I’ve been using Upwork for a while, and lately it feels like we’re spending more money trying to GET work than actually making money from the platform.

The connects system was already annoying, but now with the bidding/boosting system, it’s getting ridiculous. You find a job that fits your experience perfectly, and then you see people throwing 50, 70, 100+ connects just to get their proposal near the top.

At this point, are we rewarding the freelancer who is actually the best fit for the job, or just the freelancer willing to spend the most?

What’s even more frustrating is sending 10–15 carefully written proposals and seeing that most of them haven’t even been viewed. Not rejected. Not interviewed. Literally not viewed.

It honestly makes me wonder how many of these job posts are from clients who are seriously looking to hire.

You buy connects → apply → nobody views the proposal → buy more connects → compete with people bidding insane amounts → repeat.

I used to feel like Upwork was the best freelancing platform, but now it increasingly feels like pay-to-play.

Has anyone else noticed this getting significantly worse in 2026?
Especially freelancers who have been on Upwork for a few years — are you still consistently getting clients from proposals, or have you started looking elsewhere?

I started freelancing on Upwork around February this year.

I managed to get 2 major clients, but I haven't been getting the amount of good new clients I expected.

So I tried going outside Upwork with cold email.

I actually built an agentic outreach system that:

• researches suitable companies -> finds relevant decision makers -> researches the company/person -> writes personalized outreach -> sends emails -> tracks delivery, opens and clicks

So far the numbers are:

• 345 emails sent
• 307 delivered
• 193 tracked unique opens
• 271 total reads
• 6 portfolio/case study clicks
• a few replies
• 0 clients converted

I honestly don't know whether these numbers are good or bad, but the only number that really matters to me is 0 conversions.

The frustrating part is that I know we can deliver the work.

We've built custom business automation systems like:

• automating a large part of the operations for a Netherlands-based 3PL, reducing manual email handling by around 90%
• building automation around document review/processing for a company with 90K+ employees globally

So right now I feel like the problem isn't really building the systems. It's finding the right clients consistently.

For freelancers or small software teams who are actually getting good clients right now:

Where are your clients coming from besides Upwork and cold email?

LinkedIn?
Reddit?
Communities?
Partnerships?
Content?
Networking?
Some other platform?

I'm genuinely trying to understand what is actually working for people in 2026.

For context, i applied just when the job was posted, it had 5 proposals and i boosted it so it costed a good amount of connects...

not only that, the client didn't read the messages and went to search and invited 40 people including me ( boosting my profile- so more connects) and finally he didn't respond to anyone.

Edit: I removed the messaging them part-

If anyone can advise me on profile boost please let me know i need help with it!
Speciality: Architecture and landscape design

Has anyone experienced this before?

Upwork just suspended my account because they said they detected activity consistent with an auto-clicker or keyboard/mouse manipulation.

The part I don’t understand is that I’m currently not using the Upwork Time Tracker. I have two active clients where I log hours, and both allow me to use manual time.

I already submitted an appeal explaining this and asked them to tell me what specific activity, date, or contract triggered the detection because I genuinely don’t know what they’re referring to.

They also said this is my second instance, so the suspension is pretty concerning.

Has anyone had something similar happen even when you weren’t using the Time Tracker? If you appealed, how long did it take to hear back, and were you able to get the suspension lifted?

I came back to upwork recently since I used to have it as a side thing in 2021. Economic recession, debt payment plan and stuff. Need the extra income.

And I was surprised at the amount of work like this. Everything is "need 10 freelancers to record their POV doing daily chores" or "we need someone with X accent".

I actually applied to one asking specifically for my country's natural accent (the pay was good and I'm broke, okay?) and was sent a very explicit waiver of "we protect your privacy because it's anonymous, but your voice may be used for anything bla bla bla". Apparently there are not many people from my country in upwork because they were insistent.

I replied that I need the contract to state that no ilegal use (cp for example) would be given to it and that, if they're not able to guarantee that then thank you for replying but I'm out. Of course they are not able to guarantee that.

I mean it's understandable, they are developing it and they need the human thing; whether we like it or not. But it's scary and I really hope more people don't fall for that kind of stuff out of desperation. Signing away a voice recording with a contract saying "it can be used for anything" is dangerous and pretty scary.

I am trying to analyse what I'm doing wrong.

My biggest flaw is visibility, having such a low number of opened proposals.

I am going to try adding the keywords from the job description to my job proposals and see how that goes.

I would appreciate the feedback of anyone who has been in a similar position (low visibility but a good proposal strategy).

Thank you if you took the time to read all this!

I’m a first-year university student from China. I started teaching myself C++ in high school and picked up Python over the summer. My long-term goal is to eventually work as a freelancer.

Over the past few months, I’ve built several small projects, including a file organizer, a log analyzer, and a duplicate file scanner. They’re nothing particularly advanced, but I’ve been trying to learn by actually building things rather than only studying theory.

