Freelance platforms and the marketplace help companies get contingent workers for projects or job roles that do not require permanent employees. On these platforms, you need to create your profile, share your work portfolio, and then you can communicate with potential employers. 

On freelance platforms, employers and people who are looking for work post their offers. You can apply for any project that you like and are interested in, and using these websites would help you set a solid start for your freelance career. They aid you in making your first client quickly and earn employers’ trust as well.

Here is a list of the best free marketplace and websites of 2022 for those people who wish to work as a freelancer

1. Upwork

Formerly known as oDesk, Upwork has become one of the best websites to work with no matter what type of freelancer you are searching for. It is the world’s biggest freelance platform with over 12M registered freelancers and around 5Mregistered clients. 

Think of any expertise, and you would get projects and freelancers related to it here for sure. It is a user-friendly website, but you would have to submit an application that would get approved or rejected based on the current need for your skills to register with them.

They charge a 20% fee initially that lessens as you work more with the same client. Once you get billed for $500 with the same client, then the fee reduces to 10%, and after that, if you bill $10,000 for the same client, they would just charge a 5% commission. Here you can work with big brands like Airbnb, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc.

 Visit Now

2. Fiverr

It connects freelancers and businesses digitally and has an impressive, comprehensive assortment of professional service offerings with over 250 categories. On this website, freelancers post the amount they can offer, and clients can search for them and give them the project.

Fiverr pays comparatively higher than Upwork, and they charge $1 for $5 gig or 20%. Here usually, every single job costs $5 in which you can find writers, photographers, video creators, web designers, and other such work done. It is a good launching pad for entry-level freelancers, and they can earn a decent amount of money depending on the projects they get.

If you wish to render digital services, then you would have to create a seller profile. After that, you require to make a gig and give all the information the clients might need to decide whether to work with you or not. For attracting more clients, you can also add a video to your gig.

 Visit Now

3. Freelancer

This website is best for small businesses who require talent and help in anything related to website development, logo designing, writing, and marketing. Their client list has big brand names with whom a lot of people wish to work with such as Intel, Microsoft, and Boeing. 

The freelancer website is very easy to use, plus signing up with them is also very simple and straightforward. You just need to upload previous work examples, bid for work, and after that, you can chat with the hirers employing. The best thing is that you do not have to pay anything to sign up, plus you do not have to pass an interview or test to join them.

They have over 17,000,000 registered users and 10,000,000 projects which they have posted. They are serving people in over 240 countries and are in this industry for more than 15 years. Hence, it is a fully reliable website in terms of payment, work, and brands.

Visit Now

4. Guru

This freelance marketplace is specifically made to help companies get professional freelancers from all over the world. There hiring process is straightforward, which makes it easy for the clients to hire freelancers. Although it is a new website, it has still managed to make its user-base of more than 1,500,000 million. https://377f2a57754b76a260c462a27a62d745.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The numbers are growing with every passing day; in fact, they have completed more than 1,000,000 jobs. Creating a profile with them is pretty simple and easy; all you need is to make your profile, and you are good to go. They have a massive amount of job postings every day, which are from various profiles.

They offer five monthly memberships; the basic one is free for all, but in that, you are allowed only 120 bids in a year. If you get a job, then Guru charges a 7% fee for that. 

Their maximum fee is $39.95 per month if you pay annually, in which you get 600 bids a year with an annual rollover of 300, 5% job fee, and a few marketing features like boosting your ranking in search results, create premium quotes, etc.

Visit Now

5. People Per Hour

It is a massive and one of the best freelance marketplaces as here you can get a wide range of categories such as audio, video, web development, web design, mobile development, social media, and much more. On this platform, people have earned more than £130 million through 1 million businesses. 

Its primary aim is to link its customers with the right kind of people. The unique thing about them is that every person you work with has been hand-curated by them; hence the quality of people and work with them is fabulous.

Their hiring process is very flexible, and their prices are also affordable. For creating your profile, first, you would have to fill an online application that is reviewed by a moderation team to make sure that they hire the best freelancers.

Once you get the approval after that, you can access a stream of projects from international clients as well. You can either search for the projects manually or save automatic searches to receive notifications when they list any new projects .

