PeoplePerHour Review: Is It Worth It In 2024?
In this review, you will learn why so many people think PeoplePerHour is a scam and how to use the service to find good freelancers or earn money by doing freelance work yourself. Here you will find an honest opinion and best methodology to follow to make sure it will worth your time and money.
By now you may have heard about the numerous websites offering work for both freelancers and businesses, and the idea of hiring remote workers or working from home yourself and setting your own hours might have piqued your interest. If so, the wealth of options might seem overwhelming when it comes to freelance platforms. One of the most prominent websites for freelance work is PeoplePerHour. In this article, we will give you all the information you need to see if PeoplePerHour is right for you, including comparing and contrasting three other top freelance websites.
What is PeoplePerHour?
PeoplePerHour is a high-quality and trustworthy freelance website where you can select remote outsourcers and workers in your local area. You also can hire contractors and use the site as a source for extra income if you are interested in applying your skills in one of the many categories listed. According to its website, PeoplePerHour is the “longest running freelance service in the UK.” It was created in 2007 to connect freelancers with businesses. Since the launch of the website, more than 1.1 million jobs have been posted on PeoplePerHour for freelancers in more than 89 countries, earning them more than $100 million.
How Does PeoplePerHour Work? The Basics
Businesses can post projects, and freelancers send proposals to apply for the projects, allowing the businesses to choose the right freelancer for the job. There are approximately 15 job categories that include IT, marketing, SEO, translation, social media, video, writing, administration, design, tutorials and more. All communication needed for the job can be completed through the PeoplePerHour instant messaging feature.
When you begin to become well-established on the site and people are satisfied with your work, they will leave reviews that will be featured on your profile. Freelancers can also request endorsements from non-PPH clients to add to their profile.
Pros and cons of PeoplePerHour
PeopePreHour Pros:
There is an extensive network of businesses and potential clients.
It can lead to a high volume of work, both locally and globally.
You can choose your own rates as a freelancer, and for buyers freelancers have fixed prices.
It is a little more secure than independent freelancing, as buyers have to make a deposit into an escrow account.
Invoicing is automatic.
You can choose your own work hours as a freelancer.
You can have both a buyer and a seller account.
Everyone is a certified professional, as all freelancers have to be approved.
It comes with an app for convenience.
There is an account management dashboard with two-way messaging, making it easy to keep track of projects and their progress.
Posting a job is free for buyers.
Customer support will almost always take a buyer’s side, although this might be a con for freelancers.
You can share files safely and easily.
Buyers can look at the history and ratings of freelancers, and freelancers can boost their number of jobs with good ratings.
PeopePreHour Cons:
There is a large number of freelancers to compete with.
There is less job security and no guaranteed level of work—it may fluctuate and be unpredictable.
If you want to have competitive pricing, there is less flexibility on specific projects because many people may be willing to work for less money.
There are high platform fees.
Benefits are not included for freelancers.
There is poor customer support if there are problems with tech or payments.
Spam accounts can infiltrate the platform.
Because the company is not based in the United States, it does not have a profile on the Better Business Bureau, which makes it difficult to tell how PPH resolves support problems and customer complaints.
PeopelPerHour Promo Code:
If you a never tried PeoplePerHour before click to readeam $35 or £30 on your first purchase. This is a great deal that can help you save and experience the whole process from choosing the freelancer to getting work done. I think this is a great offer.
PeoplePerHourReview For Buyers:
Safety for buyers
For both buyers and freelancers, it is essential to limit all your communication to the platform’s messaging system so that you have a full record if something goes wrong. Any other information will likely be disregarded by customer support if there is a problem, so it is crucial to be able to provide evidence within the website.
Be sure to look for an appropriate amount of detail in each proposal. If there is anything that seems too broad or vague, ask questions in order to clarify. For large or long-term projects, confirm that there are specific and appropriate milestones and that any deadlines are realistic.
Carefully reviewing the delivered work before confirming your payment will protect your money and ensure that you are fully satisfied with the finished product. On that note, it is absolutely vital to only pay through PeoplePerHour as they cannot protect you from scams if you send a payment through a different platform, which is also an important rule for freelancers to follow as well.
If you wish to cancel an order or an order was never delivered, you can apply for a refund, and PeoplePerHour will review both your explanation and the explanation of the freelancer to reach a decision.
How to choose a freelancer
One of the most important parts of selecting a freelancer is to read past reviews in case there are complaints about lateness, plagiarism or dishonesty. It is also to crucial to verify their identity through social media connections to avoid scams. Viewing their portfolio if one is included is also an excellent way to see if their work and style will be a good fit for your current needs.
CERT Levels Explained
The PeoplePerHour acronym CERT stands for community, engagement, repeat usage and trust. The more quality work a freelancer completes, the more their CERT level increases. The factors that determine a freelancer’s CERT level includes skills, number of jobs completed, professionalism, response time, reliability and project history.
There are five levels, with freelancers in Level 4 making approximately six times more than freelancers in Level 3. There is also a “Top” category that is even higher than a Level 5, and only .5 percent of freelancers will qualify. Freelancers start out in Level 1, and progress to Levels 2 and 3 by earning money for completed projects.
