Are you having trouble finding decent jobs on Upwork?

MariaT

I know this is a very hackneyed topic, but...
Am I alone or is it difficult to find a job on Upwork? I'm referring to established freelancers.
I used to be able to send several proposals for interesting jobs, but now I might be interested in one and I send proposals, but several have been rejected for being too expensive.
I don't know what to do anymore, but my price, which hasn't changed in a couple of years, I don't plan on lowering it.

Daniel

MariaT I've experienced the same; I've never worked on Upwork for over a year. I signed up for Guru and PPH, but they don’t regularly feature my niche as Upwork does, although I get a job occasionally. I suggest increasing, leaving it as is, your rates instead of lowering them and exploring other options. Keep fighting.

renoxray

MariaT I did a review of contract created, and the result is like this. I filter out fixed contract in year 2024 also there is hourly rate change. Let's see what going to happen next year.
2020 12 jobs
2021 7 jobs
2022 13 jobs
2023 244 proposal, 29 jobs
2024 200 proposal, 4 jobs

Alexandra

MariaT
Most jobs now pay a pittance (less than the minimum wage or $12/hr), so I tend not to apply unless the job interests me. And yes, I do feel there are fewer decent jobs. I miss those individual clients from America looking for professional help.

Another issue is my new, higher hourly fees displayed in my profiles and proposals. Even though I might list alternative (and lower) pricing options in my cover letter, most clients are deterred by the quote showing.

FloConMate

MariaT Hi Maria, when was that? "..I used to be able to send several proposals"

Eve

I've always been lucky on Upwork, and have never had any problems finding clients. But then again I work almost exclusively on long-term contracts that last years. The 4-5 new clients I take on per year are through invites or from LinkedIn, so applying for listed jobs isn't really something I've done much of in the last 5 years. But, I'm going to send some proposals now since I'm planning on dumping a client soon, so it would be nice to have another one lined up. So I guess I'll find out if the open marketplace is still as lucrative as it used to be for me or not.

MariaT

Eve If I recall correctly, your niche was pretty specialized, wasn't it?
I hope you have luck, it really seems to be a bit off.

Eve

MariaT It used to be very niche. When I started, I was the only freelance writer specializing in casino content. But that hasn't been the case for several years. Now clients have a lot of cheaper writers to choose from, so I'll just have to see how it goes.

MariaT

Eve :(

Mark

I have always thought one of the most difficult things about Upwork is there is just no feedback to work with. You send out a proposal and it gets ignored. Another gets a response and you are not really sure why. Sometimes I hit a lot, mostly I miss a lot (it has always been so on Upwork for me).

I think my value message has always been a difficult line which is basically I am expensive because everyone else sucks if you don't choose me your life will be a nightmare and it will cost you more in money and sanity. I don't say it that way directly (often).

It haven't been using Upwork much of the last year or so but it mostly has not been working for me. But I can only infer the reason and just keep trying different things. Is this cold spell just because I am out of practice or have things changed that much and how much of that change is permanent? I have no idea.

Ravi

I used to get most (I think more than 80%) of the jobs I applied for, but two changes in Upwork have brought it down to 10%.

First, the option for US clients to post jobs for US only freelancers.

The second, the removal of the skill tests.

Now things have gotten really bad at Upwork, and there aren’t more than two or three jobs a month worth applying for.

DuncanThePig

I've been struggling for at least a year. It's not that I'm getting rejected, it's more that I can't find anything worth applying to. A long-term enterprise client has been my only source of income from Upwork for a long time now.

I think my time on the platform is coming to an end (even my enterprise client has gone quiet lately) and I've been working on alternative income streams for some time.

MariaT

FloConMate Well, I can't give you a specific date, but I think that things have been getting worse over the last year, but the last few months have already been disastrous.

