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''Main article: [[Upwork:Competition]]''
''Main article: [[Upwork:Competition]]''


Our research indicates that Fiverr,Toptal Freelance.com and LinkedIn are the major competitors of Upwork. We have examined each of them below.
Shorter Description of Upworks Competition.  
 
=== 1. Fiverr ===
Fiverr was founded in 2010 by Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger<ref>Source: Fiverr</ref>. Micha Kaufman has been the company's CEO since its inception, while Shai Wininger left his CTO position in 2019 to join his startup company, Lemonade, as CEO<ref>https://www.linkedin.com/in/michakaufman/
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaiwininger/
 
</ref>. As of December 2021, Fiverr had 787 employees. It is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Below is a comparison of Upwork and Fiverr.
 
==== a. Financial comparisons<ref>Source: Fiverr, Upwork
 
https://ycharts.com/companies/UPWK/ps_ratio
 
https://ycharts.com/companies/FVRR/ps_ratio
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michakaufman/
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaiwininger/
 
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/UPWK?p=UPWK
 
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FVRR?p=FVRR
 
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FVRR/fiverr/debt-equity-ratio#:~:text=The%20debt%2Fequity%20ratio%20can,September%2030%2C%202022%20was%201.90.
 
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UPWK/upwork/debt-equity-ratio#:~:text=The%20debt%2Fequity%20ratio%20can,September%2030%2C%202022%20was%202.32.&text=Upwork%20Inc.,provides%20online%20recruitment%20services.
 
https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FVRR/valuation/metrics[https://investors.upwork.com/static-files/881b56ef-812d-456d-89e5-98eef866460e#:~:text=Marketplace%20take%20rate%20for%20the,marketplace%2C%20resulting%20in%20strong%20retention. 98eef866460e#:~:text=Marketplace%20take%20rate%20for%20the,marketplace%2C%20resulting%20in%20strong%20retention.]</ref> ====
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!Current market capitalization
!2021 revenue
!2021 Net Income
!P/S ratio
!Debt (Q3 2022)
!Cash balance(Q3 2022)
!Debt to equity ratio(Q3 2022)
!GSV(Q3 2022)
!Active Clients (Q3 2022)
!Q3 2022 Take rate
|-
|Upwork
|1.497 billion
|$502. 8 million
|  -56.24 million
|2.491
|$564 million
|$678 million
|2.32
|$1.027 billion
|0.818 million
|15.4%
|-
|Fiverr
|1.078 bilion
|$297.7 million
|  -24.50 million
|3.195
|$463.31 million
|$470.75 million
|1.90
|$1.119 billion
|4.2 million
|30.0%
|}
 
==== b. Products, Management, and Marketing comparisons<ref>https://www.upwork.com/resources/upwork-vs-fiverr<nowiki/>https://s23.q4cdn.com/749308338/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Fiverr-101_FINAL.pdf
 
https://freelancing.school/fiverr-vs-upwork/
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npta6zk_Eu0
 
https://s23.q4cdn.com/749308338/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Fiverr-101_FINAL.pdf</ref> ====
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!Management
!CEO's length of service
!Contract types
!Freelance fees
!Client fees
!Ways of getting hired
!Bidding fee
!Quality of customer support
!Marketing
!Job Categories
!Revenue sources
|-
|Upwork
|CEO is not the founder
|3 years
|Fixed-type and hourly contracts
|Reducing- tier fee whose range is 20-5%
|5% for non-ACH clients and 3% otherwise
|Sending proposals and answering job invites
|2-6 connects
|Mainly relies on chatbot to offer customer support
|Its brand marketing has not picked up. It has not seen return on investment yet.
|more than 90
|Generates revenue from marketplace and managed sources
|-
|Fiverr
|CEO is the founder
|12 years
|Only fixed-type contracts
|20%
|5%
|Freelancers mainly wait for clients to buy their "gigs"
|No bidding fee
|Uses real human to offer customer support but you have to wait for about 24 hours
|Genius marketing in YouTube. Its time to return on investment, (tROI) in their performance marketing is less than 7 months.
|more than 250
|Revenue mainly comes from transaction-based fees
|}
 
===== Our assessment of competition from Fiverr =====
Even though Upwork and Fiverr are on par with each other, Upwork is more attractive to corporate clients due to its lower take rate and availability of hourly contracts. Therefore, as the world shifts to a freelance workforce, Upwork will benefit more than Fiverr. Fiverr may have great marketing, but Upwork recently started spending heavily on brand marketing. If Upwork's brand marketing pays off, it will outperform Fiverr further. We also feel that Fiverr's 20% fee imposed on freelancers is disadvantageous to freelancers who have worked with a client for a long time. That will likely force them to work outside the platform. Nevertheless, in October 2020, Upwork launched Project Catalog, which is similar to the "gigs" feature in Fiverr<ref>https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/upwork-launches-project-catalog-beta-a-new-way-for-businesses-and-independent-talent-to-instantly-work-together</ref>. If clients were attracted to Fiverr instead of Upwork because of that feature, that is no longer the case. 
 
