As a newcomer on Upwork, you don’t stand a chance. I’m capable of delivering high-quality work, but with zero references—even if you have a portfolio of solid projects—you’re essentially a nobody. You end up investing your money and your hopes, genuinely looking forward to landing and completing projects. After about four months of paying for memberships and spending far too much on "Connects" to apply for jobs that the clients never even open, I see Upwork in a completely different light. It just strips away your hope, and your money is gone for good. I’m never going back. Sure, I did receive invitations, but none of them—not a single one—actually matched my skill set. Do they even bother to read people’s profiles? It feels like those shady dating sites where the moderators occasionally lure users back in just to keep their hopes alive and cloud their better judgment. As far as I’m concerned, never again, Upwork.

Honestly I'm starting to feel these two, especially Fiverr, aren't worth the time anymore. Does anyone know any other platforms that actually work?

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for advice from freelancers who have experienced a similar situation with Upwork’s account suspension and appeal process.

My Upwork account was permanently suspended on August 26, 2026, with a notice stating that there were “violations on your account, or an account you are associated with.”

Here is a brief timeline of my case:

• June 2026: My account was restricted due to “irregular activity” after I logged in from a new computer while traveling within Vietnam.
• July 9, 2026: Upwork confirmed that my identity verification was completed and the restrictions on my account were removed.
• August 26, 2026: My account was permanently suspended.
• September–October 2026: I submitted several appeals and supporting documents, including government-issued identity documents and a Vietnamese tax certificate connecting my legal name with my Upwork account name.
• October 28, 2026: Upwork reiterated that its decision was final, that my account would remain suspended, and that it would not respond to similar correspondence.

To the best of my knowledge, I have created and operated only one Upwork account. I have never intentionally used another account to circumvent Upwork’s policies.

I understand that successful identity verification does not necessarily resolve every possible compliance concern. However, I am confused about what changed between the removal of my restrictions in July and the permanent suspension in August. I have not received a specific explanation of whether the concern relates to my own account activity or a possible association with another account.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced a similar situation:

1. Has your account ever been permanently suspended after Upwork previously confirmed your identity and lifted restrictions?
2. Did you receive any meaningful clarification after several appeals were rejected as final?
3. Were you able to pursue a legitimate review through another appropriate channel, or obtain your personal data to better understand the situation?
4. Is there any practical advice for someone who wants to resolve the matter properly without violating Upwork’s rules or creating another account?

I am not asking anyone to identify another user, disclose confidential information, or bypass Upwork’s security procedures. I am simply hoping to learn from others’ experiences and understand what legitimate options may remain.

I have spent many years working in mechanical engineering and manufacturing, and I joined Upwork hoping to build professional relationships through honest work. This situation has been difficult, and I would genuinely appreciate constructive advice based on firsthand experience.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Please share your experience or suggestions, especially if you have dealt with a similar suspension after identity verification.

Ok so I got a job offer from a company 2 weeks ago they asked for my email I got an invitation through upwork got in there created my logins and accepted my contract etc now it says account is restricted due to not verifying my identity and everytime I click on verify identity it takes me to the same page doesn’t even let me upload or anything,
I submitted a ticket so we will see where that goes but the Question is will i be able to withdraw without completing that verification? The contract I have is a private contract if this makes a difference please help

If you search for Upwork advice online, you are mostly met with unrealistic "gurus" promising easy passive wealth rather than the brutal reality of the platform. The truth is that winning high-paying contracts requires navigating a crowded marketplace where clients rarely scroll past the first fifteen applications. To stand out, you must apply to fresh listings immediately and use the first two sentences of your proposal to address the client's problem directly instead of reciting your resume. Additionally, you should preserve your paid connects by avoiding blind bidding wars and strictly ignoring clients who have a historical hire rate below fifty percent. Ultimately, the real money on Upwork comes from ditching the low-value gig trap and focusing on turning your first few projects into stable, long-term monthly retainers.

Context:

1. Hourly contract was paused by Upwork for 2 months due to client's payment failure.

2. Freelancer gave 100+ hours of free work to save project, but client then demanded full-time dedication, daily calls, and source code on the frozen contract. Communication stopped after this ultimatum.

3. Weeks later, client unpaused the contract for exactly 12 minutes, filed a fake "unresponsive freelancer" complaint, and paused it again.

