Freelancer Review: Is It a Legit Way to Find Freelance Gigs in 2026?

Freelancer.com is an online freelancing marketplace that connects freelancers with potential clients. As with platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, you create an account, display your portfolio, and contact clients to request to work on their projects.

What kind of work can you do on Freelancer?

Freelancer boasts on its site that you can find work in over 2,700 categories, with some of the most popular gigs including:

• Website design
• App development
• Proofreading
• Graphic design
• Web scraping
• Public relations
• Copywriting

Do you have to pay to use Freelancer?

While the platform does have paid membership options, you don’t have to pay to sign up for or use Freelancer.

However, as a free user, you’re limited to 6 bids on jobs per month. If you’re trying to build a more sustainable income stream, being a free user may not be the best option.

Freelancer offers four paid membership options, which you can check out in the table below: 1

Freelancer.com Membership Plans

Regardless of whether you’re a free or paid user, Freelancer will take a commission from your earnings, which will either be 10% of your earnings or a flat $5 (whichever is higher).

Yes. Freelancer is a legitimate platform, and the majority of jobs you’ll find on there are from reputable clients.

However, that doesn’t mean that the platform is completely safe for freelancers. Many current users report that Freelancer has a number of scam jobs, too. While the platform claims that they have “set in place security measures to detect and counter fraudulent behavior,” many users say that this has done little to quell the influx of scam listings on Freelancer. 2

For better or for worse, though, scam listings aren’t unique to Freelancer. Most of the popular freelancer platforms have their fair share of them. No matter which platform you look for work on, you’ll have to exercise due diligence to ensure that listings you apply for are legit and avoid providing sensitive information to clients you don’t fully trust.

Aside from scam listings, the actual experience of working on Freelancer seems to be a mixed bag in 2026.

Experienced freelancers note that while the platform offers flexibility and the ability to choose clients, it’s difficult for new users to secure gigs. Many current users attribute these challenges to AI, claiming that many of the tasks you could pick up on Freelancer in the past are now automated.

Moreover, many freelancers state that there are fewer gigs available in the “slower months.” This slowdown often coincides with the holidays.

Experiences from current freelancers

To give you a better idea of what it’s actually like using Freelancer, we’ve compiled a few detailed reviews from current users of the platform.

Case A: More saturated than Upwork

While all freelancing marketplaces are pretty saturated, one user on Reddit stated that Freelancer has “even more freelancers and more low-budget projects” than its main competitor, Upwork.

Although they did go on to say that there’s no reason not to “give it a go,” this user also claimed that they later deleted their account, as they were receiving “invitations to projects that were completely unrelated to [their] skillset.”

Case B: Crowded, but still worthwhile

The complaint that Freelancer has become oversaturated in recent years is all too common. Another user on Trustpilot stated that Freelancer is “a little crowded.”

However, the user still considered it worth using, claiming that they “gave it a try” and made over $170 in relatively short order.

Case C: Saturated, but so are all the other platforms

As mentioned, there’s no shortage of complaints that Freelancer has become saturated. That said, most of the other freelancing platforms are in a similar situation, with another Reddit user stating that Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr have all “become ridiculously saturated.”

They went on to state that “you need to fight a small war just to land a $10 gig.”

Case D: It isn’t perfect, but it’s legit

While many users are quick to complain about Freelancer, not every review is negative. One user on Reddit states that they’ve used Freelancer as one of their “main sources of projects and income for the last 6 years” without any issues.

They didn’t deny that the site has its problems, but still find it worthwhile in the main. Their advice is “not to rely on just one platform” and to “build up profiles on 2–3 major platforms and diversify your client sources.”

How much you can earn freelancing on Freelancer depends on the kind of work that you’re doing and the rates you set. When we checked out data entry jobs, for instance, we found that the rates varied dramatically. Some users seem to charge as little as $3 per hour, and others set their price at over $50 per hour.

As mentioned, many users report that Freelancer has become extremely saturated in recent years, and a lot of this competition comes from gig workers in countries with lower average incomes. This has resulted in many users offering their services for much lower prices, leaving many US-based freelancers unable to compete.

Moreover, remember that you’ll need to account for the commission that Freelancer will take from your earnings.

If you’re a new freelancer on the platform without a solid base of clients, you might struggle to find enough work to justify the startup costs and commissions that Freelancer will take.

While it might seem that our review has painted a bleak portrait of Freelancer (or even freelancing as a side hustle in general), it’s worth noting that many users still find success using the platform.

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you feel that Freelancer is right for you, but you can check out the pros and cons below to help make your decision:

Pros and cons of Freelancer

If you’ve decided that you want to give Freelancer a go, here are the steps you’ll need to take to get started.

Check that you meet the requirements

First, you’ll need to make sure you meet the platform’s requirements. You must:

• Be at least 16 years old (making this a great app for teens who want to find a job)
• Live in a country where the website operates
• Have a government-issued ID

Create your profile

If you meet all the requirements, here’s how to actually sign up for Freelancer:

1. Visit Freelancer’s signup page and create a username, provide a valid email address, and confirm that you’ve read the terms and conditions.
2. You’ll receive a verification email to the address you provided. Click the link in it to activate your account.
3. Create your profile, which entails providing your full name, uploading a photo, writing a professional tagline, and writing a summary about yourself.

Despite the horror stories circulating online about Freelancer, it can still be a worthwhile place to kick off a freelancing side hustle. The trick is to know how to use it safely and effectively.

Here’s how to do just that:

Know the warning signs of scams

As stated above, Freelancer isn’t free from scams; that’s why you’ll need to know how to identify bogus listings, especially if you’re just starting freelancing. Look out for:

• Clients that ask you to communicate off-platform: Be wary of any clients that ask you to communicate via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or any other off-platform method. Freelancer specifically tells users to report clients who try to get you to communicate with them this way.
• Clients who ask you to pay anything upfront: You aren’t required to pay anything to clients to work on their projects. Any clients who ask you to front money before you start working for them are most likely scammers.
• Clients asking for personal or sensitive information: Avoid any projects that ask you to submit personal information, such as your phone number, a government-issued ID, or other sensitive information.
• Job offers that seem too good to be true: If you come across a listing with a huge payout in exchange for minimal work, it’s more often than not a scam. Scammers will use high advertised rates to coax freelancers into agreeing to work for them.

Make your profile solid

With more competition than ever before, it’s important to make your profile stand out from the crowd. Be sure to keep it up-to-date, with plenty of examples of your work and testimonials from previous clients (if possible).

For those totally new to the game, you can try to highlight skills that you think differentiate you from other freelancers on the platform. For instance, if you’re an educator who’s interested in exploring side hustles for teachers, you could start a freelance writing gig that will let you highlight how your experience in education has directly contributed to your communication skills.

Adapt your skills to what’s in demand

It’s no secret that AI tools have impacted work in 2026. Many of the once-popular jobs on platforms like Freelancer, such as data entry or transcription, have been outsourced to AI.

With that in mind, you should try to adapt your skills to the jobs that are most in demand on freelancing marketplaces. It means you’ll have to do a lot more research and self-study, but you’ll be in a much better position if you can meet the current demands on big freelancing platforms.

Use multiple platforms

One of the most common pieces of advice from successful freelancers is not to rely solely on one platform. Instead of just looking for gigs on Freelancer, you can also create accounts on Upwork or Fiverr. That way, you’ll be able to pick up the slack on other platforms if work starts to slow down on one of them.

Check out our Upwork review and Fiverr review to see how these platforms compare.