How to Make Money on Freelancer.com: Why Most Freelancers Struggle

Want to know how to make money on Freelancer?

Freelancer.com is one of the oldest and largest freelance marketplaces in the world. With over 70 million registered users and projects spanning every digital service category imaginable from web development and graphic design to writing, data entry, and marketing — it’s a massive platform with massive competition.

The pitch sounds straightforward: clients post projects, freelancers bid on them, the best proposal wins. Simple, right?

Not quite. Freelancer.com operates on a bidding model that creates intense downward pressure on pricing. You’re competing against freelancers from every corner of the globe many from countries where $5/hour represents excellent pay.

I’ve spent 15+ years evaluating online income methods and actually started my online career on Freelancer so I’ve got first hand experience knowing what it’s like on the platform.

Here’s how it actually works — and whether it’s worth your time.

But First…

Hey, my name is Mark.

After 15+ years testing ways to make money online, I’ve learned that freelance bidding platforms give you work but not freedom. You compete on every project, pay fees on every dollar, and build your reputation on someone else’s platform.

The best method I’ve found for building income you own is local lead generation. You build simple websites that rank in Google and generate customer leads for businesses. Each site pays $500–$1,200 monthly, recurring, with 92–97% margins. No bidding wars. No platform fees. No competing with thousands of other freelancers for every dollar.

Go here to see the exact system I use to do this.

My business partner James built a complete system for people targeting their first $3,000–$5,000 monthly. But first — the full breakdown on Freelancer.com.

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What Freelancer.com Is (And How It Differs From Fiverr or Upwork)

Freelancer.com is a project-based bidding marketplace. Unlike Fiverr (where you create listings and buyers come to you) or Upwork (which uses a hybrid of invitations and proposals), Freelancer.com is primarily bid-driven. Clients post projects with descriptions and budgets, and freelancers submit proposals explaining why they’re the right fit.

The platform covers essentially every freelance service category: web and mobile development, graphic design, writing and translation, data entry, virtual assistance, marketing, engineering, and more. Projects range from $10 micro-tasks to $50,000+ enterprise contracts.

Freelancer.com is headquartered in Australia and operates globally. The user base skews heavily international — a significant portion of active freelancers are based in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. This global competition directly impacts pricing dynamics for U.S.-based freelancers.

How the Bidding System Works

When a client posts a project, you can view the description, budget range, and required skills. To submit a bid, you write a proposal explaining your qualifications, approach, and price. The client reviews all bids and selects a freelancer.

Here’s what makes this system challenging:

Popular projects attract 20–50+ bids within hours. Your proposal is one of dozens. Standing out requires more than generic “I can do this” responses — you need to demonstrate specific expertise, reference relevant past work, and offer a clear plan.

The Connects system limits your bidding. Freelancer.com uses “Connects” — a credit system that costs real money — to submit proposals. Free accounts receive a limited number of Connects monthly (typically 6–8). Membership plans provide more. Each bid costs 1–5 Connects depending on the project size. This means you’re paying to bid — with no guarantee of winning.

Clients often select the lowest bidder. Not always, but frequently. When a client sees 30 bids ranging from $50 to $500 for the same project, many default to the cheapest option. This creates relentless downward price pressure.

You’re competing globally. A web developer in the U.S. charging $50/hour is bidding against developers in India or the Philippines charging $8–$15/hour. For commoditized services, this price gap is nearly impossible to overcome through proposals alone.

Platform Fees You Need to Know

Freelancer.com charges fees on both freelancers and clients.

Freelancer fee: 10% of the project value (or a $5 minimum, whichever is greater). On a $200 project, you keep $180. On a $50 project, you keep $45.

Connects costs: Membership plans range from $0.99/month (Basic) to $69.95/month (Professional) and provide varying numbers of monthly Connects plus perks like skill test access and featured bids.

Premium features: “Sealed” bids (where other freelancers can’t see your price) cost extra. “Featured” bids (highlighted in the client’s inbox) cost extra. Skill test certifications cost extra.

The fee structure adds up. Between membership costs, Connect expenses, and the 10% commission, your effective earnings are lower than the project price suggests.

How to Win Your First Project

The first project is the hardest. You have no reviews, no reputation score, and no track record on the platform. Here’s the strategy experienced Freelancer.com users recommend:

Start with smaller projects. Don’t bid on $5,000 projects as a new freelancer. Target $50–$200 projects where competition is lower and clients are less risk-averse about hiring unproven freelancers.

Write custom proposals every time. Generic “Dear sir, I have read your project and I am interested” proposals get deleted immediately. Reference specific details from the project description. Show you understood the problem. Outline your approach briefly.