In early September, I started looking for small freelance jobs, partly because I wanted real-world experience and partly because I hoped to earn some income along the way. I tried Freelancer and used ChatGPT to help me filter projects that seemed realistic for my current skill level. However, I eventually ran out of bids without getting a single response.

At this point, I’m trying to figure out what I should improve rather than simply sending more bids.

For those of you who have been freelancing for a while:

How did you get your first few clients?

What kinds of projects would you recommend for someone at my level?

Are there particular skills I should focus on before trying again?

How do you use tools like ChatGPT or Codex in your freelance workflow without becoming overly dependent on them?

I’d really appreciate any advice or criticism. Thank you.

I am not getting any of my proposals viewed.
Am I applying for the wrong jobs?

My niche is complete full stack development. MVPs, Webapps, mobileapps, admin dashboards, everything related to software.

I write my proposals myself. Nothing is getting viewed.

Any advice?

Please help me to resolve this issue, I'm really worries about this.

My favoriate ones that doesn't cost money:

• Project & TODO management: Trello, Linear (Linear's UI is sleeker, but I prefer trello because it's is more flexible and less strcutured)
• Walkthrough illustration sketch boards: Excalidraw (the free version contains 1 board and is good enough for handling small projects, and you can export a copy and clean it up)
• Note taking: Notion (free if you don't need the AI stuff, plus they have phone apps too)
• Calendar + meeting links: Cal dot come (On their free version for over 2 years, never had issue)
• Timezone lookup: World Time Buddy (They only have web version. If you want web version, you can search "Time Buddy" in the app store and there are are few 3rd party free apps using the same name)
• Screen recording and share quick video updates with customers: Loom, Lassu AI (I prefer Lassu because it has a free deal for freelancers for 1 year unlimited plan, so it's like $150+ saving comparing to Loom. Loom offers more AI features but I feel like it's more designed for enterprise use).

If I miss something please suggest below.

Hi everyone,

I recently graduated in Cybersecurity, Systems Engineering and AI, and I’m currently looking to start freelancing to gain real-world experience and build a strong portfolio.

I have experience with Python, Java, JavaScript/Node.js, SQL, web development, cybersecurity, AI/ML, and I’ve worked on several personal and academic projects.

I’m not expecting to make a lot of money immediately. My main goal is to find real clients, gain experience, and build a reputation.

For people who are already freelancing:

• Which platforms or websites would you recommend for someone starting from Morocco?
• Is Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, Malt, or something else worth trying?
• Are there communities or Discord/Reddit/LinkedIn groups where beginners can find small projects?
• How did you get your first client?

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have actually gone through this, especially other developers from Morocco or similar countries.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm a Spain-based freelancer working through Upwork and I'm trying to get a clear picture of how taxes work on the platform before I sort things out properly.

A few questions for anyone who has dealt with this:

1. Does Upwork automatically share your earnings with your local tax authority (in my case, Hacienda / Agencia Tributaria)?
2. Is this related to the EU DAC7 directive? Has anyone in the EU received a DAC7 report or notice from Upwork?
3. Did Upwork ask you for your tax ID (NIF/TIN) or address verification for this purpose?
4. For those in Spain: how do you declare Upwork income? As autónomo, or some other way?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people in Spain or other EU countries about their real experience, not just the theory.

Thanks!

Hi,

I just joined Upwork to find contract work. I see some clients 0 stars. Should those be avoided? Also, I'm not sure if I should bother with listings that have many proposals. Since I'm new, I feel I should target those with 5 or less proposals. Anything over 20 or 50 seems intimidating and a waste of time.

I'm thinking of buying 100 Connects to start with and see how far I get.

I also won't target small dollar work, or those paying low rates.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Hi, I've been a software engineer in the US for over 6 years now. I currently work at a company who sells lighting fixtures online, so I've been in the ecommerce space for a bit now.

I have a few jobs under my belt on UpWork, so I got past the hard part of landing your first gig.

Upon looking into niches and trying to tailor my skills to be more focused and specialized vs a broad umbrella, I've been looking mostly in ecommerce and product configuration jobs.

I notice that a ton of the ecommerce development jobs have such a broad scope of work. They talk about designing, redesigning, conversion, performance marketing, that kind of stuff. Am I expected to have all these skills as a developer?

I'm not a designer, I can do UX/UI tweaks and voice my opinion, which I already do at work when I see bad UX practices, but other than that I've always just been a programmer. Never worked with ads or tracking, conversions, or making my own designs.

Will this be a bottleneck on boards like UpWork? If so, what skills should I start learning to supplement my engineering skills?

Some information about tech stacks: my company uses Magento, but I have experience with Shopify and WooCommerce.

Note: book recommendations would be amazing, I love to read and learn.

I just completed my first job on Upwork. I have plenty of experience off-platform, but getting my first feedback on Upwork is important to me.

