Guru.com vs Upwork

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• Fiverr Freelance marketplace Fiverr is a gig-based online marketplace where freelancers sell productized services (gigs) at set prices and buyers purchase them directly. Global Pricing Sellers are credited earnings equal to 80% of the purchase amount on Gigs and of the hourly rate on Hourly Contracts, so Fiverr retains 20% on those orders. Fiverr's Payment Terms state that as of September 2025 buyers pay a service fee of 5.5% of the purchase amount, that purchases under US$200 carry an additional US$3.5 small order fee, and that new Hourly Contracts carry a US$5 Order Initiation Fee. Payment Terms last updated January 2026. 9 of 16 rows sourced Alternatives
• Freelancer.com Freelance marketplace Freelancer.com is a crowdsourcing and freelance marketplace where employers post projects or contests and freelancers bid to win the work. Global Pricing Freelancers pay 10% of the project value or $5, whichever is greater, on fixed-price projects, and 10% on hourly projects. Employers post projects free but pay a project award fee of 3% or $3, whichever is greater, on fixed-price projects and 3% on each hourly payment, plus payment transaction fees of $0.30 plus 2.3%. Contests carry no employer fee. Per freelancer.com's own fees and charges page. 8 of 16 rows sourced Alternatives
• PeoplePerHour Freelance marketplace PeoplePerHour is a British freelance marketplace connecting businesses with freelancers for project-based and hourly work, including pre-packaged offers. Europe & UK Global Pricing Tiered freelancer service fee on lifetime billings per buyer: 20% (excl. VAT) below 250 GBP, 7.5% (excl. VAT) between 250 and 5,000 GBP, and 3.5% (excl. VAT) above 5,000 GBP, with a minimum service fee of 1 GBP (excl. VAT) per invoice. 2 of 16 rows sourced Alternatives
• Workana Freelance marketplace Workana is a freelance and remote work platform focused on Latin America, which also states a presence in Southeast Asia. Latin America United States Pricing Workana's client FAQ says "Posting a project and chatting with the freelancers is free of charge. However, there is a service fee which depends on a number of factors." No percentage or fee schedule is published on that page. 4 of 16 rows sourced Alternatives
• YunoJuno Freelance marketplace YunoJuno is a London-founded freelancer management platform that says its network has more than 150,000 freelancers and over 12,000 clients across 165+ countries, covering contracts, IR35 compliance and payments. Europe & UK Pricing YunoJuno publishes no rate card. Its pricing page lists two plans, "Freelancer Management System" and "YunoJuno Enterprise", both marked "Custom Pricing" behind a "Request a quote" button, and states: "The Freelancer Management System uses a simple percentage fee on contractor payments. YunoJuno Enterprise uses custom pricing based on scale, support level, and program complexity. There are no hidden fees and no unexpected markups." The percentage itself is not disclosed. 6 of 16 rows sourced Alternatives

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The comparison ends here; this is our own data. Most articles comparing Guru.com and Upwork quote prices that go stale. These numbers come from Flexiple's talent graph: real pool sizes and median salaries for remote engineers in India, refreshed with every site update.