4. Upwork permanently banned the fraudulent client, stopped contract and protected my JSS.

The Issue: Upwork support refuses to remove the public 2-star review where this banned scammer complains that "communication stopped toward the end."

As an Upwork customer, what is your realistic expectation for a response time the moment you click "unpause" after months of freezing?

I've been using Upwork for about 9 months, paying for Freelancer Plus and buying Connects along the way.

Here are my 2026 stats:

- 168 proposals sent

- 23 viewed

- 15 interviews

- 5 hires

- Around $2,000 earned in total

I'm a full-stack developer with 12 years of experience.

What really bothers me is that out of 168 proposals, only 23 were even viewed. That's less than 14%.

I spend time reading job descriptions and writing personalized proposals, but most of them never even get opened.

And I've noticed quite a few jobs where the client never ends up hiring anyone. It makes me wonder how many of these opportunities are actually real.

At this point, I'm seriously thinking about giving up on Upwork and spending that time building my own SaaS products instead.

For those of you still active on Upwork, are you seeing similar numbers? Is this normal now?

Hey, just wanted to vent here. I have an Indian client right now, and I’ve been working for almost 5 months in sales. The offer was around 30k with commission, to which I agreed because the initial role was to call and get appointments. A month after I got the job, they told me they wouldn’t be sending leads anymore. They gave me access to sites like RocketReach and more for me to do my own lead mining. They asked me to work more than 8 hours to cater to all time zones in the US. They even asked me to work on weekends for the leads.

While I understand that sales is a broad role, doing everything for 30k and expecting fast results is absolutely frustrating!! They casually say rude things in meetings, like “you’re not doing enough,” “you’re not a good salesperson,” “waste of time and money,” and “no common sense.”

I plan to leave and find another client. This client was given to me by a friend, so I wanted to put in the effort and give them results, but lately it’s getting unbearable.

Hi everyone,

Did upwork remove the Uma button to draft a cover letter when submitting a proposal?

I recently returned to Upwork after completing another in-person contract. Mostly do recipe development or editing on the platform. Other than the changes to connects that is a bit much (in addition to my old connects “expiring”) I feel like I’m getting a lot more jobs making me pause on contracts.

One job I’m “interviewing” for listed $1.5k for the project. They sent me a Google Drive worth of information and guidelines on how to submit the photos and recipes. I asked how many recipes were needed to complete the task & they are now asking me to accept terms for $4/recipe.

A second gig is asking me to do a paid trial by sending a recipe video with a separate voice over file through a link starting with a voice-trial web address.

With all the AI training posts I’ve seen lately - these both have me thinking they’re not what they seem

Anyone here work in the recipe development field having similar experiences? Any advice on how to filter these jobs out faster before all the time spent on applying/interviewing? I also wish more people would opt for a call/video chat vs one message a day series of questions on the interview front

I’ve been using Upwork for a while, and lately I’ve noticed a change in the types of projects appearing in my feed. Many seem to have increasingly demanding requirements, multiple responsibilities, and unrealistic expectations for the amount being offered.
Some clients are looking for someone who can handle operations, research, CRM management, customer support, marketing, and several other tasks, but the budget doesn’t seem to reflect the workload or level of expertise they’re expecting.
I understand that competition, location, and client budgets all play a role. But I’m wondering whether Upwork’s algorithm has changed, whether my search preferences or profile are affecting the quality of projects I’m seeing, or whether this is simply how the platform has evolved.
For those who have been freelancing on Upwork for several years:
Have you noticed a decline in project quality or an increase in unrealistic client expectations?
Have changes to your profile, skills, categories, or search filters helped you find better opportunities?
How do you filter out projects that demand too much for too little?
Do you still find good, fairly paid, long-term clients on Upwork, or have you shifted to other platforms?
Has your location affected the rates you’re offered or the projects you can realistically compete for?
I’m particularly interested in what has actually worked for you to find better-quality projects without wasting Connects on applications that aren’t worth pursuing.
I’d appreciate hearing from both freelancers who have adapted successfully to the current market and those who have decided to look elsewhere.

Yes I've read lots of recommendations against working under agencies because of the low pay plus it doesn't register in my profile, but I need the work, simply put, and Upwork is not being kind to individual specialists.

I returned to Upwork after 3 years of inactivity, and the flash flood of proposals on every job plus the ensuing connects bidding wars are being hard on me.

How do I find and approach these agencies? Exploited is better than broke, I guess.

