PeoplePerHour
Hire great freelancers, do greater work.
About PeoplePerHour
PeoplePerHour is a UK-based freelance marketplace, running since 2007, where businesses post projects or buy fixed-price Offers from hand-reviewed freelancers across writing, design, development, marketing, and more. Payments sit in escrow until the buyer approves the work, and an AI matching system invites relevant freelancers to send proposals. Roughly 60% of its users are in the UK, with buyers and freelancers in over 100 countries.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Freelancer applications are hand-reviewed, which filters out some of the low-effort profiles common on open marketplaces
- Escrow holds the buyer's deposit until the work is approved, with refunds and mediated disputes built in
- Strong UK talent pool and GBP-first pricing suit UK small businesses
- Fixed-price Offers from about £10 make it easy to test a freelancer on a small task
- Freelancer commission drops to 3.5% once lifetime billing with a client passes £5,000, rewarding long-term relationships
- Free for buyers to post projects and receive proposals
Cons
- Buyer service fee of 10% + £0.60 per card or PayPal payment adds noticeably to small jobs
- Freelancers pay 20% on the first £250 with every new client, on top of a required annual subscription
- Proposal credits are rationed, so active freelancers often need to buy extra credit packs
- Smaller global talent pool than the largest marketplaces outside the UK
- Review sentiment is mixed, with complaints about support response and dispute outcomes on some review sites
Key Features
Project posting with AI matching
Describe a job in a short form and the platform's AI contacts suitable freelancers, who reply with tailored proposals you can compare in one place.
Offers
Pre-packaged fixed-price services from freelancers, starting from about £10, for buying small, well-defined tasks without a proposal round.
Freelancer search
Browse rated and reviewed freelancer profiles filtered by skill, location, and hourly rate, and contact them directly with no obligation.
Escrow payments
Buyers prepay a deposit that PeoplePerHour holds until the work is approved; unpaid invoices auto-release after seven days unless rejected.
Project WorkStream
A per-project stream that keeps messages, files, feedback, proposals, invoices, and payments together, with real-time notifications.
Hourly contracts and Auto Pay
Per-hour contracts and automatic payments for ongoing work, alongside fixed-price custom projects.
Dispute resolution and refunds
Built-in refund requests and mediated disputes, with PeoplePerHour stepping in on disputes of £100 or more.
Vetted freelancer community
Every freelancer application is hand-reviewed before approval, and two-way ratings and reviews influence search ranking.
Phoenix AI assistant
An AI assistant that helps buyers scope projects and find matching freelancers on the platform.
Optional project upgrades
Paid add-ons to mark a project urgent, feature it for more exposure, or attach a standard NDA.
Pricing
- Free to post projects and browse freelancers
- Service fee of £0.60 + 10% on card, PayPal, and other e-payments
- Bank transfer: 2.5% for Silver members, 0% for Gold members
- Optional upgrades: Urgent £15, Featured £20, NDA £35
- Escrow protection and dispute support
- 20% on the first £250 billed to each buyer
- 7.5% between £250 and £5,000 billed to each buyer
- 3.5% above £5,000 billed to each buyer
- Minimum service fee of £1 per invoice (excl. VAT)
- UK bank withdrawals free; international transfers £19.99
- Required freelancer subscription, billed annually or monthly over 12 months
- 15 proposal credits per month
- Application reviewed within 2 business days
- Extra credits from £7.95 for 5
- 25 proposal credits per month plus 1 featured proposal
- We Work Remotely Job Seeker Pro subscription
- Toptal Resume Unlimited subscription
- Rewards for hitting earnings milestones on partner networks
Best For
Small-business outsourcing
UK SMBs hire writers, designers, and developers for one-off projects without recruiting staff, paying through escrow.
Quick fixed-price tasks
Buy a logo, SEO audit, or WordPress fix as a pre-priced Offer instead of running a proposal process.
Ongoing hourly support
Set up hourly contracts with Auto Pay for recurring work such as social media management or admin assistance.
Freelancer client acquisition
Freelancers send proposals to posted projects and build repeat clients, where commission drops as billing per client grows.
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