 Visit Now

6. Toptal

If you are looking for top-quality freelancers, then this should be the first freelance marketplace you should think of. Their application process is so tough that out of thousands of applications they receive every day, they only accept a few.  It is created to assist companies to hire from the top tier of world-class freelancers.

You would get all types of work and freelancers such as designers, developers, project managers, and finance experts. Toptal helps you find the right person for your job who eventually becomes a part of your team. You get to access their great clients once you get selected after your screening process is complete.

They have big brands working with them, such as Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Airbnb, Zendesk, etc.

Visit Now

7. FlexJobs

It is a platform specializing in flexible jobs as it comprises remote work, on-site jobs, freelance opportunities, and flexible work schedules.  More than 40,000 companies hire freelancers through them, and you can choose as per your interest and skills. Its disadvantage is that you would have to search a lot out of a ton of junk to get quality job postings.

This does not mean that there are scam postings; it is a well-curated website as they research the jobs and monitor new gigs thoroughly. Every requirement posted on this platform goes through a detailed screening process that assures authenticity and legitimacy. 

They have jobs from all over the world in more than 50 career categories. This platform is not free of cost; if you want to get complete access to its vast network of employers and detailed description of each company, then you would have to pay $14.95 a month for that.

Visit Now

8. 99designs

It is one of the best freelance marketplaces for logo, web, and graphic design. Here, you would be able to see a new design made every two seconds for the client; just imagine the talent you can get here. Clients only need to provide their requirements, and designers submit their entries. 

If a logo is well-designed, it attracts a lot of customer’s attention; therefore, it is imperative that an experienced designer does this work for you. On 99designs, you can rest assured about the quality and designs. 

This website works relatively differently as compared to the other websites. The clients provide the brief of their design, and designers submit their application; the client would select the one they like, and the designer gets the payment for that. 

The good thing about this website is that they make you feel supported as a freelancer because they help you find opportunities or join a community of designers.

 Visit Now

9. SimplyHired

In this marketplace, freelancers can find work in almost every field; thus, it is perfect for people who seek extra work. The significant advantage is that they do not charge people for putting the job postings, which is why there are numerous job opportunities on this website. 

It is very easy for you to upload a resume and get your profile up and running as a freelancer. Once this is done, you would be able to see freelance jobs in your nearby location as well. You would also be able to see a list of top salaries and a tool where you can estimate your fee. 

They provide work in more than 24 countries and in 12 different languages, which very few websites offer. You can also narrow down your searches only to what you are interested in, making job search easy for you. This feature’s major benefit is that you can do a valuable search than just seeing the loosely related results.

 Visit Now

10. Aquent

This is a great website that helps in making connections for you. Their clients come up with the job posts, and they turn it to their group of freelancers to do the job. They provide the right match for talented people with companies who are searching to hire the same skill-set. 

They majorly provide jobs related to marketing, tech, and creative careers. Aquent has won numerous awards because of the quality work they offer and the incredible talent they possess. They usually accept applicants who have more than two years of experience, but they welcome fresh graduates as well to explore their available jobs.

Here you get the opportunity to work on-site or remotely as per your preference. Plus, they also offer training in practical skills to freelancers to sharpen their skills, which helps a lot on the freelancers’ overall development.

Visit Now

11. PubLoft

If you love writing and have the talent to pen down on anything and everything, then this can be an excellent platform for you. They allow you to write for academics like white papers, term papers, dissertations, and much more. This platform is specifically created for academic writers.

On the website, you would be able to see profiles that display stats such as educational background, experience in the field you choose, experience, number of pages written, and previous ratings by the client. They also have a grammar and formatting test that you would have to clear to start working with them. 

The good thing about this platform is that you get to work with reliable clients, and you need not interact with them. They help freelancers in finding customers again and again.

 Visit Now

12. LinkedIn

It is one of the most important social networking websites as it offers a plethora of employment opportunities for freelancers. Every day you would be able to see millions of jobs posted on LinkedIn, some of them are full-time, but a lot of them are part-time as well.

They have both free and premium subscriptions, but if you do not wish to pay and opt for the free version, you would still be able to see many job postings and apply for them. Signing up is pretty easy with them, and the good part is that you do not have to go through any test or screening to start working with them.https://377f2a57754b76a260c462a27a62d745.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

On LinkedIn, you can find all sorts of jobs, just upload your resume, and it would be great if you post examples of the previous work done by you. They have recently launched Profinder– which is mainly for freelancers where they find their next gig. They are spread across 200 countries with more than 420 million users.