Compete on value, not just price. Don’t be the cheapest bid. Instead, explain what the client gets for a slightly higher price — faster delivery, better quality, revisions included, ongoing support. Many clients learn quickly that the cheapest bid produces the cheapest results.

Attach portfolio samples. Even if they’re personal projects or spec work, showing examples of what you can do dramatically increases your win rate. A bid with visual examples outperforms a text-only bid almost every time.

Be fast. Projects that have been open for 30+ minutes already have 10+ bids. The first few proposals get the most attention. Set up notifications for your target categories and bid quickly when relevant projects appear.

Take a skill test. Freelancer.com offers free and paid skill tests that add verification badges to your profile. These won’t win projects alone, but they provide credibility signals that help offset your lack of reviews.

Income Math Example: What Freelancer.com Earnings Look Like

Let’s model a realistic trajectory for a U.S.-based freelancer offering web design services.

Month 1 (Getting established): Bids submitted: 40 (using free Connects + Basic membership). Projects won: 2. Average project value: $150. Gross earnings: $300. After 10% fee: $270. After membership cost: $260. Effective hourly rate: If each project took 8 hours total (including proposals, communication, and revisions): approximately $16/hour.

Months 3–6 (Building reputation): Win rate improves with reviews. Projects won: 4–6/month. Average project value rises to $300 as you target mid-range projects. Gross: $1,200–$1,800. After fees: $1,050–$1,570. Effective hourly rate: $18–$30/hour depending on efficiency.

Months 6–12 (Established): Repeat clients begin providing direct projects (no bidding required). Win rate on competitive bids improves. Average project value: $500–$1,000. Monthly gross: $2,000–$5,000. After fees: $1,750–$4,400. Effective hourly rate: $25–$60/hour for established, specialized freelancers.

This trajectory is achievable but requires persistence. Most new freelancers on Freelancer.com quit within the first 2 months after winning zero or one project. The platform rewards patience and strategic improvement — not instant results.

For context on how these numbers compare across the freelancing landscape, my breakdown of how much freelancers actually earn covers the full spectrum.

The Contest System — An Alternative Path

Beyond standard bidding, Freelancer.com offers a “contest” model that works completely differently — and deserves separate evaluation.

In contests, clients post a brief (usually for design work — logos, website mockups, business cards) and freelancers submit completed or near-completed work. The client reviews all submissions and awards the prize to the winner. Everyone else receives nothing for their effort.

The appeal: Contests bypass the proposal process entirely. Your work speaks for itself. Strong designers who can produce quality work quickly sometimes prefer contests over the proposal grind.

The risk: You’re doing finished work with no guarantee of payment. A logo contest paying $200 might attract 50+ entries. Your chances of winning are roughly 2%. If the logo takes you 2 hours to create, you’ve gambled 2 hours of work on a 2% chance of $200 — an expected value of $4.

Contests can make sense in limited circumstances: building your portfolio with real client briefs (even losing entries become portfolio pieces), practicing speed and quality under client-driven constraints, or when you genuinely enjoy the creative challenge regardless of outcome.

For income generation? Contests are one of the worst expected-value propositions in freelancing. The math favors the client overwhelmingly.

Navigating Client Red Flags

Experience on Freelancer.com teaches you to recognize problematic clients before you commit to their projects. Here are the warning signs veteran freelancers watch for.

“Do a test task first.” Clients asking you to complete significant free work as a “test” before hiring are often collecting free labor from multiple freelancers with no intention of paying. Legitimate test tasks are small (30 minutes max) and sometimes paid.

Budgets wildly below market rate. A client wanting a full website built for $50 isn’t naive — they’re looking for desperate freelancers they can exploit. These projects almost always involve scope creep, excessive revisions, and threats of negative reviews.

Vague project descriptions. “I need a website” with no further detail leads to endless scope discussions, mismatched expectations, and disputes. Good clients provide clear briefs.

Requests to move off-platform immediately. Clients asking to communicate via WhatsApp, Telegram, or personal email before the project starts are often trying to bypass Freelancer.com’s payment protection. Some are outright scammers.

New accounts with no hiring history. Not always a red flag (everyone starts somewhere), but combined with other warning signs, it increases risk.

Protecting yourself on Freelancer.com means being selective about which projects you bid on — not just competitive in how you bid.

The Transition From Freelancer.com to Independent Freelancing

The smartest Freelancer.com users treat the platform as a training ground, not a permanent home.

Here’s the progression that successful freelancers follow: start on platforms to build skills, portfolio, and client testimonials. Develop a specialization that commands premium rates. Create your own website showcasing your work. Begin acquiring clients through SEO, referrals, and direct outreach — with zero platform fees.