Hi everyone,

My account was suspended after I updated my billing methods. When I try to log in, I get a hard blocking banner: "Your account has been suspended."

Because I cannot sign in, I submitted an appeal as a guest. The automated reply told me to log into my dashboard and click the "Verify Identity" banner — which is impossible because login is completely blocked.

Every email reply generates a brand-new guest ticket number (#55721500, #55725789, #55725905, #55730963, #55749240, #55749678), which routes right back to the same automated bot macro.

Has anyone successfully broken out of this guest ticketing loop? Is there a way to get a human Trust & Safety agent to review ticket #55721500 so I can send my ID and billing proof directly? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I recently hit the Top Rated badge, but I’m second-guessing my strategy and want a reality check.

I’m an audio designer and sound engineer (short films, brand ads, livestreams, videos) charging $24/hr.

I feel like I'm stuck in a weird middle ground. My niche (custom sound design, scoring and mixing) has very few job posts.

When I apply to low-budget jobs, I don't want to work for peanuts.

When I apply to high-budget jobs, I get completely ghosted (0 interviews).

Also, since a lot of the high-budget jobs are hourly, I'm forced to put in an hourly rate, which feels like it's turning them off.

Is my profile turning people away? Should I be changing my niche to get more volume, or is my proposal strategy just missing the mark for high-end clients? Any advice is appreciated.

Let’s make a list of freelance platforms where we’ve actually landed clients and made money, so we can learn from each other.

Me:

- Upwork: I landed a good client back in 2024.

- Revelo: I got AI training jobs before it stopped supporting countries outside Latin America.

What about you? Which platforms have actually worked for you? Let’s share our experiences and help each other find real opportunities!

So here’s what I’ve noticed about the Upwork platform ; whenever I’m actively on the platform (applying regularly, twice a day perhaps), I receive invites and also “top-applicant” notifications. However, once I’m off the app and don’t apply for a day, I stop getting those notifications and invitations. Has anyone experienced this lately? I think Upwork now rewards people for being active on the platform which obviously means, applying for jobs consistently. They just want you to spend those connects lol.

I get an invitation to apply for a job today and I immediately started the process of sending it over to apply for it. By the time I'm done and go to send it which was maybe 30 minutes the job is no longer available it is says! Like dude! Then it's all asking me for some stupid profile available badge that will get me more jobs if I pay this many connects a week. I'm sick of it! They have either agencies that are monitoring all the jobs so that they are first to apply. or the only way to do this is give your AI access to apply to the jobs for you not knowing what it's going to send or say. I'm going to do one last go at this where I'm going to give it 200 connects and I'm going to tell it to apply to whatever fits my abilities and let it do it's thing and if I don't get a job from it I'm deleting the account.

Hey everyone!

If you look at my 30-day screenshot, I sent 17 proposals. In just the last 7 days, I sent 9 of those proposals and finally got 4 views. It really feels like I am making progress and getting close. But I still have zero interviews and zero hires. I just need to figure out how to get that very first person to trust me and say yes. I do AI video generation and editing. I make cinematic scenes, ads and short films using the latest AI tools. If you have any advice on how to cross the finish line and get that first job please let me know. Also, if anyone reading this just happens to need some AI video work done, feel free to message me directly. I am ready to start right now.

Well, alright. But why did you send me a notification, then?
Not a day goes by without a joke. Though I’m not even sure if it is a joke.

Hello,

I recently entered into a contract at a rate of $35 per hour.

The client initially suggested a meeting, but we couldn't find a time that worked for both of us, so it never took place. It has now been a few days since the contract was signed, yet I have received no guidance on how to begin the work.

I have reached out several times, but I have received no response. I haven’t logged any hours, and naturally, I haven’t been paid anything.

In this situation, should I keep the contract open while I look for other work, or would it be better to end the contract after a certain period?

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Could leaving an inactive contract open affect my "Job Success Score" (JSS) or my profile in any way?

I'm relatively new to Upwork, and I've been exploring the platform over the past few days to see how things work. Honestly, I don't understand how I'm supposed to land clients when almost every job has 50+ proposals.

Applying early doesn't seem to make much of a difference either. People spend huge amounts of Connects to boost their proposals, pushing everyone else down the list, so even if you apply early, you can easily get buried.

Is it even worth applying to jobs like these? What's the best strategy for landing your first few clients in such a competitive market?

All freelancers should stop applying for new jobs, that's the real punishment for upwork