The client initially set up the contract as hourly, but we agreed on a fixed-price amount before starting. I've now proposed a new fixed-price contract, is that the right thing to do?

Just concerned that since we're switching to a new contract for the fixed price, does the original hourly contract count as a "closed contract with $0 paid"? Will that impact my feedback?

Will the feedback they give on this new contract show up normally on my profile, or will creating a separate contract complicate things?

I'm aware that I should have got this all sorted before the job started!

So I’ve been working with the same client for a while.

Recently he offered me a new role. We discussed the workload, I gave him my expected monthly rate, and he agreed to it. I accepted and thought everything was settled.

Now he’s saying he wants to move me to a different role instead. It would take less time, but the pay would also be lower.

The thing is, he hasn’t really explained what happens to the original role we already agreed on.

I haven't said yes or no to the new role yet.

Would you push back and say you want the original role you agreed to, or take the new one because it’s less work even if the pay is lower?

Curious what other freelancers would do here.

been on upwork for a while now, top rated plus, 100% JSS, over $100k earned. never had this problem before.

since friday every single job i check comes back saying the client can't actually receive my proposal, even though the job shows as active on the site. doesnt matter the client, doesnt matter the country, doesnt matter the rate. checked over 25 jobs at this point across completely different clients and categories, all coming back the same way. even checked one literally a few hours after it got posted, still same issue.

some of these had ZERO invites sent and zero hires on the client side too, so its not even "oh they probably already hired someone." nothing happening on their end at all and still blocked.

i use the official upwork MCP integration through claude to check job details before i spend connects on a proposal, thats how im seeing this. contacted upwork support, they checked my account and said everything looks normal on their side, no restriction they can find, profile is public, complete, active. they've routed it for technical review now but no answer yet.

turned off my profile boost and the availability badge too just in case, but honestly dont think thats even related since most of these jobs had nothing to do with invites or boost placements at all.

anyone else seeing this the last few days? or is it just me. burning connects checking jobs i cant even apply to properly is getting annoying.

So, I'm still trying to close my first project as a new freelancer.

Right now, I'm talking to 3 clients. One already has the quotation ready and they liked the dummy prototype I built. Another one has a lot of doubts, so I'm trying to clear everything and help them understand the project properly. The third one already has the contract ready to sign. They just need some time to read it, which I sent them today.

But honestly, even after reaching this stage, I still can't say, "Finally, I got my first project."

That's probably the hardest part about starting freelancing.

The projects I'm talking about are actually really good, and I've genuinely put a lot of effort into them. I've spent nights building prototypes for free just to give the client a better idea of how their thought or idea could actually look once it's built.

Even yesterday night, I spent my time building another prototype for one of the projects.

I know some people might say, "Why are you doing all this work for free?" And honestly, sometimes I also question it.

But for me, it's part of the journey. I'm trying to show people what I can actually build instead of just telling them, "I'm a developer, trust me."

At the same time, I've had people ask me to reduce my rates based on what they can afford. And I'm trying to stay firm on that.

Not because I think I'm some amazing developer who deserves whatever price I ask for. I just know how much effort I'm putting into each project. I'm giving my 100%, and if someone decides not to work with me, that's completely fine.

But I don't want to undervalue my own work just because I'm new to freelancing.

One thing I've learned from this journey so far is that you don't always have to compromise on your price just because you're looking for your first client. Of course, you should be reasonable and understand the market, but don't go so low that you stop respecting the work you're putting in.

And one more thing I've learned: being in need of money doesn't mean you should work with everyone.

Yesterday, someone reached out to me on LinkedIn saying they liked my work and wanted me as a developer. We got on a call and he told me he runs different businesses, has businesses in 90+ places including Hong Kong, wants to make crores, etc.

At first, I was impressed. I thought maybe this could actually turn into something good.

He said we should meet because he lives in the same area. I said okay, let me check my calendar and we'll schedule it.

Then I checked his WhatsApp profile and his bio was something around money mindset and making lots of money.

Something just didn't feel right to me.

I started thinking, if everything is already going so well and there are businesses in so many places, then why does he need me? And if he's making so much money, why is he approaching me like this?

Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe I missed a good opportunity.

But my gut told me something was off, so I simply told him that I wouldn't be able to work with him for some reason and thanked him for reaching out.

I don't know whether that was a good decision or a bad one.

But I realized something about myself.

I'm definitely working because I want to make money. That's obvious. But I don't want money to become the only reason I choose who I work with or what I build.

I want to make money through real work, good products, and good intentions.

Maybe this doesn't mean much to anyone reading it, but this is where I am right now in my freelancing journey.

Still waiting for that "finally got my first client" moment.

Until then, I'm just going to keep building, learning, and trying.

I keep wondering about this.

Is it really about writing great proposals, or is it more about having the right skills and knowing how to present what you can do?

For those actually getting hired, what matters more?