This transition typically takes 12–24 months of active freelancing. The payoff is significant: instead of paying Freelancer.com 10% on every project while competing with 30 other bidders, you own your client relationships, set your own prices, and keep 100% of your fees.

Some freelancers take this a step further. Rather than trading their skills for per-project income, they use those same skills to build digital assets — websites, lead generation systems, automated services — that produce recurring revenue. The skills you develop on Freelancer.com (web development, design, writing, marketing) are exactly the skills needed to build an online business that pays you monthly without proposals or bids.

Pros and Cons

What works:

Massive project volume — there’s always work being posted. Global reach means access to clients from every industry. The contest system (competitive design submissions) provides an alternative path to income. Milestone payments protect freelancers from non-payment on large projects. The platform handles payment processing and dispute resolution.

What doesn’t:

Intense global competition drives prices down relentlessly. The Connects system means you pay to bid — with no guarantee of winning. The 10% fee on every project adds up significantly over time. New freelancers face a brutal cold-start problem with no reviews. Client quality varies — some projects are unrealistic in scope or budget. You don’t own the client relationship — Freelancer.com’s terms restrict off-platform communication.

Payment Protection and Dispute Resolution

Freelancer.com’s payment system matters — especially because non-payment is a legitimate concern in global freelancing.

Milestone payments are the standard protection mechanism. For larger projects, you divide the work into milestones. The client funds each milestone in escrow before you start that phase. When you deliver and the client approves, the escrowed funds release. This prevents the “do all the work, get ghosted” nightmare.

Hourly projects use Freelancer.com’s desktop tracker, which takes periodic screenshots and logs your time. Clients review your tracked hours. Properly tracked time is protected — if a dispute arises, Freelancer.com sides with the freelancer for hours logged through their tracking tool.

The dispute resolution process is available when client-freelancer disagreements can’t be resolved directly. Freelancer.com’s support team reviews the evidence (messages, deliverables, milestones, tracked time) and makes a binding decision. It’s not perfect — some freelancers feel the process favors clients — but it’s better than having no recourse at all.

Key protection tips: Always use the milestone system for fixed-price work. Never deliver final files before payment is funded. Keep all communication within Freelancer.com’s messaging system (off-platform conversations aren’t admissible in disputes). Document everything.

Best Categories for US-Based Freelancers

Global competition makes some categories nearly impossible for U.S.-based freelancers, while others remain viable because clients value proximity, timezone alignment, or native English communication.

Strong categories for U.S. freelancers: Content writing and copywriting (native English is a premium). Technical writing (specialized knowledge matters more than price). Marketing strategy and consulting (clients want local market expertise). Legal and financial writing (requires U.S.-specific knowledge). Voice-over and video production (accent, style, and equipment quality matter).

Difficult categories for U.S. freelancers: Basic web development (heavy competition from lower-cost markets). Data entry (price is the only differentiator). Simple graphic design (templates and AI tools compress value). Translation (unless you have a rare language pair).

Position yourself in categories where your U.S. base is an advantage, not a liability. Realistic online income expectations depend heavily on choosing the right niche for your circumstances.

Niche Pricing Strategy — How to Compete Without Lowering Your Rate

The biggest mistake U.S.-based freelancers make on Freelancer.com is trying to compete on price against global sellers. You’ll lose that race every time. Instead, compete on these dimensions.

Specialization. “WordPress developer” competes with 100,000 profiles. “WordPress developer specializing in WooCommerce subscription sites for SaaS companies” competes with maybe 200. The narrower your positioning, the less price-sensitive your ideal client becomes — because fewer freelancers can credibly claim that expertise.

Communication quality. Many international freelancers on Freelancer.com have strong technical skills but struggle with nuanced English communication. If your proposals are clear, professional, and demonstrate genuine understanding of the client’s problem, you’ll stand out from templated responses regardless of price.

Timezone alignment. U.S.-based clients often prefer freelancers in compatible timezones — especially for projects requiring real-time collaboration, quick revision cycles, or regular status updates. Highlighting your timezone availability is a competitive advantage worth $10–$20/hour.

Portfolio depth. Not just quantity — relevance. If a client posts a project for a law firm website, showing three previous law firm websites in your portfolio is worth more than showing 50 generic WordPress sites. Organize your portfolio by industry, not just by skill.

Value framing. Instead of quoting “$500 for a website,” quote “$500 for a conversion-optimized landing page with A/B testing recommendations, mobile optimization, and 30 days of post-launch support.” The same price sounds dramatically more valuable when the deliverable is detailed.

These strategies don’t guarantee you’ll win every bid — but they ensure you win the bids that pay well, rather than the bids that drain your time for minimal return.

