reach, with the risk of obtaining negative feedback.