Visit Now

13. Designhill

This platform has become one of the best freelance marketplaces for web design, logo, and graphic design for both freelancers and employers. Their signup process is not that easy and direct, making the competition among the designers pretty meagre. As the competition is less, you have chances to get paid more.

There are a few ways employers can search for freelance designers, such as by creating a project contest; by doing this, they will get a lot of design entries, or another way is by searching the services through a search box placed at the top of the landing page. 

Here you would find numerous opportunities to work in different ways, such as designing t-shirts to print and sell them in their online shop. Hence, you not only get to work with just websites or logos, but you have different opportunities that can help you and your resumes grow.

 Visit Now

14. Hubstaff Talent

Usually, all the freelance platforms and marketplace charge fees from their clients or freelancers, but Hubstaff is relatively different from others. You would be glad to know that they do not charge any fee from their clients and freelancers, it is absolutely free.

They have hit more than 7,000 freelancers mark in just a couple of years and are multiplying every day.  The good thing about this platform is that here you can choose the work mode as per your choice as they have options for you to work full-time, part-time, on an hourly basis, or at a fixed price.

You can find an array of jobs here, such as an infrastructure manager, receptionist, product marketing, helpdesk manager, etc. Signing up with them is very simple and quick; all you need to do is fill in your personal details, skills, experience, and availability; you would be notified through an email when someone likes your service.

 Visit Now

15. SolidGigs

Time is very precious while freelancing. If you spend hours searching for a suitable job and still do not find one as per your choice, it wastes time, effort, and money. You could have spent this time doing work and making money. 

Keeping this in mind, SolidGigs filters through dozens of jobs and picks the best, and sends it to the user. It does this through its two tools- a weekly gig list and a courses & tools section. A team of SolidGigs scrolls through the various job opportunities and then alerts freelancers about the best 1% of the jobs available every day.

In the courses & tools section, they partner with people in freelancing and solopreneurship to provide training and education on numerous topics- starting from pitching to sales, pricing, and client acquisition.

It is an excellent website for beginners as it comprises a variety of jobs such as media consultant, guest blogger, salesforce administrator, etc.

Visit Now

16. We Work Remotely

In today’s time as a freelancer, there are various alternatives for finding a job. This is another great platform for freelancers where they can seek tons of job opportunities in multiple fields such as marketing, sales, copywriting, design, programming, and much more.

If you want, you can apply for their newsletter, tick the category that you wish to work for, and they would notify you about the jobs available in that sector through an email. Another option to search for a job on this platform is by searching on the page and see what is new or select the category that fits your interest best. 

They have full-time, part-time, and contract job opportunities; you can choose any option as per your time availability. Signing up with them is pretty easy as you just need to fill in a few details, and you are good to go. It is one of the best freelance marketplaces for people looking for various options to work with big brands.

 Visit Now

17. Dribbble

This freelance marketplace is a hub for people seeking a freelancing job. It is a great platform to share your web designing work with employers and get the most appropriate job opportunity. Dribbble comprises tons of projects for visual designers, UI & UX designers, brand designers, animators, illustrators, etc. 

All in all, it is a huge platform where designers & creatives from all around the world gather to share their work. The good part about this website is that you can search for the job by specialties such as graphics, mobile, etc. Plus, you also have the option to choose a location, check remote work, select the job type (part-time or full time), and much more. 

It is a user-friendly website where searching for jobs has been made really easy for both beginner and experienced freelancers. There a lot of people who have joined this website because of the quality of work they offer, plus they have a lot of reliable brands.

 Visit Now

18. Gigster

This freelance marketplace is particularly for web developers and software developers as they can find numerous job opportunities on Gigster. You would find some of the best technology minds on this website from the world’s leading universities and corporate companies. 

It has a small screening process, but that helps freelancers in matching with the projects quickly. In fact, they have a dedicated team to handle sales and administrative work so that you can concentrate on your core job. They have a pretty straightforward business platform as it helps connect people with ideas and other people who have the skill-set to execute those ideas.

On Gigster, you can be sure of your project’s timely completion by the best person irrespective of the project type. Your project might be a complicated engineering task or a simple project; they ensure client satisfaction along with keeping time and other factors in mind.

