Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover hiring & freelancers. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Dribbble | Upwork | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $150 | Not listed |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Covers | Hiring & Freelancers, Design & Graphics | Hiring & Freelancers, Creator Finance |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Where designers show work and get hired
Dribbble is the portfolio wall the design world actually looks at, and the hiring side of it lets you post a job free and pay a small percentage only when a project completes. Subscriptions exist for anybody hiring often enough to want to approach people directly. Designers list their own hourly rates in public, which makes it one of the few places you can price a job before writing the brief.
Our note
The free tier with a small completion fee is the right entry for almost every creator, and the subscriptions only pay off for regular hiring. Where this beats a general freelance marketplace is that the work is on display before you talk to anybody.
Only on this side
The freelance marketplace with the deepest bench
Upwork is where a creator goes to hire an editor, a thumbnail designer or a virtual assistant without knowing one already, and where a lot of those people find their first clients. Volume is the argument for it. The service fee comes off the freelancer's side and varies per contract, which makes rate comparison harder than it looks.
Only on this side
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.