Upwork

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.

Free to join and to hire. The freelancer pays a service fee that Upwork's help centre states "ranges from 0% to 15% per contract", fixed once the contract begins and shown before a proposal is submitted. Because it is a range rather than one rate, the comparable-facts table on this page leaves the cut blank rather than picking a number out of it.

A creator hiring their first editor or thumbnail designer and wanting a large field to choose from with the payment side handled. A freelancer with an established client list is giving up a percentage for a marketplace they no longer need.