Want to convert your hobby into an income-generating idea? If Yes, then Freelancing is one of the best jobs to earn some extra income today. If you are a beginner and thinking of a career in Freelancing or maybe looking for some extra side income after a 9-5 job, then this article might help you find some best Freelancing sites to work with.

Today, Freelancing is not a part-time business anymore, in fact, the “Gig Economy” is one of the best industries for those individuals who want to work independently. The USA has the highest number of freelancers followed by India. As per a recent report, the number of freelancers in the USA is more than 57 Million.

In India, more than 15 Million are working independently in various sectors like IT, Sales, designing, marketing, content & academic writing, etc. As per Wikipedia, more than 50% of Indians will select Freelancing as a career option by 2020.

As per the report from Upwork, Freelancing contributed nearly $1 Trillion to the US economy which is around 5% of the countries GDP.

These numbers will increase definitely in the coming years because more and more jobs will be outsourced from freelancers.

Here, in this article, I will try to cover some reliable & best freelancing sites in India, especially for beginners looking for starting a career in Freelancing.

 

Advantages of Working as a Freelancer

Are you one who hates to see Monday Morning or likes to work independently, then Freelancing is the perfect job for you.

I am not saying, Micro Jobs are the Best Jobs in the World, but certainly, you may get some extra money in your pocket.

Here is some top reason if you want to start freelancing as a part-time or full-time career.

1. No more Dependence: You are the boss of your own life. No more orders from your Boss or Higher Authorities.
2. Flexible Working: You can choose your own working hours, no fixed schedule, it all depends on you.
3. Faster Growth: Freelancing gives you a faster growth opportunity which is never possible in any full-time job.
4. Work at your Ease: You can work anywhere you like. Freelancing is the best example of Work From the Home business. Even you can work during your vacation period because it needs only a laptop and an internet connection.
5. Immense Earning Potentiality: It has immense earning potential if you can work hard with proper planning. A full-time job will give you a fixed income but freelancing can offer you unlimited earnings.
6. Work For your Choice: You can work for which you have a passion or interest. You have complete freedom to choose the project.
7. Select your own Clients: You have the complete freedom to select your own clients. Though it may not be possible at the initial stage of freelancing. Once you established yourself as a brand, you can choose your own clients.

 

Best Freelancing Sites in India to Start in 2023

Like any other start-up, freelancing also takes time to generate some respectable earnings. It takes years of hard work and dedication to build up yourself as a brand in the “Gig Economy”. But the important challenge for rookie freelancers is getting accepted on many popular freelance sites.

Though IT and designing-related gigs are most popular on freelancing sites, you can find any type of job, which you are familiar with & pertaining to your profession.

Here, I try to categorically cover the best freelancing websites, especially for Indian job seekers thinking to build a career as a freelancer.

1. Upwork

Upwork (previously Elance-oDesk) is the largest freelance marketplace in the World with more than 12 million freelancers and 3 million clients. Over 50 lacs jobs are posted annually on Upwork worth more than $1 billion. You can find any kind of job on Upwork. Some of the popular jobs are Website Dev, IT & networking, Data Science & Analytics, Designing & Creative, Content Writing, Sales & Marketing, Customer Service, and many more.

Several reputed MNCs like Microsoft, GE, Pinterest, and Automattic are in Upwork’s client lists.

There is no dearth of Job opportunities on Upwork, but if you are a beginner, you need to work hard to build up your reputation as a professional.

As a beginner, you can show your profile to more than 30 lacs clients worldwide. But remember it cuts 20% of earnings until you become an experienced gig.

If you are a beginner and looking to build up a career in freelancing then, Upwork is the best platform, because it has the largest base of clients in the World. Once accepted on this platform, you might get unlimited earning opportunities from this site.

Most Suitable For: 

• Website Developers,
• IT & Networking, Designing
• Any type of general freelancing
• Content Writing
• Software Developers

 

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is a well-known Freelance site, especially for Web Designers & Developers. If you are beginner and thinking to build up a reputation in this industry, then Fiverr is an excellent platform to start.

Fiverr accommodates different types of work for freelancers, some of them are, Graphic Designing, Logo Making, Digital marketing, Video Editing, Books & Album covers, Package designing, and many more. The most important thing for new freelancers is the no-screening process. Therefore the chances of acceptance are higher for the inexperienced or beginners.

