Elance

Author: Jenna Vasquez

1999500,000 businesses2 million registered freelancers

Top Ranked Companies

#1 LinkedIn chevron_right

5.5 Overall Score

4.3

star star star star star_half

(25)

View Profile View Profile

#2 Toptal chevron_right

4.6 Overall Score

3.5

star star star star_half star_border

(27)

View Profile Visit Site View Profile

#3 CraigsList chevron_right

4.5 Overall Score

3.5

star star star star_half star_border

(21)

View Profile View Profile

thumb_up

The Good

• Several businesses and freelancers

Potential businesses and freelancers are in good company with over 500,000 business and 2 million freelancers. In addition, Elance has one of the lowest fees in the market only taking 8.75% of bill rates. In 2012 Elance expanded with 345,000 new businesses who posted over 80,000 jobs each month. In addition, over 780,000 new Elancers joined to find work, with annual Elancer earnings surpassing $200 million for the first time. In other words Elance has continued to explode with success during the last two-years.

thumb_down

The Bad

• Navigation

Elance can be pretty difficult to navigate and use. The user dashboards are robust; however, finding specific jobs and people can be pretty tedious. In addition, users should be prepared to spend some time setting up an account, verifying information, and linking bank accounts. Like other platforms, Elance does not have effective hedges in place to reduce low ball offers. A quick search on the web surfaces hundreds of unhappy freelancers complaining about having to compete with other freelancers at $1 to $2 an hour. Approving legal contracts and other proposals can also be a tedious process through the Elance system.

gavel

The Bottom Line

Elance is a great choice for both freelancers and businesses. The 8.75% fee is relatively low to competitors and ELance offers a host of tools and resources to help provide the best experience for its members. It's important to note that 67% of Elancers found 10% or more of income from Elance with over $169M of total income last year. When selecting Elance you're in good company.