=== 2. LinkedIn ===
We view the impending competition from LinkedIn as the greatest threat to Upwork's success. LinkedIn is a marketplace that connects job seekers with employers. It has over 875 million members in more than 200 countries<ref>https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/10/26/upwork-upwk-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcript/</ref>. In 2016, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn ProFinder, a free service that enabled freelancers to connect with clients from their locality. The service only allowed freelancers to send up to 10 proposals for free. After that, one needed a LinkedIn Pro subscription which costs around $60, to send more proposals for free. The other key disadvantage of the LinkedIn ProFinder is that it was one-way. That is, freelancers could not send proposals for which they have not received invitations. Also, the freelancer could not review a client<ref>https://aboundsocial.com/linkedin-profinder-hiring-landing-gigs-more/</ref>. In March 2021, LinkedIn upgraded it to LinkedIn Service Marketplace. The new marketplace enabled freelancers to bid for proposals outside their locality. During the launch, LinkedIn said that the marketplace started with 250 job categories but would later expand to 500 job categories. Six months after its launch, 2 million providers had joined the marketplace, proving it is rapidly growing<ref>https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/announcing-launch-linkedin-services-marketplace-matt-faustman/</ref>. We believe if LinkedIn introduces more features common to marketplaces like Upwork, such as payment features, hourly tracker, the ability for freelancers to bid for jobs without relying on invites, etc., LinkedIn Service Marketplace will eat Upwork's market share.
 
=== 3. Toptal<ref><nowiki>https://www.upwork.com/resources/upwork-vs-toptal↵↵https://www.toptal.com/about↵↵https://www.benzinga.com/sec/insider-trades/upwk/hayden-brown↵↵https://www.toptal.com/press-center/toptal-applications-surge</nowiki>
 
<nowiki>https://www.upwork.com/resources/upwork-vs-toptal</nowiki>
 
<nowiki>https://www.theinformation.com/articles/at-booming-toptal-no-stock-for-employees-or-investors</nowiki>
 
<nowiki>https://remote.co/company/toptal/</nowiki></ref> ===
The company's name stands for "top talent". It claims to provide access to only the top 3% of freelancers worldwide. Toptal was founded in 2010 by Taso Du Val and Breanden Beneschott. Taso Du Val has been the company's CEO since its inception, while Breanden Beneschott was the COO until he was ousted in 2018. Unlike the other three Upwork competitors mentioned in this article, Toptal is the only competitor not listed. It has over 500 employees and no headquarters. The table below compares Upwork and Toptal.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!CEO ownership
!2020 revenue
!Number of clients in 2022
!Time it takes to locate a freelancer
!Time it takes a freelancer to join the platform
!Trial window for client-freelance relationship available?
!Where freelancers come from
!How much does it charge clients?
!Does it vets clients?
!Industries covered
!Experience needed?
!Deposit needed from clients?
!Account types
!Awards badges?
!Service fees levied on freelancers
!Security
!Job categories
!Types of clients
|-
|Upwork
|Hayden owns less than 1% of the company
|$374 million
|over 818,000
|less than 3 days
|24 hours
|No
|More than 180 countries
|3-5%
|No
|12
|No
|No
|Freelance basic and freelance plus
|Yes
|20-5% of earnings
|Takes security of the platform seriously
|More than 90
|All types
|-
|Toptal
|Taso owns 100% of the company
|Around $300 million
|Over 21,000
|90% of clients hire within 24 hours
|Up to 5 weeks
|Yes
|More than 100 countries
|Unspecified markup fees on top of freelance fees
|Yes
|5
|2 years experience needed
|$500 deposited is needed, which is credited on first invoice or refunded
|One account type
|No
|No service fee
|No much information about Toptal's security features
|Only 5
|Mainly start-ups and large enterprises
|}
 
===== Our assessment of competition from Toptal =====
Toptal is known for high-quality clients and freelancers. That is why startups and large enterprise clients mainly use it. However, its strict screening process limits the number of users on the platform. Also, the fact that only clients pay transaction fees makes the platform expensive compared to Upwork. Besides, the few job categories on the site make it less attractive. Therefore, competition from this company is moderate.
 
=== 4. Freelancer.com<ref>https://www.freelancer.com/about
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbarrie/?originalSubdomain=au
 
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-can-upwork-ipo-learn-from-freelancercoms-stock-michael-a-brooks/
 
https://www.freelancer.com/faq/topic.php?id=36
 
https://www.freelancer.com/feesandcharges
 
https://www.freelancer.com/hire
 
https://www.freelancer.com/support/payments/milestone-payment-for-employers-2228/
 
https://www.upwork.com/direct-contracts
 
https://www.freelancer.com/faq/topic.php?id=5
 
https://www.freelancer.com/about/investor-pdf.php?id=168084920&name=FLN%20ANNUAL_REPORT_2021
 