As of 2019, the number of Active buyers or clients of Fiverr is more than 2.30 Million. Unlike the other Freelance website, Fiverr also shows INR as one of the currencies, therefore price fluctuation does not affect the earnings.

Fiverr takes 20% as commission from published projects.

Most Suitable For:

• Web Designer,
• Logo Maker
• WordPress Site Developer
• Video Editing
• Digital Marketing
• Apps Developers

 

3. Freelancer

One of the best & very popular Freelance websites for Indian Micro Job seekers. Freelancer is a huge platform where millions of buyers & sellers come together.

The site has an impressive buyer list of top MNCs like Microsoft, Intel, Boeing, Metlife & many more. You can create a free seller profile and showcase skills to prospective buyers. You can get any kind of job – starting from small gigs to large projects.

Some of the popular categories of Micro Jobs, you can find in Freelancer are Data Entry, Web Designing, Article Writing, Virtual Assistant, Logo Designing, App Creating, Package Designing, and many more. The majority of the freelancers on this site are from countries like India, the US, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc.

Freelancer has over 27 million registered users and posts over 13 million projects in diverse categories of jobs.

Freelancer commission rate is much lower than Upwork or Fiverr, it takes 10% for Hourly Work and for Fixed projects 10% or $5, whichever is higher.

Most Suitable for:

• Web Designing
• IT & Networking
• Content Writing
• Logo Designing

 

4. Truelancer

Truelancer is another popular & top freelancing site in India, especially for beginners. You can find jobs like Content writer, SEO analyst, WordPress Site Developer, PHP Developer, Web Developer, Data Entry, YouTube Experts, WIKI developer, Logo Designing, and many more.

Truelancer has an impressive size of more than 1 million freelancers and 50000 projects to work for. Truelancer is a completely safe marketplace both for buyers & sellers.

Truelancer charges 8-10% of billed work from the freelancers as per their membership plan. For more details on their fee structure, you can visit here.

Most Suitable For:

• Content Writer
• IT & Related Jobs
• Web Developers
• Logo Designer
• Data Entry

 

5. Peopleperhour

As the name speaks for itself, Peopleperhour is the place where clients hire freelancers on an hourly basis. Peopleperhour is one such place that allows freelancers to work as Virtual Team to complete any project.

Peopleperhour is one of the best & genuine freelance websites, both for buyers and Job seekers. You can create your free profile on Peopleperhour & upload your portfolio to attract clients. Even for the new freelancers, Peopleperhour helps to build up the portfolio, so that they can get projects or jobs.

Some of the biggest name companies in the World like BBC, Forbes, Financial Times, CNBC, etc are the clients of Peopleperhour.

The website also runs a design contest, where you can show your best design work for competing for projects from clients.

Unlike the other Freelance Websites, Peopleperhour pays in Pounds (euros), but if you have Payoneer or PayPal Business Account, then you won’t have any problem receiving payments in Indian Bank Accounts.

Some of the popular gigs in Peopleperhour are Affiliate Marketing, App Development, IT Networking, Social Media Management, Lead Generation, etc.

Fees: Peopleperhour charges a 20% commission on the first  £250, For more details on the Fee structure visit here.

Most Suitable for: 

• Mobile App Development
• Content Writing
• Social Media Management
• Affiliate Marketing
• Web Development

 

6. Envato

Envato is a collection of 7 individual digital marketplaces namely,-

• ThemeForest – website templates and WordPress themes
• CodeCanyon- All types of Code, Plugins, and mobile Apps
• VideoHive- Video Graphics
• AudioJungle – stock music and audio
• GraphicRiver – graphics, vectors, and illustrations
• PhotoDune – photography
• 3DOcean -3D models

This Australia-based Freelance website is extremely popular amongst WordPress Developers, especially Themeforest & CodeCanyon. This freelance site is one of the fastest-growing Crowdsourcing companies in the World with more than 7 million registered users.

Envato Studio is the marketplace to connect with freelancers for custom logo design, WordPress Templates, content writing, Mobile App Development, or any type of technical assistance.