 Visit Now

19. Behance

It is one of the best freelance marketplaces for a graphic designer as here they have tons of job opportunities to work with renowned merchants. On Behance, you can find the world’s top design collection, and it has become an immense designer community today. 

You have options to work full-time, on contract, as a freelancer, or on an internship project. Other categories in which you can find jobs on Behance are photography, fashion, architecture, branding, etc. It is in various countries such as Canada, Australia, Belgium, the USA, etc.  

People work differently on Behance as they share the work they have completed or working on. Here, many designers do concept art, and at times they create such beautiful concepts that it beats the original one.  It is a massive marketplace; hence finding a designer or any kind of freelancer is very easy and quick.

 Visit Now

20. CloudPeeps

People who have a big freelancing portfolio can get excellent jobs at Cloudpeeps as they have big brands associated with them that offer quality jobs. This website is run by a community of freelancers and is managed really well in a systematic manner.

They also provide an option for freelancers to make their team if they want and work accordingly. You can find an array of job opportunities in various sectors such as email, SEO, design, copywriting, content, social media, and many more. 

There are thousands of professionals working as a freelancer on Cloudpeeps, and you can be a member of their team if you create a nice portfolio. The good part of this platform is that it allows you to work remotely.

Visit Now

Home-based workers are contributing a lot to the economy of Pakistan as they are doing a tremendous job by locally producing homemade items, such as needlework, embroidery, quilts, etc.

Education brings a lasting change and enriches the skills of people to bring innovations in their work by researching and exploring the markets to market such items. But these artisans and skilled women get the golden chance to showcase their skills only at cultural events organised by development organisations, culture departments and at fairs at shrines of Sufi saints where stalls are set up to attract people from all walks of life to purchase their handicrafts at a high price owing to the high cost of travelling and raw materials.

Their constant exclusion from the minimum wage policy, life insurance and health insurance policy prompted the home-based workers both male and female to stage protests recently to press for their demands since they are not being given their due rights as safeguarded by the state.

The protests were supported by the human rights and women’s rights NGOs to influence the government to formulate a policy for home-based workers. The Sindh government took the lead in this by becoming the first province ever to have adopted a policy for home-based workers and passed the Sindh Home-based Workers Act of 2018. The Sindh government became the first province in Asia to have adopted a policy and legislative framework for the home-based workers that will likely benefit these skilled persons.

The passage of the Sindh Home-based workers Act of 2018 is the kind of initiative we expect from the federal government. It should announce a national policy for home-based workers so that the provinces implement the policy in letter and in spirit. The provinces should also legislate the policy framework for the workers and give market access to these home-based workers to sell their products at competitive prices that benefit them, especially women working at home.

This will at least contribute to the income generation and fix minimum wages to protect the rights of these workers.

There is also a strong need to establish skills development centres in rural areas as per the existing skills of rural women to help improve their economic condition and open opportunities for their work and income generation so that they may support their families and earn a respectable earning by working from home.

Working from home is getting popularity throughout world as technological advancement has bridged the gap between countries and opened infinite opportunities. The Ministry of IT and Telecom has taken the lead to introduce Digiskills.pk —a joint initiative of the Ministry of IT and Telecom and Virtual University of Pakistan named ‘Ignite’ to impart free skills-based training to the youth through online learning and the YouTube channel. This is a great initiative to impart skills to the youth free of cost and enable them to get jobs working as freelancers, digital marketers and accountants.

The Ministry of Labour, SMEDA and NAVTEC may come up with a similar project to build the skills of home-based workers in their respective fields such as tailoring and design-making, fashion designing, blanket and quilt making, at the grassroots level to transform their skills into income generation.

The government should come up with small-scale loans for these skilled domestic workers through commercial as well as microfinance banks so that these deprived communities may avail the financial assistance to set up their stalls and shops in villages, small towns and cities. In Sindh, the SRSO has done a tremendous job under the UC-based programme ‘Success’ and revitalised the income-generation ability of rural women. This training and access to market will engage these workers in the workplace and they can increase their earning potential if given proper advice and guidance.

It is high time that the government of Pakistan adopted a legislative framework for home-based workers so that the long-standing issues facing domestic skilled workers may be addressed.