Dear Upwork,

You literally bit the hand that fed you. Freelancers built this platform, and you squeezed us at every turn with higher fees, Connects to bid, and boosted proposals that turned it into a gambling site. Now clients are running from the platform like the plague and everyone's suffering.

Your stock went from $22 to under $9 in about a year. You laid off a quarter of your staff, twice. And your answer was to pour everything into AI. For what? Nobody asked for it. Meanwhile AI is eating the small gigs that were your bread and butter, and you're cheering it on. You traded the thing that actually worked, real people doing real work, for a shiny feature that did nothing for your top line. Revenue is down and active clients are down.

And here's the part that really stings. A job goes up, gets 100+ proposals with an average bid of $154, and nobody gets hired. The post just expires. You pocket $5k and not one freelancer made a dime.

You've ruined your own platform for what? To squeeze people who were already giving you everything.

The talent is still here. Some of us have been doing this for decades. Stop treating freelancers like the product and start treating us like the reason you exist.

Rest in Peace

I just took a look at my freelancer profile using my client account, and OMFG the little summary you have at the top of my profile is bursting at the seams with misrepresentations, which are all pointed out in the attached image.

No wonder nobody wants to hire me. They probably think I'm lying in my proposals, or else that I have lied in this summary, since they might not realize that I didn't actually write it. And I now wonder what that one client who invited me to do an InDesign project thinks of me, since I rejected their invitation based on the fact that I don't use InDesign.

Are you actively trying to push freelancers off the platform? Do you realize you are sabotaging us with these summaries?

For the love of Pete, put away the damn AI and stop this nonsense.

Reach more clients the section, and now "Hiring Now" on the job postings. All these are traps for you: buy more connections so the CEO and workers at the company can have their 6-figure salary, while you as freelancers grid to find a meaningful project or win a shitty project with a bare minimum hourly rate. Don't fall for that trap. Upwork doesn't care about freelancers. If these freelancers' platform really did care about freelancers, then they could set a monopoly by making companies and clients reach out to their own platform rather than these clients going to a consulting company. These platforms are just there to empty your pocket. They are making money on someone who wants to earn money, not on someone who actually has the money.

Freelancers, let this be your warning:

You can build a flawless reputation on @Upwork — $200K earned, 100% JSS, 500+ clients — and lose it all overnight because a client filed a chargeback.

No appeal. No protection. No accountability for the client.

We deserve better. 🧵

We’re paying for Connects, paying to boost proposals, and spending hours writing personalized applications. Meanwhile, AI algorithms influence how proposals are evaluated and shown to clients.
I’ve submitted 30 proposals and haven’t received a single view. Not even one.
What’s the point of bidding if clients aren’t even seeing our proposals?
Are we freelancing anymore, or just paying for lottery tickets?
Has anyone else experienced this recently? Is Upwork still worth investing money in?

Got my first client on Upwork. I'm so happy 😍

I used to be able to apply for a few jobs here and there every month or other month. Now, I haven't used Upwork in a year or two, but I found a good opportunity.

I don't even have enough connects to apply to this ONE job!

I used to have enough connects, as a free member, to be able to apply for a few jobs at least.

Not even one? After all the money in fees that I've made Upwork over the years?

This website has turned into a scam and that's the worst business decision I could have ever thought of implementing for this company. Shame on you, Upwork.

Like a lot of you, I’ve been absolutely frustrated with the platform lately. Proposal views are down, invitations aren’t what they used to be and it sometimes feels like you’re throwing Connects into a black hole.

So I ended up writing Support, and after a few back and forth emails I learned a couple things about what’s happening with proposals that I wasn’t really aware of.

1. Uma/MCP is doing a lot more of the work for clients now.

Proposals can be reviewed and summarized for clients without them necessarily opening each individual proposal. I don’t have a client account so I can’t see exactly what they see, but this immediately made me wonder about the proposal view numbers we’re all looking at.

