Upwork vs Toptal: An In-Depth Comparison

Freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Toptal help independent professionals connect with clients all around the world — and vice versa. Every platform offers different features, with some focused on specific industries.

If you’re considering launching a freelance career or finding independent professionals on Upwork or Toptal, you’ll need to understand the differences between the two. This guide will dive into how Upwork and Toptal function, what industries they serve, what kind of work you may find, and more.

How does Upwork work?

There’s no cost to join Upwork. You can use the platform as a freelancer, a client, or both. 

When using Upwork as a freelancer, you can:

• Highlight your professional achievements on your Upwork profile
• Set your services and rates
• Get assistance from Uma™, Upwork’s Mindful AI,  to write and send great proposals
• Offer paid consultations
• Enjoy Upwork payment protection on hourly contracts
• Work securely on fixed-price contracts with milestones and project funds

As freelancers complete projects on Upwork, they receive a Job Success Score and may earn talent badges that provide a quick snapshot of their experience and customer satisfaction. Talent badges include:

• Rising Talent. New Upwork freelancers with strong expertise and satisfied clients.
• Top Rated. The top 10% rated of all talent on Upwork.
• Top Rated Plus. The top 3% rated of all talent on Upwork.
• Expert-Vetted. The top 1% of talent on Upwork in specific skills areas.

Many freelancers at all levels have found success building part- and full-time careers on our platform.

When using Upwork as a client, you can:

• Search for professionals offering thousands of skills across 10 categories of work
• Post job descriptions in the Upwork marketplace
• Get additional features like the Job Post Generator powered by Uma, freelancer shortlists (one list per job post), and access to the top 1% of talent as an Upwork Business Plus client
• Create contracts, hire, and pay talented freelancers

How does Toptal work?

Toptal, which is short for “top talent,” is a work marketplace platform that states it works with the “top 3%” of freelance developers, designers, management consultants, project managers, and product managers.

When using Toptal as a freelancer, you can:

• Set your own rates and availability
• Browse and apply to client projects
• Accept project matches from Toptal recruiters
• Customize your Toptal profile

Note that as a freelancer, you can’t begin working on Toptal until you’ve successfully completed the skills review process. This may take up to five weeks.

Clients using Toptal can:

• Develop project and job descriptions
• Work with Toptal recruiters to find a match
• Review freelancer profiles

Clients are also vetted before they can begin working with freelancers on Toptal. The platform says that it reviews all client applications and accepts only those that “have the right expectations, skills, and intent to engage our talent members.”

Clients must pay a $79 monthly fee once they begin using Toptal to search for freelancers.

Upwork vs Toptal: finding freelance work

While there is some overlap between available work on Toptal and Upwork, the two platforms target slightly different industries and use unique workflows.

Finding work on Upwork

Once you sign up for Upwork as a freelancer, you’re immediately able to begin submitting proposals for freelance jobs. You can also offer consultations and respond to invitations from clients. Sending great proposals on Upwork is even faster now with the help of Uma, too. 

As you begin to do more work on the platform, we’ll show you jobs that could be a good fit for your skills and interests.

Once you and a client decide you’d like to work together, coming to an agreement is simple thanks to Upwork’s many features, including:

• Proposals
• Portfolio tools
• Hourly contracts
• Fixed-price contracts
• Testimonials
• Appointment scheduling tools
• Direct messages
• In-app voice and video calls
• File-sharing tools
• A desktop time tracker app
• Invoices
• Payment processing
• Payment protection
• Project funds
• Team collaboration tools
• Uma features for freelancers

For $19.99 per month, you can get a Freelancer Plus or Agency Plus subscription that unlocks additional benefits and features including unlimited access to Uma.

Finding work on Toptal

When you sign up for Toptal, you’ll need to go through several weeks of screening before entering the talent pool. Toptal says they receive thousands of applications from freelance talent every month and about 3% of applicants are accepted to the platform. Your Toptal vetting process might include:

• English fluency assessments
• Verbal interviews
• Industry-specific knowledge tests
• Portfolio reviews
• Coding challenges
• Research projects
• Business case development
• Live problem-solving sessions
• Test projects

You’re allowed to begin working through the platform only after you pass the screening process. 

Finding work on Upwork and Toptal, at a glance

Key differences between working as a freelancer on Upwork and Toptal include:

*Data sourced from Toptal.com and other public sources made available by Toptal.

Upwork vs Toptal: hiring a freelancer

You can use Upwork and Toptal to find talented professionals offering freelance services. 

Finding talent on Upwork

As soon as you sign up for Upwork, you’re able to begin browsing talent profiles or list a job on the platform.

When you post a job, the Upwork platform will begin to show you quality freelancers who could be a good fit for the project. On average, it takes clients on Upwork only three days to find the right hire.