Envato Studio charges a platform fee of  30% of the published price when the project is closed.

Most Suitable For:

• WordPress Plugin & Theme Developers
• All types of Website Development
• Graphics & Illustration Developers

 

7. Guru

Founded in 1998, Guru is one of the oldest reliable freelance sites in India as well as the US. The company has offices both in the US and in Noida, India.

Guru allows four types of payments to freelancers,- Fixed Payment after reaching any milestone, Hourly Payment, Recurring payments, and task-based payments.

Guru has a very simple interface, easy to work with, & a large number of freelancers and employers. The site has an easy dispute resolution center, a good rating system, and an easy payment option for freelancers.

This freelance site works on a bidding system. Guru allows freelancers to bid for a certain number of projects for free, after which you have to subscribe to a paid membership plan.

The site is not as popular as Upwork or Fiverr, therefore the competition is less. You can find thousands of micro-jobs online on Guru. Some of the popular job categories are Content writer, Logo Designer, Web Developer, IT solutions, etc.

Most Suitable For:

• Web Developers
• IT Programmers
• Business & Finance Freelancers

 

8. UrbanPro

This freelance site is exclusively for virtual teaching jobs. The demand for virtual coaching classes will definitely increase in the coming years. If you are someone, looking for tuition jobs, then UrbanPro is an ideal platform.

The site has more than 25 lacs students and is linked with more than 6.5 lacs tutors and Institutes in India. You can join as a tutor and start creating learning courses for more than 1000 categories. To start working as a freelancer on UrbanPro, all you have to do is to sign up as a tutor, create a detailed profile of yourself, and bid for the classes online.

To sign up as a tutor in UrbanPro visit here. The site has also a premium membership plan where the freelancers or tutors get higher visibility to the students.

The classes you can cover on UrbanPro are Tuition classes for students, Hobby Classes, Job-related coaching classes, IT & computer classes, and many more.

Most Suitable For:

• Virtual Classes
• Online Tuition

 

9. Flexjobs

Flexjobs is one of the highly rated and reliable remote job sites to work with. If you are looking for a Work for Home type of Job, especially from the countries like US or India, then Flexjobs is a perfect site. All the jobs at Flexjobs are 100% “Remote”.

Some of the top brands in the World like Dell, Apple, Hilton, and Salesforce are the customers of Flexjobs. To use the site’s freelance platform, you’ll have to purchase the paid membership plan to access the Job boards. Flexjobs membership plans start from $6.95 per week and if you purchase for one year, it will cost $49.95/year. The plans are not very costly if you are looking for quality projects without any scams.

At Flexjobs, you can find all types of jobs like Content Writing, Virtual Assistant, Website Developers, Digital Marketers, Virtual Teaching jobs, software developers, copywriters, and many more.

Most Suitable For:

• Content Writing
• Virtual Assistant
• Software Developers
• Digital Marketing

 

10. 99Designs

If you have a passion for logo designing, painting, or graphic arts, then 99Designs is the best site to work with. This Melbourne-based freelancing site is a great platform to connect with some top brands in the world.

The website works on a contest basis, asking designers to provide their work on any particular project fulfilling certain pre-defined criteria. The designer only gets paid, if his/her designs are selected.

The site has high-valued customers and they are willing to pay a good amount for the high-quality works. On 99Designs, you’ll only find works related to designs like T-Shirt design, Logo Design, Website Design, etc.

Most Suitable For:

• Designers

 

How to avoid scams on Freelancing Websites

 

Many popular Freelancing websites like Upwork and Fiverr Freelancers are huge platforms, both for job seekers and hirers. But if you are new and just starting out, you might face several bad experiences. Unknowingly many freelancers fall into the traps on these platforms. To avoid getting scammed at any freelancing site, follow the under noted tips

• Transaction or payment Security as the client and freelancer are both unknown to each other.
• Beware of vague & suspicious jobs where employers offer easy jobs with high pay rates.
• Stay away from those jobs where employers asked to purchase something for the projects.
• Never accepts communications outside the freelance websites.
• Fake Job Postings
• Check out the reputation or trustworthiness of the employers. If possible check out their social profiles.
• Avoid middleman.
• Check out the reputations of freelancing websites.