Last Updated on January 17, 2026 by Ewen Finser
Whether you’re building out your marketing team for the first time, looking to backfill a key position, or hoping to outsource some important marketing tasks, finding the right talent is absolutely essential.
Upwork is an extremely popular choice for finding freelancers, but it has more than its share of downsides: high fees, buggy messaging, and a tsunami of mismatched applicants swarming every listing they can find.
Thankfully, it’s far from the only place to find good marketing talent, including low-budget freelance sites, enterprise marketplaces that use AI to match professionals to listings, and white-glove agencies that can build out a marketing team for you.
Let’s see which Upwork Alternatives offer the best bang for your buck.
Right Side Up
Right Side Up is a growth marketing agency that specializes in helping organizations find top-tier employees, freelancers, consultants, and fractional specialists with extensive skills in marketing and growth strategy. Their services include role definition and scoping, job description and pitch sheet development, interview framework creation and management, technical talent evaluation, and org structure design.
Right Side Up has been trusted by brands like 1-800-Flowers, Coinbase, Google, Dropbox, Indeed, Fitbit, Eventbrite, and Stitch Fix.
Features
- Recruitment led by expert evaluators, ranging from hourly support to comprehensive, end-to-end search
- Flexible terms that allow you to scale hours and adjust team size as needed
- Talented agency teams for online and offline marketing, podcasting, affiliate marketing, email campaigns, B2B advertising, Amazon ads, and more
The Upsides
Since they focus exclusively on marketing and growth strategy, Right Side Up offers fewer service categories but deeper expertise. Their talent marketplace services include paid search, B2B advertising, affiliate marketing, SEO and GEO, lifecycle marketing, influencer and creator marketing, product marketing, creative specialists, and more.
And because these expert freelancers have been thoroughly vetted, you won’t have to wade through an ocean of mediocre talent to find your next hire. This means less time wasted scrolling through profiles and less money wasted on talent that doesn’t tick your boxes.
The Downsides
While you can hop on Upwork and book a freelancer in minutes, Right Side Up has a far more intensive process. That said, you can expect to receive a talent recommendation within one week and kick off your project within two. If you’re in a major rush, however, you may be connected to talent within as little as two days.
This isn’t a problem when you’re seeking a long-term team member or managing a bigger project, but it’s not a great fit if you’re just looking for someone to create next-day content.
Pricing: Pricing here varies since it’s customized to your specific needs. So you’ll need to engage their team for a discussion and a quote.
Freelancer.com
Australia-based Freelancer.com claims the title of the world’s largest freelance marketplace and is trusted by companies like Adobe, Deloitte, and IBM. Their large roster includes both remote and field service workers specializing in over 1800 skills.
If you need it done, you’ll find it here — Freelancer.com has 2,500+ service categories available, including market research, TikTok ads, direct mail, package design, Google Adsense, podcast marketing, and customer support.
Features
- Filters for skill, location, project category, etc.
- Detailed profile reviews, ratings, and statistics
- Live chat tools for real-time collaboration
- Secure payment system
- iOS and Android apps
The Upsides
Freelancer.com’s flexible payment system allows you to pay freelancers a flat rate or on an hourly basis, and funds are only released when you are 100% satisfied with the work you receive.
The Downsides
As one of the most popular platforms, Freelancer.com boasts a giant global talent pool of over 86 million professionals — and not all of them are qualified. While the platform generally has high reviews, some users report running into fake portfolios and poor service. Just be aware that Freelancer.com does not vet their freelancers, so do your due diligence.
Pricing: 3% service fee for hiring freelancers.
Guru
Guru is another popular job board that connects freelancers with 800,000 employers around the world, claiming a 99% customer satisfaction rate. Their sales & marketing categories include copywriting, advertising, customer relations, branding and identity, lead generation, and creative direction.
Features
- Filters for skill, industry, and location
- Detailed profile reviews, ratings, and statistics
- Flexible payment terms and a SafePay system
- Communication and work tracking handled by the platform’s WorkRooms tool
- iOS and Android apps
The Upsides
Guru is extremely flexible when it comes to payment terms, offering flat-rate, task-based, hourly, and recurring payment arrangements. Furthermore, their generous job posting policy allows you to create unlimited listings.
Their WorkRooms tool goes beyond basic messaging by integrating invoicing, time tracking, and project management directly into the workspace, reducing the need for third-party tools. Many freelance platforms offer similar functionality, but I find Guru’s to be particularly comprehensive.
Of special note here is that the platform doesn’t take a cut from freelancer earnings on recurring contracts after the first year, which can incentivize long-term freelancers to offer better rates for ongoing work.
The Downsides
While Guru offers competitive pricing and flexible payment options, the platform can be challenging to navigate for first-time users. And while their WorkRooms feature is rich and comprehensive, it has a steeper learning curve compared to more streamlined platforms.
Also (similar to boards like Freelancer.com), because Guru doesn’t vet freelancers before they join the platform, you’ll need to invest a lot of time into screening candidates yourself, reviewing portfolios, and conducting thorough interviews to ensure you’re hiring qualified talent.
The platform also charges arbitration fees if disputes arise between clients and freelancers, which can add unexpected costs to your project budget.
Pricing: 2.9% service fee for hiring freelancers.
Truelancer
Founded in 2014, Truelancer is another freelance marketplace with an international talent pool. It’s heavily focused on a narrower group of categories, however, including digital marketing, graphic design, translation, and audio/video production.