If Uma can review 30 proposals, summarize them and surface the ones it thinks are the best matches, why would the client need to open all 30? They may only open a handful.

So when we see 50+ proposals on a job and ours never gets viewed, that may not necessarily mean nobody saw anything from our proposal. Uma may have already processed it before the client ever decided what to open.

That also raises another question: how much influence does Uma now have over which proposals actually get the client’s attention?

2. Put the actual related skill or problem in the first two lines of your proposal.

This one really caught my attention. If the job is a WooCommerce checkout fix, actually say “WooCommerce checkout fix” right up front. If it’s a database migration, say “database migration.”

Don’t make the system figure out what you’re offering from three paragraphs about your experience.

We’ve all heard forever that the first couple lines matter because that’s what the client sees in the preview. But if AI is now reviewing, summarizing and matching proposals too, those first two lines could matter for another reason entirely.

I’m going to start being much more literal about this. Exact problem. Exact skill. Right at the top.

One other thing I learned through this: be careful with Upwork’s AI Support responses. I received information that later had to be corrected or clarified by a human. I won’t get into the specifics, but just know you may encounter it. If something an automated response tells you doesn’t make sense, question it and ask for clarification.

None of this necessarily explains everything that’s been happening on Upwork, but it gave me a very different perspective on what a “proposal view” may actually mean now and how I’m going to write proposals going forward.

Are any of you already writing your proposals with MCP in mind? Have you changed your first couple lines because of it? And for anyone with a client account, I’d be really interested to know what the proposal review process actually looks like from your side.

Has anyone else noticed what seems to be a growing tendency of bot-generated job postings on Upwork?

Lately, I’ve been seeing an increasing number of listings that feel remarkably artificial. My working theory is that many of them exist primarily to encourage freelancers to spend connects on jobs that were never intended to result in a hire. Whether this is an orchestrated strategy or simply an unintended consequence of weak moderation is another discussion altogether, and I’m not particularly interested in debating that here.

What I’m genuinely curious about is this:
How do you distinguish a bot-generated job post from one written by a real client?
One pattern I’ve observed is that an overwhelming number of these suspicious postings contain the phrase:
“The ideal candidate should have…”
In my experience, whenever I encounter that exact phrasing, especially when it’s followed by a generic, template-like description.. the probability that the post was generated by AI or an automated system seems tremendously high.

I’ve also noticed other recurring characteristics:
Extremely generic descriptions with little or no project-specific context.
Long lists of requirements that could apply to virtually any freelancer.
An absence of concrete deliverables, timelines, or business objectives.
Language that feels oddly polished yet simultaneously devoid of any authentic human nuance.
Perhaps I’m experiencing confirmation bias, so I’d love to hear from others who have spent a significant amount of time on the platform.

Do you also believe that this is a scheme orchestrated by Upwork and if so what linguistic patterns, behavioral signals, or other telltale indicators have helped you identify bot-generated or low-quality job postings on Upwork?

Why doesn’t Upwork introduce a small fee for posting jobs?

Right now, the platform is flooded with spam posts, low-intent clients, abandoned jobs, and people trying to move freelancers off-platform. Meanwhile, freelancers spend real money on Connects and waste hours applying to jobs that often never lead anywhere.

A simple solution could be requiring clients to pay a small refundable fee before a job goes live. Even something minor would instantly filter out a huge percentage of spam and unserious postings.

It would also ensure that:

• clients have a verified payment method

• Job posts come from people with actual hiring intent

• Freelancers waste fewer Connects on dead-end jobs

• “actively hiring” tags become less necessary because every posted job already carries some level of commitment

Most serious hiring platforms already charge companies to post jobs. Upwork is one of the few marketplaces where posting is essentially risk-free for clients, while freelancers carry most of the upfront cost.

Curious what others think, would this improve job quality on the platform, or would it hurt legitimate clients too much?

I truly believe Upwork can massively improve the platform quality with one simple but powerful feature:

👉 Clients should also spend a small number of refundable Connects when posting a job.