Is PeoplePerHour Legit Or Scam?
PeoplePerHour is a legitimate option for freelancers and buyers that has been used for more than a decade. Payments are protected for both parties because they are placed in escrow.
PeoplePerHour vs Fiverr Vs Freelancer Vs Upwork
Other freelance websites such as Fiverr (full review available here), Freelancer.com and Upwork function very similarly to PeoplePerHour, except that freelancers on Fiverr do not have to submit proposals. Instead, they create their profile and present their services so that clients can come to them. One concerning aspect of Freelancer.com is that anyone can join without being approved, which makes it difficult to ascertain the quality and experience level of freelancers.
One feature that differentiates PeoplePerHour from other freelance platforms is that it is more location specific, enabling clients to hire freelancers from their local region, which helps with targeted projects and could lead to long-term job opportunities in the area for freelancers.
PeoplePerHour may provide better-paid jobs than Fiverr and Upwork, but there are still many low-paid jobs as well. Upwork has a few more job categories than PeoplePerHour, but it has even more expensive service fees. However, Fiverr and Upwork generally have higher ratings across various review websites than PeoplePerHour.
PeoplePerHourReview For Sellers:
How do I get started on PeoplePerHour?
Every freelancer must be approved by PeoplePerHour in order to join, so you must start by applying. Once you are approved, you can design your profile, adding a professional head shot and filling out your experience, job title, up to 10 keyword-based skills, work samples and desired per-hour rate.
Next, you can search for projects that are a good fit for your skills and experience level. PeoplePerHour does this automatically, but you can get more involved by finding them on your own or choosing to be notified when suitable new jobs are posted.
Once you find a job you are interested in, you apply for it by sending a proposal, which lets the client know why you are the right freelancer for the job. Alternatively, you can make general offers about your services so that businesses can find you while they are searching instead.
How will I be paid by PeoplePerHour?
Once you agree upon the rate for a project, the client puts a deposit in a secured account so that both the freelancer and the business are protected while the project is completed. The invoicing is completed automatically through PeoplePerHour, and after a client authorizes the payment, it is transferred to your PPH account. Make sure to withdraw the money to your bank account within 60 days, or you may be charged a fee of more than 6 pounds. Bank transfers will take approximately three days.
You can be paid in British pounds, US dollars or euros, but there may be currency conversion fees of approximately 2.5 percent.
PeoplePerHour fees
Freelancers face service fees of 20 percent on projects less than 250 pounds (about $350) earned per buyer. Thankfully, the fees decrease as the amount of the sale increases, with 7.5 percent service fees from 250–5,000 pounds and only 3.5 percent fees on sales over 5,000 pounds. However, if you have two sales of 200 pounds with different buyers, PeoplePerHour will take 20 percent of each. There is also a small fee per invoice of roughly 2.5 pounds.
Because freelancers have to submit a proposal for each job, there is also a fee if you exceed the 15 free proposals you receive each month. It costs approximately 5.95 pounds for five more proposals, 8.95 pounds for 10 more, 14.95 pounds for 25 more and 19.95 pounds for 50.
There are also withdrawal fees that depend on the method of transfer.
It is important to factor these fees into your chosen rate, although it is not guaranteed that buyers will respond well to that.
Safety for sellers
Be wary of jobs that sound too easy and well-paid. If it seems too good to be true, it very well might be, especially if it comes from a buyer who is unknown to you. Avoid buyers who request free samples or invite you to free trials because it is possible they might be trying to obtain what they need without paying. If your portfolio is not enough for them and you still want to take a chance, be sure to send your samples in the PPH messaging system with watermarks and/or in low-resolution.
Make sure that the deposit has been paid before beginning any work.
Do not exchange personal information, especially before your proposal has been officially accepted. This includes banking information, your address or forms of identity. Report any accounts that you suspect of being spammers.
If a customer is unhappy, you can offer two free revisions to attempt to rectify the situation before filing a dispute with PeoplePerHour if they still will not pay for your services.
What people did not like about PPH:
Many reviews mention that there is not enough protection for the money of both buyers and sellers—the buyer protection costs a sizeable amount of money if a buyer needs to request a refund from a freelancer who has not delivered and is not responding.
Secondly, high fees of 20 percent are taken out of a freelancer’s payment, plus extra fees if there are payment disputes by them or the buyer—plus, a 10 percent service charge might later be taken out of buyer’s payment.
Buyers are overwhelmed by the number of applications they receive, while freelancers are frustrated by the high level of competition.
There are also concerns about the quality of work—some freelancers will work for much less, but plagiarize content or steal data.
Is PeoplePerHour worth it?
At the end of the day, all freelance websites will have advantages and disadvantages—and many of them will be similar. For instance, no website is fully immune to infiltration by scammers. Upwork might attract the most scammers because it is such a well-known site, but Fiverr and other freelance websites occasionally have problems with scams as well as dishonest freelancers, even with careful vetting. There are also service fees on virtually every freelance website in one form or another, so the amount you are willing to pay will determine which site is best for you.
As long as you are selecting clients and freelancers carefully and following the recommended safety procedures, PeoplePerHour is a reliable site for connecting businesses with talented individuals.