Features
- Filters for skills, expertise, rating, freelancer type (individual or agency), location, and number of projects delivered
- Detailed profile reviews, ratings, and statistics
- Project Success Partners and personalized AI Recruiters match freelancers and clients
- SafePay system in place
- iOS and Android apps
The Upsides
Truelancer’s AI Recruiter and Project Success Partners offer a more hands-on approach than traditional freelance marketplaces, actively helping to match clients with suitable freelancers rather than leaving you to sort through hundreds of applications alone. This can significantly reduce the time and effort required to find the right talent, especially for businesses unfamiliar with hiring freelancers.
And because most of the talent pool resides outside of the USA, the posted hourly rates are very affordable. Along the same vein, you’re only paying small payment processing fees here, rather than the 2–5% service fees charged by most competitors. Both of these points mean that Truelancer is a decent budget option if you’re okay making sacrifices on quality.
The Downsides
Despite the affordability on your end, Truelancer can be a bit expensive for freelancers to use, between their service fees and membership payments. This leads to a smaller roster of talent and far less activity on the website, making it harder to find the right person for your job.
Payment processing can also be frustratingly slow, with some users reporting delays in withdrawals and difficulty accessing their earned funds. Technical support is often unresponsive when freelancers encounter withdrawal issues, leaving both freelancers and clients in limbo when payment problems arise. This can delay your project timelines if your freelancer is struggling to receive payment.
Pricing: No service fees, just payment processing fees.
MarketerHire
MarketerHire is a freelance talent network that uses AI-powered matching to connect businesses with vetted freelance marketing specialists. Here, you can find freelancers specializing in SEO, paid search and social, Amazon, email and content marketing, social media management, and marketing automation. You can also browse fractional CMOs, graphic designers, and marketing analysts.
Their clients include Netflix, Palantir, Glassdoor, GoFundMe, and Deel.
Features
- Accelerated hiring process (3–5 days)
- Five-step vetting system that combines AI matching with human expertise
- Free rematching if a freelancer doesn’t work out as expected
- Their MH-1 service is a full-stack human + AI marketing system
The Upsides
MarketerHire claims to filter out 99% of freelancer applicants using a mix of human vetting and AI screening, referencing over 1 million performance data points. Furthermore, if a freelancer is proven to underperform, they’re removed from the network entirely. Ideally, this means that MarketerHire’s roster is packed with the cream of the crop.
The platform also offers an exceptionally fast turnaround time, matching you with qualified candidates within 48 hours and typically kicking off projects within a week — a major advantage when you need to fill gaps quickly or launch time-sensitive campaigns. And unlike cheaper talent marketplaces where you’re left to sift through profiles on your own, MarketerHire pairs you with a marketing manager who guides you through the entire process, from onboarding and discussing your needs to matching you with talent and conducting biweekly check-ins, to ensure the project stays on track.
The Downsides
With its higher monthly fees that start at $5,000/month, MarketerHire is best for established brands with a big budget. You also don’t get a lot of choice, with some users reporting being matched with just one or two freelancers at a time.
The platform also requires you to take a more hands-on leadership role with your hired marketer — this isn’t like hiring an agency that manages everything for you. Some clients have also reported issues with contract terms and billing practices, with complaints about being locked into paying for hours when marketers became unavailable or unresponsive.
Additionally, the fixed monthly pricing tiers may lack flexibility for projects with fluctuating workloads, so ensure the pricing structure aligns with your project scope before committing.
Pricing: $5,000/month for the Starter plan, which comes with a free trial and zero termination fees
Fiverr
Founded in 2010, Fiverr is a multinational freelancer marketplace that has more than 700 different service categories, including marketing. Here, you’ll find freelancers who specialize in any task imaginable — from on-page SEO and crowdfunding campaigns to copywriting and YouTube promotions — with hundreds or even thousands of freelancers listed for each.
Massive brands like Netflix, Meta, P&G, and PayPal have used it to find freelance talent.
Features
- Filters for service, industry expertise, seller ratings, availability, language and location, budget, and delivery timeline
- Detailed profile reviews and ratings
- Payment protection
- App for iOS and Android
The Upsides
Fiverr has an enormous network of freelancers from around the world, with many of them offering extremely budget-friendly services. And since the platform’s original gimmick was $5/task pricing across the board, it’s gained a well-earned reputation as a go-to platform for finding cheaper talent.
While Fiverr has historically restricted its freelance offerings to service packages, it now allows you to find talent available for hourly rates. This is great news if you’re looking to hire for a long-term project.
The Downsides
As Fiverr built its name by connecting buyers with affordable labor, it’s an extremely popular board for cheap, inexperienced talent. This is a problem for two reasons: For one, it’s hard to sift through the noise to find experienced professionals, and secondly, many industry veterans won’t even make a profile due to the stigma. It’s definitely possible to find quality talent, but you’ll spend a lot of time finding your diamond in the rough.
Pricing: 3% service fee. If you want access to tailored hiring services and team management tools, you’ll need to upgrade to Fiverr Pro, which requires either $1,000+ worth of services purchased annually or a $129/month subscription.
Picking the Best Upwork Alternative for Your Needs
Depending on what you need out of a marketing professional, there are several places you can turn to.
For a full-service approach, you can’t go wrong with Right Side Up, which takes the guesswork and frustration out of building your perfect marketing team. The process may not be as swift as Upwork, but you’re far less likely to deal with a string of bad matches before landing the right talent.
If you’re on a shoestring budget and just need a logo, Instagram account management, or email automation setup, Fiverr is a decent option. There are a ton of options available at lower price points, though you’ll likely need to invest some time into finding the right freelancer.
And if you have the budget to spare on an enterprise service that leverages AI to match you with proven talent, MarketerHire is definitely worth a look.