A quick Google search for the best freelance job websites inevitably brings up sites like Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr…
These are some of the most popular, and most competitive – we also think they can be some of the most draining and demoralizing for new freelancers.
While you might get some work out of these sites, it’s a common trap that you will be spending a lot of energy fighting for low value work from low quality clients.
Why you should avoid popular freelance job websites
These sites often attract people who just want to pay as little as possible. This means they will not tend to value your work very highly.
The sites are also extremely saturated with freelancers from all levels and backgrounds – and they all need good ratings and reviews in order to increase their chances to get the next job.
So seeing job ads where employers ask freelancers to do work for free in an exchange for good review isn’t uncommon.
At Freelance Success, we know from our own experience that freelancing allows you to live life on your own terms.
But, you won’t be able to achieve that if you are a slave to freelance job websites – and working with people who undervalue the worth of your work. These places are where freelance dreams go to die.
That’s why we usually recommend avoiding those websites.
Despite this, we do believe that some freelance job websites can be really helpful.
Where to look for work then?
In a recent articles, we explain steps you can take to attract more of your ideal clients. One step is to establish a daily routine of small tasks that will help you to move towards getting clients.
One of those tasks is to browse some of the less popular, lesser known freelance job websites.
So, today, we want to share some of our favourite, more under-the-radar freelance job websites. Depending on your career, we are sure that some of the websites below are worth bookmarking and scanning regularly.
We will keep this article updated whenever we discover a new website that we believe is worth your attention, so bookmark this article as well!
And do share any good or bad experiences you have with these sites or others. The quality of them can go up and down as they become more or less popular and well known.
Freelance job websites to bookmark in 2021

The Dots
The Dots is like a creative, less formal version of LinkedIn for creatives, freelancers, and ‘people who don’t wear suits to work’.
Besides networking, you can use The Dots to find freelance opportunities thanks to their impressive job boards.
Every day you will find new job openings from companies of all sizes – from small creative agencies to worldwide companies like TikTok, Google, Vodafone and so on.
You can easily set up filters for your job preferences and get notified via email whenever there is a new job ad that fits your search.
Working Nomads
Working Nomads curates a list of remote jobs for a variety of areas – development, marketing, sales, writing, legal, consulting – you will find it all here.
You can subscribe to receive a daily or weekly list of new job opportunities, or you can browse jobs manually on their site. It’s a good source for anyone looking to work remotely.
Authentic jobs
Authentic jobs is a good job board mainly for freelance developers and designers, with any level of experience. You will find new jobs opportunities almost every day. Also, you can find all types of work arrangements: freelance, full and part-time jobs as well as internships if you need to gain experience.
Guru
On Guru you will find thousands of freelance opportunities for different areas, but the most popular are programming and development, design and art, writing and marketing.
New jobs are posted almost hourly, and it’s very easy to set up the account and start applying for the jobs.
The free account will give you 10 bids per month, which basically means you can apply to 10 jobs.
With paid plans you get 50 bids per month and perks like search boost, premium quotes, all that can give you advantage over other freelancers.
Work for impact
Work for impact is a young freelance platform.
What makes it different is that it’s designed to bring together socially, environmentally responsible companies and non-profit organizations with freelancers.
So here you can get the opportunity to work and at the same time support a good cause. Since the platform is still very young, new jobs are not posted as frequently as they are on Guru, but it’s definitely worth to create a profile and get there while it’s still not so popular and overcrowded with freelancers.
With the free account you get 30 impacts per month, which means you can apply to 30 jobs for free which is more than enough for now. But as the platform will grow, if you need you can always purchase more impacts to apply to more jobs for a low fee.
Krop
Krop is a great place for creative freelancers to find projects, full-time and part-time opportunities with big companies and creative agencies.
When you create a profile, you can either connect your existing portfolio to it or you can use Krop to build the portfolio for a reasonable monthly fee.
New jobs are added daily, so if you’re a designer, marketeer, copywriter, photographer, it’s worth checking it out.
CloudPeeps
CloudPeeps is for more experienced freelancers who have a solid experience and feel ready to take high-level projects.
The platform has a reputation of being harder to get in, but the good thing about that is you will find jobs easier.
Please note it’s only available in countries where Stripe is supported. They offer a free, standard (investment of 9$/month) and plus (investment of 29$/month) profile you can choose from.
In any case, if you are able to apply for it, we highly recommend to give it a try.
Service Scape
If you are an editor, translator, writer or graphic designer, then ServiceScape is a great platform for you.
Clients who hire freelancers through this platform are mostly start-ups and small to medium businesses, which are comfortable working remotely and outsourcing, so there is a chance of finding recurring clients here.
Morning Coffee
Morning Coffee is a newsletter that curates and delivers top writing jobs for freelancers (according to their standards) each week.
It’s free to subscribe, so if you are a writer, take a look!
Remote.co
Remote.co is a very active job board where new job ads are posted daily.
You can find all sorts of opportunities – freelance, part and full time, and for all types of professions that can be done remote.
This is one of those boards that you should check daily to find good opportunities or you can just sign up for a newsletter and get notified whenever there are new jobs.
Angel List
AngelList is a perfect place for all freelancers who want to work with start-ups.
To access the job board, you will need to create a profile there, but it’s completely free to do so.
The great thing about AngelList is that you can directly reach out to founders and hiring managers and pitch your services. It’s also a great place to network!
Freelance Writing Gigs
Freelance Writing Gigs is a well-curated job board that regularly posts new projects and opportunities for freelance writers.
You will also find a lot of useful resources and tips for freelance writing, so if that’s your profession you should definitely check it out!
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How to Attract your Ideal Clients as a Freelancer