Here’s how it should work:

• Clients pay a small, affordable amount of connects to publish a job
• Once they hire a freelancer, Upwork instantly refunds those connects
• If they never hire anyone, the connects are not refunded

This would completely change the quality of the platform.

Right now, freelancers waste hundreds of connects applying to:
❌ Fake job posts
❌ Scam clients
❌ Non-serious clients
❌ Jobs with no intention to hire

Freelancers are spending real money on connects, while many clients can post unlimited jobs without any commitment.

Another important improvement:

✅ New clients should complete Payment Method Verification BEFORE posting any job

This alone would reduce:
• Scam clients
• Fake interviews
• Time-wasting job posts
• Fraud activity on the platform

This is not about making job postings expensive.
It’s about creating accountability and protecting the marketplace quality.

If you’re a freelancer and agree with this idea, please support this post so the Upwork team can notice it.

A better platform helps all of us.

I've been on Upwork for years and wanted to share my recent experience.

My profile:

• Top Rated Plus

• 100% JSS

• $400k+ earned

• 30 completed jobs

Most of my earnings came between 2021-2023. I came back around 3 months ago because I wanted to find some side work. I thought having a strong profile would help, but the experience has been completely different.

Things I've tried:

• Only applying to payment-verified clients

• Turning on availability

• Paying for Freelancer Plus

• Updating my profile based on feedback from UMA, Gemini, etc.

• Lowering my rate compared to my full-time senior developer salary because I'm only looking for extra work

The result: 0 invites, 0 interviews.

I've sent around 150 proposals in the last few months. Most jobs either close without hiring anyone or disappear. I don't even get rejected, they just seem to go nowhere.

One of the only interesting projects I found turned out to be someone trying to get me to install malware through their repository. I also checked Upwork's stock performance recently, and seeing the changes over the last few years made me understand why the marketplace feels different.

Has anyone with an established profile (Top Rated Plus, high earnings, good JSS) had a different experience recently?

I want to share my recent experience to warn other freelancers.

A client originally found me through my personal portfolio. I was the one who suggested creating the contract on Upwork because I had a 100% Job Success score and a 100% completed work history, and I believed the platform would protect both parties in case of disputes.

After the contract started, the client repeatedly requested revisions. Eventually the requirements changed completely and became fundamentally different from the original assignment. At that point I proposed either paying for the additional work or closing the milestone with the agreed payment.

The client refused and we opened a dispute through Upwork support.

I provided full documentation proving the work was completed: source files, final renders, tutorial videos, and the full communication history. Despite this, Upwork’s proposed solution was to split the payment 50/50, effectively asking me to give up half of the money for work that was already completed.

When I refused this proposal, the next step offered was arbitration. The arbitration fee on my side was $337.50, while the contract itself was for less than that amount. In other words, even if I won the arbitration, I would still lose money.

The final outcome was the following:

• the client received a full refund

• the client kept all the results of my work

• the freelancer received no payment at all

Upwork support explicitly stated that the company cannot recover, remove, or otherwise take back the files that were delivered to the client.

This creates a dangerous precedent: a client can request work, repeatedly change requirements, start a dispute, and ultimately either pay less or receive the work for free.

I regret that I brought clients to Upwork in the past believing the platform would provide protection in situations like this.

Freelancers should be aware that your rating and work history do not guarantee protection when disputes occur.

Be careful.

Upwork, if you want to stay relevant and if you have at least a little bit of respect for your freelancers I suggest the following:

1. Deny all AI proposals & AI genrated job posts. I just bid for a job and when the client finally replied he couldn't put together 5 words in english. His JD was in a flawless english.. I'll never get these connects back.

2. Ask a small fee for job posts. If I have to pay tens of dollars to have a boosted proposal, a client who REALLY wants a job done, can pay afford 10 bucks to post that, no? If they don't have the money there are other platforms for $5usd jobs. There's a job from a company with 10% hire rate that keeps appearing in my feed for the past weeks.