From teams that hired through Flexiple

1. [1]Guru.com · guru.com/how-it-works/: "Find quality Freelancers in the Guru marketplace using objective performance data." And: "While we share relevant information about the Freelancers, it is ultimately your decision who you choose to hire." · Guru "How Guru Works for Employers", step 2: "Post your job" to "Get Quotes from Freelancers within a few hours."guru.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
2. [2]Upwork · Upwork Help, "What is Expert-Vetted status on Upwork?": "The Expert-Vetted badge highlights independent professionals in the top 1% of their field on Upwork. To earn it, freelancers complete a rigorous evaluation process, including a 30-minute interview to assess both hard and soft skills." The badge is stated to be visible to Enterprise and Business Plus clients. That screening sits on top of an open marketplace: https://www.upwork.com/i/how-it-works/client/ tells clients to "Browse freelancer portfolios to see real examples of their work", "Read freelancer reviews to gauge their communication, reliability, and quality" and "Message or video chat with freelancers to learn more about their experience and skills."support.upwork.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
3. [3]Guru.com · guru.com/agreements lists four payment terms: Fixed Price - "Create milestones for your job. Set due dates and amount to be paid for each milestone."; Hourly - "Define the hourly rate and the maximum time to be spent in a week. Use our Time Tracker tool to accurately record billable hours."; Recurring Payments - "Set up jobs as retainers with this option. Payments can be made weekly, biweekly, monthly, or quarterly."; Task-Based - "Create and assign tasks as required for ad-hoc freelance work. Payments can be made for a task once the job is done." https://www.guru.com/how-it-works/ adds "Finalize the Agreement" on "scope of work, Payment terms and timeline" and "Use SafePay" to ensure "Only pay for work that you're 100% satisfied with."guru.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
4. [4]Upwork · Upwork Help: "With hourly contracts, you pay your freelancer by the hour. The minimum hourly rate is $3.00 USD ... Freelancers track their hours using a work diary ... You can set a weekly limit on how many hours can be billed ... You're billed based on hours logged each week." And: "With fixed-price contracts, you pay your freelancer a set amount for a defined project or deliverable (we call them milestones). The minimum project rate is $5.00 USD ... You can break the project into milestones (or keep it as one) ... You fund each milestone before work begins."support.upwork.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
5. [5]Guru.com · guru.com/pricing/ membership table: Basic 9%, Basic+ 9%, Professional 7%, Business 6%, Executive 5% job fee. The 2.9% employer handling fee and the 3% eCheck cashback are published separately at guru.com/help/employer/handling-fees/ and are carried in this entry's cited facts.guru.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
6. [6]Upwork · Form 10-K FY2025 (filed 13 February 2026): "Effective May 2025, we introduced a variable pricing structure for talent service fees for new contracts. Under this variable pricing structure, talent on the Upwork Marketplace are charged a fixed fee for each contract ranging from 0% to 15% of their earnings, depending on platform-specific supply and demand factors... The applicable fee is disclosed at contract inception and remains fixed for the duration of the contract. For contracts formed prior to May 2025, we maintain a flat talent service fee of 10% for talent working with clients on the Upwork Marketplace." And: "We charge a client marketplace fee of 5% on each transaction-or 3% if paid via ACH for eligible clients. We also offer a Business Plus plan that includes premium features targeted at larger customers, which is subject to a client marketplace fee of 10% on each transaction-or 8% if paid via ACH for eligible clients." · Form 10-K FY2025: "clients of our Enterprise Solutions offerings can subscribe to a compliance service that includes worker classification services for an additional fee"; revenue policy note headed "Enterprise compliance service fees." · Upwork Form 10-K for fiscal 2025: "our platforms and workforce solutions include capabilities designed to support trusted and reliable remote engagements, such as escrow services, approval workflows, and dispute resolution processes that help ensure clients pay only for work that has been completed and talent are paid in full and on time." And: "we provide escrow services to our customers and maintain a subsidiary licensed as an internet escrow agent by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which we refer to as the DFPI." · Upwork Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, risk factor "We are subject to disputes with or between our customers": "Disputes sometimes arise between talent and clients, including with respect to service standards, payment, confidentiality, work product, and intellectual property ownership and infringement. If either party believes the contract terms were not met, the service agreements negotiated between our customers and our default terms provide a mechanism for the parties to request assistance from us and, for some contracts, a third-party arbitrator." · Form 10-K for FY2025 (filed 2026-02-13): "Upwork Inc. is incorporated in the state of Delaware and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California." · Reported revenue of $787.8 million for fiscal 2025, up 2% on 2024, in the Form 10-K filed 13 February 2026; common stock trades on Nasdaq under UPWK following an initial public offering in October 2018. · Effective May 2025 Upwork moved new contracts to a variable talent service fee of 0% to 15%, disclosed at contract inception and fixed for the contract; contracts formed before May 2025 stay on a flat 10%.sec.govchecked 12 Aug 2026
7. [7]Upwork · Upwork "How Upwork works" FAQ, "How fast can I hire a freelancer on Upwork?": "Most clients hire within three days of posting a job. Once your job is live, freelancers begin submitting proposals. You can also invite specific freelancers to apply or review suggested freelancer matches to move faster."upwork.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
8. [8]Guru.com · guru.com/safepay/, "Payment Protection with SafePay": "SafePay helps provide transparency on the platform. It is a shared account that is funded by the Employer before starting work. When SafePay is funded, the Freelancer can feel confident that funds are available, and the Employer feels secure that work can be reviewed before making the payment." FAQ: "Is it mandatory to use SafePay? No, it is not mandatory to use SafePay." and "Is it free to use SafePay? Yes, SafePay is free to use by both Employers and Freelancers." · guru.com/safepay/: "Funds can be released to either the Employer or the Freelancer. In the case of a disagreement, either party can request Arbitration, as long as funds are available in SafePay." FAQ: "if Arbitration is requested, we charge an Arbitration Fee of either $25 or 5% of the SafePay balance (whichever is higher). This fee is taken from the funds in SafePay. If SafePay balance is $50 or less, we waive our fee and the balance is distributed equally between the Employer and the Freelancer." And: "We offer Arbitration services only for funds in SafePay. Either party can request for Arbitration during which our Arbitrators review job expectations, communication between the parties, and work deliverables. Once a ruling is reached, funds in SafePay are distributed."guru.comchecked 13 Aug 2026
9. [9]Guru.com · guru.com/about/: "Since 1998, we have been working tirelessly out of our offices in Pittsburgh, PA and Noida, India." · Guru states it has operated since 1998, working out of offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Noida, India.guru.comchecked 7 Aug 2026
10. [10]Upwork · TechCrunch, 5 May 2015: Elance and oDesk merged and the combined company rebranded as Upwork. The 2015 date is the date of that rebrand, not of the predecessor companies. · Elance and oDesk merged more than a year before the rebrand; TechCrunch reported on 5 May 2015 that the combined company was rebranding as Upwork.techcrunch.comchecked 7 Aug 2026
11. [11]Guru.com · guru.com/contact/ gives the company's address as "5001 Baum Blvd. Suite 605, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213". guru.com/about/ separately describes "our offices in Pittsburgh, PA and Noida, India" and names no headquarters, so Pittsburgh is taken from the contact address, not from the office list.guru.comchecked 12 Aug 2026
12. [12]Guru.com · Employers pay a 2.9% handling fee on the invoice value, which Guru offsets with a 3% instant cashback when payment is made by eCheck, physical check or wire transfer.guru.com