If you’d like help finding the right freelancer, you can receive a shortlist of qualified talent for each job you post. We’ll get this shortlist to you within six hours.

Finding talent on Toptal

Locating the right fit may take up to three weeks on Toptal. After speaking with the client, Toptal’s internal team will review talent profiles and assign one or more freelancers to the client project. At this time, the client can review the freelancer’s profile and give the go-ahead to proceed.

Once work begins, Toptal offers a trial period in which the client can decide to cease working with the freelancer and either leave the platform or attempt another match.

Differences when hiring freelancers, at a glance

Upwork and Toptal differ in notable ways, including:

*Data sourced from Toptal.com and other public sources made available by Toptal.

Other differences between Upwork and Toptal

A number of additional differences should be considered when trying to decide on the right platform for your needs. These include:

• Ease of use
• Flexibility
• Types of jobs
• Security

The way you prefer to work and the types of jobs you want to find can be factors in determining where you should look for freelancers or freelance opportunities.

Ease of use

Upwork is set up in a way that makes it easy for freelancers and clients to connect.

If you’re a freelancer looking for work, you’re able to filter job listings by:

• Category of work
• Required experience level
• Hourly billing or fixed-price payments
• Client budget
• Total number of proposals received to date
• Client payment verification status
• Client hiring history
• Project length
• Project hours per week
• Client location (U.S. or international)
• Client time zone
• Contract-to-hire opportunity

Clients seeking freelancers can sort profiles by:

• Talent rating
• Skills
• Work category
• Location
• Type of talent
• Hourly rate
• Job Success Score
• Total amount earned to date
• Total hours billed to date
• Languages
• English fluency
• Other languages

Upwork clients can also save their favorite freelancers' profiles, which makes working together again in the future easy.

Toptal clients can view freelancer profiles, and freelancers can view projects; however, Toptal places significant emphasis on its manual matching process. While Toptal says this feature provides strong freelancer and client relationships, some users may feel that it slows them down.

Flexibility

As a freelancer on Upwork, you can work on a mix of one-time projects and ongoing contracts. Some Upwork freelancers work full-time hours for one client, while others work on multiple contracts at once. How you’d like to structure your workload and client relationships is entirely up to you. Take on more projects as your schedule allows or drop down to a lighter workload at other times. As a result, Upwork is great for anyone interested in working:

• Extended hours and projects for all or part of the year
• Part-time hours and projects for all or part of the year
• On an as-needed basis
• On occasional projects

Toptal allows freelancers to set their availability between zero and 50 hours per week; however, the platform's pre-application "talent assessment" for developers encourages freelancers to have part- or full-time availability (20 to 40+ hours per week).

Once accepted to the Toptal platform, though, you may move between hourly, part-time, and full-time contracts.

Types of jobs

Upwork has jobs available for thousands of skills across 10 categories of work. Toptal’s available freelance services fall into seven different categories. Both platforms have a strong focus on remote work.

*Data sourced from Toptal.com and other public sources made available by Toptal.

Security

Upwork takes users' security very seriously. In addition to offering secure contracts and payment protection, the platform also:

• Uses multi-factor authentication to secure accounts
• Encrypts user data
• Scans messages and files for viruses or malware
• Verifies freelancer identities
• Verifies client payment methods
• Maintains PCI DSS Level 2 compliance for payment processing
• Adheres to GDPR and CCPA regulations
• Administers a robust anti-money laundering program
• Conducts know your customer (KYC) checks

Upwork also has a dispute team on hand to resolve any contract and payment issues or concerns that arise between clients and freelancers. This can include:

• Refund requests
• Disputes over hours worked
• Disputes about project funds
• Unresponsive parties

Toptal does not provide much information about its security practices. At the time of writing, Toptal’s website indicated the company is GDPR compliant and takes steps to verify the identities of all users.

Join the world’s largest human and AI-enabled work marketplace

By choosing the right freelancing site for your needs, you can create a career or manage projects on your terms — whether you're providing services or getting help for your business.

Freelancers on Upwork set their own rates, define their own hours, and work from just about anywhere with an internet connection. Sign up as a freelancer today and see how Upwork can help you grow your career independently.

If you use Upwork to hire freelancers, you can be confident that you’re receiving high-quality work in a price range that fits your budget. Sign up as a client and start your first job post to see how independent experts can help your business reach its goals.

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This analysis of services is provided for informational purposes only. Each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.

Prices are current at the time of writing and may change over time based on each service’s offerings.

‍If you are communicating with a hiring manager for a job through the Upwork platform, please note that sharing your personal contact information, such as email address, phone number, or LinkedIn profile, is not permitted in cover letters or at any time prior to the start of a contract. Additionally, all precontract communication should take place through the Upwork Messages feature. Learn more about using Upwork Messages here, and see more details on sharing information on Upwork here.