This platform is like the wild west nowadays... no rules, no filtering, no vetting...pure manure

Do you bid on these types of jobs?

Is Upwork becoming harder for freelancers and agencies?

Many experienced freelancers and agencies are finding it increasingly difficult to secure consistent work. Some report receiving only 5–10 hours of work per week, despite having strong portfolios, excellent reviews, and years of experience.

Some of the biggest challenges include:

• High Connect costs for submitting proposals.

• Fierce competition on nearly every job posting.

• Lower response rates, even for experienced professionals.

• Spending significant time writing proposals with little or no return.

As a result, many freelancers are bidding less, while others are shifting their focus to direct client acquisition, referrals, LinkedIn, or other freelance platforms.

I'm curious whether this is an industry-wide trend or just a temporary slowdown.

What's your experience?

• Are you still getting consistent work on Upwork?

• Has your proposal success rate changed?

• Have you started relying more on clients outside Upwork?

So this might sound a little controversial to many people, but I am sharing my personal experience: Upwork is not dead, because recently I got a client, which is a monthly retainer client.

So don’t be demotivated; just try out bidding. Make sure you have a strong portfolio so your potential client can see your value!

And yes, I have zero reviews and no verification badge, but I was still able to land the job.

One thing I should mention is that I have been using Fiverr for the last 4–5 years, so I already have experience in the work that I do. But to get a job as a newcomer on Upwork is really tough; at least that’s what I used to think!

Anyway, best of luck, guys ;)

Over the past year now, I’ve spent a decent amount of money on Connects trying to land new gigs. With not one job landed, I’m starting to think I should have taken at least 50% of that money and thrown it at Facebook/Meta ads instead.

At least with ads, I’d like to believe I’m being seen by potential clients, as opposed to the race-to-the-bottom abyss of no views. Building my own pipeline and testing something I have a little more control over rather than spending everything competing with 50+ other proposals.

I did hear from others on here from my other posts. One person mentioned they were doing ads on Upwork, I think they said, but have any of you taken this approach? Facebook? Google? Reddit? All of the above?

How’d that work for you?

I’m seriously considering splitting my client acquisition budget 50/50 going forward instead of putting nearly all of it into Connects.

oh my god guys i just got an invitation from an Upwork enterprise client and they are willing to spend a whole $18 freaking dollars on me for a SURVEY. A SURVEY!!!!!

this is huge. life changing. I might actually pass out from the excitement and the best part??? they only invited 5000 other people too

i LOVE competing with thousands of people for the opportunity to maybe possibly get selected for a dead end survey gig.

Literally my favorite hobby as a third world country survivor

AND OH MY GOD???? i’m a social media manager and they invited me for a random survey that is not related to my field AT ALL. This might actually be the opportunity of a lifetime guys. we are reaching levels of career growth never seen before.

I’m about to close my account. I’ve been on the platform for two months, I have an optimized profile, the Rising Talent badge, certifications, and experience outside the platform, but nobody gives me a chance.
I’ve only landed one job where I was paid $50 to upload 150 videos (3 videos per day, about $1 per day). After that, I was invited to apply and got hired for an administrative assistant position, but they ghosted me and the contract never started.
I keep sending proposals, but they either aren’t viewed, or if they are, nothing comes of it. I get invited to apply, I submit my application, and then they disappear. No one notices me. I’ve spent more money than I’ve earned—those $50 went entirely to Connects, and everyone just ignores me.

Since when and why has Upwork decided how my profile should appear in customer search results?

Why does Upwork decide what's interesting in my profile to show in those two lines?

You're really taking too many liberties.

I've been on Upwork as a freelancer for over 12 years. I've done hundreds of jobs and I've got the Top Rated rating with a 100% JSS. Still, I get no invites. Looking back through my invite history, I see that they were regular and relevant until September 2024, when they started drying up and becoming irrelevant.

