Freelance Web Design – Top Sites
If you are a freelance web designer, developer, graphic artist, or outsourcing service provider, there are a wide range of sites available on the web to connect with other people to build new business. We take a look at some of the best of these that should be on your short list, and review some of the pros and cons of each. Freelancers should make one site that they feel most comfortable with their base of operations, building accounts and feedback on the site for core business, while keeping aware of the new posts and new projects being offered on others to catch the ones that are most relevant to their area of specialization. The competition on freelance websites is strong among service providers, and the rates can be quite low when set in an international context. Developers may find it valuable to build a support team through these sites as well when the work load becomes too heavy. The sites vary as to whether they require a paid membership and what commission they take from service providers and buyers. Smart management and attention to details will help you reduce your costs, but as always – caveat emptor. Make sure you test providers by giving a small project to complete before diving into a large project. You’ll want to confirm the working relationship, communication, and production quality before making any large commitments or site changes.
Freelance Web Development – Site List:
1. odesk.com
Without a doubt the best freelance site on the web today. From the number of jobs listed and the quality of development projects, to the innovative billing, collaboration, and work monitoring options, oDesk is recommended for developers and service buyers for any project.
GAF, or getafreelancer.com, has one of the most active user communities for freelance project development. The quality of projects isn’t always great here, but the volume of bidding and the prices are low. Recently opened a Euro branch of the site, so may split business between the two, weakening overall brand and community.
3. elance.com
eLance is owned by eBay and as such attracts a fair number of high quality project listings, and a lot of freelancers are doing really well here. However, their subscription fees for connects have you basically paying for every bid you make on site, and extra fees for extra categories, etc. Worth it if you take the time to build a presence on site and manage it like your eBay store.
RentACoder doesn’t have the best design, but gets a lot of project traffic and has a lot of options. The user interface is somewhat counter-intuitive and intrusive, but the site boasts the largest number of completed software development projects of any of the freelance boards and some good projects do come through the vine here.
GetACoder is a nice site, and some good projects seem to come through here on occasion, but it also has a site marketing campaign that makes it feel as if you are working on a ClickBank site. Overall, a mixed bag but worth watching for occasional gems.
Scriptlance is a good place for programming projects and finding web developers, a middle of the road site with about 200 new projects a day. Domain name and traffic are excellent, so expect this site to grow and improve over time. Still one of the main boards to watch for new jobs.
7. guru.com
Guru should be a much better site for freelance than it is currently, with a great domain and design. But doesn’t get much traffic, and costly for freelancers for a yearly account. Good to monitor and you may get a top quality contract from the site with a lot of activity, but not really much business here generally.
8. serebra.com
One of the newest of the main freelance sites, launched with a large PPC ad campaign to bring traffic, but Canada specific interest makes it kind of limited overall. Big budget, promotions, and a lot of hype – may turn out to be a good place to network for big contracts. Nice site design overall.
9. sologig.com
Sologig is another underperforming freelance site, worth watching and building a presence on for the reference or occasional contract, but not to be expected to provide steady work. Maybe a good place for consultants to meet up with corporations seeking specialists, should become better over time.
Sourceforge being the main development repository for so many Open Source projects really should be a natural place to find programmers. The Marketplace isn’t as developed or active as it could be, but a good place to network your services and find new clients.
Second Level Freelance Sites:
Maybe worth a look – some good jobs & resources
http://www.gofreelance.com/
http://www.freelance.com/
http://www.drupaljob.com/forum
http://www.eoola.com/
http://freelanceswitch.com/
Third Level Freelance Sites:
Industry related but not much going on here
http://www.freelanceindia.com/
http://www.freelancedesigners.com/
http://www.ifreelance.com/
http://www.allfreelance.com/
http://www.freelancewriting.com/
http://www.freelancerstore.com/
http://www.freelancefree.com/
http://www.freelancers.net/
http://www.freelanceuk.com/
http://www.outsourcetoday.net/
http://www.profreelancejob.com/
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what a useful list of websites! its just a shame im english and most of those are american based :(
thanks for the links
Most of the sites on the list service freelancers globally. I know from experience that at LEAST the top 4 do!
Over the last week I’ve posted a couple small tasks to a couple sites
- Elance, LimeExchange (very nice looking site) and Serebra Connect.
I’ve found that I get very different responses from all of them since
they focus on different things, but there seems to be plenty of
freelancers available on all the sites. It is very neat being able to
tap into a pool of workers, especially in my area where it has been
very difficult to find contractors.
Tony: I was having the same problem. Here in the Phoenix, Arizona area it seemed that every decent developer I could find was just as over booked as I was.
Im looking for a web developer, this list is going to save me time
Thanks
Roger
Thank you for this list Jeff. Right now I have an account at elance and getafreelancer and I just finished my first project at GAF. I’m definitely going to check out all the sites at the first level list.
good..
Great list of freelance site, I found another site http://www.savvylance.com, can anyone review this site ?
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I have used many websites before:
1. Guru- too expensive to my liking- projects are not worth bidding for- to much hype about the site, but nothings else.
2. Elance- becoming too expensive- that will be their downfall.
3. Odesk- good, but cheap projects
4. ivoireconsultancy.org, a new freelance site, expensive projects, but need to attract more freelancers. Otherwise, projects posted are worth bidding for. Expect to get 3 bids per projects and 1 out of 2 awarded. So no bidding wars which is good for a new freelancer.
Don’t use Getacoder. Getacoder sucks. After 2 weeks pending for withdrawal they gave me an automatic reply stating they were studying my case. 2 months now and still keep my money. ROBBERS and LIERS. Getacoder is a SCAM!!!
My experience is that Getacoder is a bunch of thiefs and crooks. I don’t have the time to explain all in detail. I’m sure hundreds or thousands of companies have just like me been stolen thousands of dollars. After one year I finally realise that I will never see my money back. It is a pitty that there is no international court for such commercial thefts.
I’ve tried using a lot of the sites before, but have started using a new site a couple months ago – http://www.mymuto.com. Its free, easy to use, and haven’t had any issues with the site or people.
Thanks for your reviews. Elance is great, but usually for higher budget projects and proffered to companies. I prefer getafreelancer for individuals most. I also work there. Having great fun working there.