https://investors.upwork.com/static-files/881b56ef-812d-456d-89e5-98eef866460e#:~:text=Marketplace%20take%20rate%20for%20the,marketplace%2C%20resulting%20in%20strong%20retention.</ref>===
Freelancer.com is another competitor for Upwork. However, we are not scared of competition from Freelancer.com. It was founded in 2009 by Matt Barrie, its CEO to date. The company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2013, where it managed to achieve around $1 billion in market capitalization. The company says on its website that it has 63,976,270 employers and freelancers globally. Freelance.com is known for the acquisitions of many outsourcing marketplaces. Some companies it has acquired are GetAFreelancer.com, EUFreelance.com, LimeExchange, Scriptlance.com, etc. It has 286 employees and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Below is our comparison of Upwork and Freelancer.com.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!Management
!2021 revenue
!2021 GMV
!Payment protection available?
!Fees
!Job types
!Job categories
!Fake Profiles
!User interface
!Dispute resolution
!Ease of creating freelance profile
!Freelancer Subscription available?
!Platform usability
!External job fee
!Bid limit
|-
|Upwork
|CEO is not the founder
|$503 million
|$3.5 billion
|yes
|Clients: 3-5%
Freelancers: Reducing- tier fee of between 20-5%
|Hourly and Tixed-type(Hourly jobs more than fixed-type jobs)
|over 90
|2-5%
|User-friendly
|Good
|Hard
|No
|Fast
|3.4%
|You can only be limited by the number of connects you have.
|-
|Freelancer.com
|CEO is the founder
|$57.4 million
|$1.26
 
billion
|yes
|Clients: 3%
Freelancers: 10%
|Hourly and Fixed-type (in equal proportion)
|Over 1,800
|10-20%
|Less user-friendly
|Good but more scammers exist in Freelancer.com than in Upwork
|Easy
|yes
|less fast
|3%
|Bid limit depends on membership plan.
|}


== Upwork Culture ==
== Upwork Culture ==
''Main article:'' [[Upwork:Culture]]
''Main article:'' [[Upwork:Culture]]


Upwork's mission is to create economic opportunities so people have better lives<ref name=":4">https://www.upwork.com/about#:~:text=Our%20mission%20to%20create%20economic,here%20to%20accomplish%20incredible%20things.</ref>. This is particularly true, considering Upwork has been a haven for talent during layoffs. Upwork was one of the beneficiaries during the pandemic, as evidenced by its financial performance. In 2021, its revenue grew by 34.57% year-over-year, the highest since the company went public<ref name=":5">https://investors.upwork.com/static-files/881b56ef-812d-456d-89e5-98eef866460e</ref>. Also, Upwork has been championing economic opportunities for workers. For instance, in April 2022, Upwork launched a brand campaign titled "Motherhood Works"<ref name=":6">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvAJqiICfIA</ref>. The campaign aims to encourage employers to hire back mothers who left their jobs during the pandemic. The company also partnered with International Organization for Migration (IOM) in July 2022 to train displaced Ukraine job seekers on how to get hired in Upwork<ref name=":7">https://rovienna.iom.int/news/new-partnership-bring-remote-work-opportunities-displaced-ukrainians</ref>.
Shorter Description of Upworks Culture.  
 
The company's work model is remote first. This is made possible by the fact that about 73% of its workforce are independent professionals. Upwork's independent talent makes up its Hybrid Workforce Program (HWS). Unlike most companies that treat their freelance workforce as second-class employees, Upwork considers them part of the team. For instance, each month, Upwork organizes a team meeting that both the employees and HWS members attend. Nevertheless, its CEO Hayden Brown has weekly meetings with the team<ref name=":8">https://www.upwork.com/resources/end-of-corporate-culture</ref>.
 
Upwork's culture is centered on a cultural framework: "People first, business next, opportunity is third." Hayden Brown is in charge of championing this framework. It entails having a close relationship with the company's workforce, clients, and freelancers. This cultural framework involves many things, including caring for employees' welfare<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIwXfzWLHg</ref>. For instance, an employee or independent professional joining the company is assigned an onboarding buddy to assist him in adapting quickly to the work environment<ref name=":8" />.
 
Upwork champions diversity and inclusivity. In 2020, it was at the forefront of advocating for Black Lives Matter<ref>https://www.upwork.com/resources/why-ceo-black-lives-matter-communications-are-critical-dibs-leader-perspective</ref>. It also has a department dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusivity in the company, which Erin L. Thomas leads<ref>https://www.upwork.com/press/releases/erin-thomas-upwork-head-of-diversity-inclusion-and-belonging</ref>.
 
The company also encourages professional growth. Unlike some companies that rarely motivate their employees to keep learning, Upwork has a career development budget. It also has courses tailored to each employee's individual needs<ref>https://www.linkedin.com/company/upwork/life/08944def-1ca5-4e07-a108-5d9a237cfe37/</ref>.
 
When it comes to real-life experience at Upwork, 143 employees give it a B rating at Comparably. The cultural things that rank most include outlook, happiness, and environment<ref>https://www.comparably.com/companies/upwork/culture</ref>. This rating is relatively good, especially since the company doesn't have many employees.


== Why Invest in Upwork? ==
== Why Invest in Upwork? ==
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