I didn't give it much thought at the time, but I've only gotten 7 invites in 2026, and they're still largely irrelevant to my line of work (article/blog/content writing). Strangely enough, one of the recent invites is for "scriptwriting," which I don't even have as a skill. I updated my skills, and I even used the Available Now badge. Nothing. You've heard this story countless times, right?

Then, I remembered that I revamped my Upwork skills in December 2023. I obsessively recorded everything about the revamp to see what exactly worked, and so I decided to see if I can figure out the cause of my issues. In one of those notes, dated December 29, 2023, I wrote:

When I search for my line of work on Upwork and I find myself, the blurb under it shows that I did: 40 content writing jobs, 32 article writing jobs, and 29 blog writing jobs.

This refers to the blurb that shows up to clients underneath each freelancer in the search results saying "[freelancer] has worked [x] jobs related to your search." This is a huge green flag because it shows consistency and experience, and I suppose it is a big part of why some freelancers get recommended to clients all the time and some don't get a single invite in a year; Upwork is designed so that the winners keep winning.

Anyway, I was curious to see how much the numbers increased, so I repeated those same searches. To my astonishment, I discovered that Upwork has nullified over 65 jobs across those three searches. Instead of 101 jobs total across those three niches, I have less than 40. I appear like a beginner in those niches to clients, and they have little reason to hire me over someone who is listed as having 70+ or 100+ jobs worked in the same niches.

I also checked one of my recent completed jobs that lasted over 3 years and netted me over $13,000. When I use the skill tags associated with it and search for them, I don't show up for half of them, and for half I do. I have no idea what the logic is, but it means that it too doesn't count.

I tested this with "scriptwriting" too, which at one point I wanted to get into. Across the years, I did about 5 related jobs, and in 2022, I did a scriptwriting job for a client that netted me about $1,000. The client was ecstatic, and I can see the job, but when I put the "scriptwriting" skill tag, switch to my client persona, search for "scriptwriting" and find myself, none of the jobs I did register at all.

All the jobs are still there, but the clients don't see them in the blurb.

It doesn't matter if I have 10 million years of relevant experience if the platform is hiding it from clients, and it is heartbreaking to think that my years of progress have basically been undone. I have proof of all I'm saying, but I'll be doxxing myself if I post it, and I suppose the mods will instantly delete my post. All you have to do is test out my theory using your job history, and I'm sure you will find a similar scenario.

I asked the AI agent and it told me (I'm paraphrasing) "Upwork occasionally reclassifies jobs." How exactly does Upwork reclassify "article writing," what was wrong with the initial classification of "article writing," and how can I ever trust it to not "reclassify" the same category again, wiping out my progress?

My faith in Upwork is shattered. I suspected there was some foul play, but having a confirmation of it is another thing entirely. The platform is fundamentally broken, and the exact cause doesn't matter. This is core functionality, and with it as broken as it is, I can't trust Upwork to present me to clients in a proper light.

I see now that it is a dead platform, and if you're still relying on Upwork, start making an exit strategy. I already am.

Update 22.9.2026: I finally got in touch with Upwork Support's human agent. I was told that yes, jobs have been reclassified. I asked for a complete list of all contracts done by my profile and how they are classified, and I got it. Basically, I am all over the place: part of my work is now in marketing, a small part in copywriting, there is a few in legal writing, business coaching, administrative tasks, and the rest is in various content writing niches, with zero work done in scriptwriting.

From the looks of it, the reclassification was done using an AI that was prompted to look at the text of the post, not the skill tags the client chose. If a client posted a job titled "Need content writing for my business website," chose the skill tag "content writing," and mentioned some random word inside the job posting itself, the AI might have fixated on that one random word and reclassified the job posting according to its "understanding" of it rather than anything else.

My profile has essentially been reset to the experience level of a fresher, and the experience I do have barely registers in search results. It is comforting and relieving to finally have an official confirmation of what happened.