Reality Check: The Income Ceiling

Freelancer.com has a higher ceiling than microtask platforms but lower than building your own business. Top freelancers on the platform earn $5,000–$15,000/month — but they’re outliers who’ve spent years building their reputation, specialize in high-demand niches, and have repeat client relationships.

The structural issue: every dollar you earn requires winning a bid or maintaining a client relationship through the platform. There’s no passive income, no asset building, and no compounding. Your income in year 3 requires the same effort as year 1 — you just command better rates.

Comparing freelancing vs. a 9-5 job reveals an important insight: freelancing offers flexibility and potentially higher hourly rates, but sacrifices stability, benefits, and career progression that employment provides.

And comparing agency vs. freelancing shows where the real growth potential lies — in building systems that generate revenue beyond your individual billable hours.

Whether freelancing is even worth it depends on where you are in your career and what you’re building toward. As a stepping stone to something bigger, it has genuine value. As an end destination, the ceiling limits your long-term trajectory.

Who Freelancer.com Is NOT For

If you can’t handle rejection, this platform will crush you. Losing 90% of your bids is normal — even for experienced freelancers. The emotional toll of constant rejection wears on people who take it personally.

If you have no digital skill to sell, there’s nothing to bid on. Freelancer.com requires demonstrable expertise in a specific category.

If you need income this week, the bidding cycle (submit proposal → wait for selection → complete work → wait for payment → wait for withdrawal) means weeks before your first dollar.

If you’re unwilling to compete on global pricing, the platform’s international user base means you’ll consistently see bids far below what you’d charge independently. You must differentiate on quality and communication — not just be the cheapest option.

For a broader perspective on realistic online income expectations, understanding where bidding platforms fit helps you allocate your time wisely.

Alternatives to Freelancer.com

Platform	Fee Structure	Competition Level	Best For
Upwork	10% flat fee	High	Higher-value contracts, long-term clients
Fiverr	20% fee	Very High	Quick, defined services
Toptal	None (client pays)	Low (exclusive)	Top-tier developers/designers
99designs	Contest-based	Medium	Design-specific work
Local lead gen	$0 platform fees	Low	Recurring income, owned assets

If freelancing interests you, exploring the best online business to start that leverages your freelance skills into something with better long-term economics is the smartest move.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can you realistically earn on Freelancer.com per month? New freelancers: $200–$500. Established freelancers (6+ months): $1,000–$3,000. Top performers: $5,000–$15,000+. Most new users earn less than $500 in their first 3 months.

Is Freelancer.com free to use? You can create a free account and receive limited Connects monthly. Meaningful activity (bidding on enough projects to generate income) typically requires a paid membership ($0.99–$69.95/month).

How does Freelancer.com compare to Upwork? Freelancer.com has more project volume but lower average project values. Upwork tends to attract higher-quality clients and larger contracts. Many freelancers use both platforms.

What percentage does Freelancer.com take? 10% of every project (or $5 minimum). Plus membership fees and optional feature costs.

How many Connects do you need per bid? Typically 1–5 Connects depending on project size. Free accounts receive 6–8 Connects monthly.

Can you get scammed on Freelancer.com? Scams exist — particularly “test task” requests where clients ask for free work under the guise of evaluation. Use the milestone payment system and never deliver final work before payment is secured.

What skills are most in demand? Web development (PHP, WordPress, React), graphic design, mobile app development, content writing, and data entry consistently have the highest project volume.

How long until your first payment? After project completion and client approval, funds are held for a security period (typically 7–14 days) before withdrawal. Total time from bid to bank account: 2–6 weeks typically.

Is the contest system worth it? Contests (where multiple freelancers submit finished work and the client picks one) involve significant unpaid work. Only recommended for designers building their portfolio who can afford to lose the time investment.

Can Freelancer.com be a full-time career? For skilled freelancers in high-demand niches, yes. But the platform dependency, fee structure, and constant bidding requirement make it a more stressful path than building your own client base independently.

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Every hour you spend bidding on Freelancer.com is an hour you could spend building an asset that pays you monthly without proposals, fees, or competition. Local lead generation creates exactly that — digital assets generating $500–$1,200/site monthly, recurring, with 92–97% margins.

My business partner James built a system for people going from zero to $3,000–$5,000 monthly without bidding wars.

Click here to see how it works.

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The Bottom Line

Freelancer.com is a functional marketplace for skilled digital freelancers willing to compete globally. The income potential is real — but so is the grind of constant bidding, fee erosion, and platform dependency.

Use it to build skills and portfolio. Then build something you own. The best freelancers outgrow bidding platforms — and that should be your plan from day one.