FloConMate

Hi Maria, thanks for sharing your experience—it’s definitely a tough time for many freelancers, so you’re not alone in feeling this way

I noticed the last jobs on your Upwork profiles were completed in 2022, so it’s been a couple of years. In that time, a lot has changed: wars, economic shifts, AI reshaping industries, and even Upwork’s client behavior (plus those terrible AI-generated job posts). It’s hard to pinpoint just one reason, but maybe some market analysis could help figure out where adjustments might make a difference.

Here are a few questions that might be worth exploring:

In your niche, who are the freelancers getting the most attention? What do their profiles or portfolios look like?
What’s the typical price range clients are paying for your type of work? Is your rate aligned with the current trends?
Have you refreshed your proposals or portfolio recently?
I noticed your title mentions Animate—do you know if it’s still widely used, or are clients moving toward different software? If the demand has shifted, that could explain part of the slowdown.

Upwork also keeps changing constantly—every six months, it feels like we have to adjust to something new. Budgets are tighter (inflation in North America is a big factor), competition has grown post-pandemic, and clients’ expectations have shifted too. Adapting isn’t easy—it takes patience, strategy, and sometimes just riding out the tougher times.

If you’d like to share more about your niche or audience, I’d be happy to offer insights from my experience. For example, I’ve also noticed tighter budgets and more competition (not better but more for sure) - Let me know

Hugo

FloConMate Great reply!

MariaT

FloConMate Thanks for your reply.
I know everything that has changed, in the world and on Upwork. I've been a fairly active person on the forums, so I'm up to date.
I've been working with clients from Upwork outside. When I got to two years and keeping them on the platform wasn't making any profit, I dropped them. In fact, two of them offered it to me because they knew how things were going.
I haven't stopped applying for it, but for a while I did it more sparsely due to the work I already had.

Regarding your points:

I usually check other client assigned work and the profile of the freelancer who has done it. In general, the profiles are either similar to mine or inferior, and the portfolios are often inferior to mine, and I'm not bragging.
The prices that are being paid for the type of animation I do are quite low, they can be from 5 to 20 per hour or between 100 and 200 per minute of animation. Considering that many times the client doesn't provide more than the voiceover and a script, and that you have to create characters, backgrounds and storyboard, it's very low.
Yes, I change the proposals a little each time, but there's not much to change if the client's offer basically only says "I want an animation" even if you find yourself with a long AI paragraph that repeats what most clients say. And I can't modify the portfolio much since there are works that I can't add (although it would be nice to be able to do so). So I usually change the order of the items so that different things are seen in the first positions.
Animate is still requested. It's fast and effective. There are clients who don't want template work and who don't need the animation to be "Disney" either.

I appreciate that you took the trouble to answer so specifically.

Natasha

Not me. I haven’t applied for any jobs in the past 8 - 10 months. Long-term and returning customers keep me busy. I removed the "available now" option and stopped boosting my profile back in May.

Still, I receive around 4–5 invitations a week but have had to decline most of them. From my perspective as a recruiter, clients are definitely still hiring. Their main challenge is finding reliable and professional freelancers who meet their needs.

sudhirke

MariaT it's temporary phase. For me this is turning out to be a great year end, busy helping more clients.
When you are not working actively, just work on refining your art (work, skills)

MariaT

Ok, I think I'm going to jump off the balcony!
I send 2 proposals, I get a message notification for both, Hurray!
I'm going to answer the first one, it won't let me because the client has been suspended 😕
There's another message, let's see, at first it was fine, but finally, after praising my portfolio, he tells me something about cryptocurrencies, about a 50% advance payment and to contact a certain Alice on Telegram.
What crap!! 🤬

EpiqEDEM 😎

MariaT 🥺 Careful, don't get scammed! There are a lot of sheeps in wolves clothing on the platform, even with Upwork's payment verification, phone number verification and IDs. Upwork's Trust and Safety only comes in after you get scammed, they are not proactive.

MariaT

EpiqEDEM 😎 Thanks, but I know the frauds, for now. I was just ranting a little 😁