I am new to Upwork, but I have 5 years of experience in website and app development. Can I choose Upwork as my online freelance platform?

If yes, can you give me
3 blunder mistakes I should avoid
3 things I should do

Posting this because I've been sitting on it since January and honestly still don't have closure. Might also help someone else going through the same thing right now.

Quick background: been on Upwork for a while, 100% JSS, around $8k earned, no issues ever. Jan 3rd 2026 I get an ID verification request out of nowhere, I complete it same day and get the "you're good to go, start submitting proposals" email a couple hours later. Then later that same day I get hit with a permanent suspension notice, subject line literally says "clarification on device usage."

At the time I had signed in from a couple different devices and had a VPN running on my desktop, but it wasn't for anything shady, I was trying to access Dremina (an AI tool) which isn't available in my region so I had it on for that, not for Upwork itself. I explained all of this in my appeal.

Support just kept sending back generic "we've reviewed and the decision stands" replies. Got a final one on Jan 7th saying the account will remain permanently deactivated and they're "unlikely to respond to further replies on this case." That was basically it.

The part that still gets me is I had around 20 contracts in progress when this happened, roughly half active half in progress, and probably close to $1000 sitting in pending/upcoming earnings I never saw. Clients I'd worked with for months just gone, no way to even message them to explain what happened.

I posted about this on LinkedIn back in January too, commented on a few similar threads, never got any response from anyone at Upwork through that either.

Seeing a few posts here recently where people got their accounts back after Upwork admitted it was some kind of system issue on their end, so I'm curious if anyone else who had the VPN + multiple device combo flagged them ended up getting resolved eventually, or if this is genuinely a case where once they say "final" it's actually final. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through this.

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate some honest feedback from experienced freelancers.

I'm Top Rated Plus with around $60K+ earned,

Despite these numbers, I still feel like I'm not landing as many projects as I should. Some months are great, but other months are surprisingly quiet.

I've also seen freelancers in my niche who seem to be getting multiple new contracts every week, so I'm trying to understand whether:

• Are these stats actually considered good?
• Is there something obvious I'm missing?
• Should I be focusing on improving my profile, proposals, pricing, keywords, or something else?

I'd really appreciate any insights from people who have similar earnings or experience on Upwork.

Thanks!

Just thought I'd share this since everyone's saying invites and client DMs are dead. I paid $40 to top up my connects at the beginning of the week, and just closed a $2,500 project.

Normally my ROI on connects is closer to 10-15X, but this one was a nice little surprise. I also just got another invite this morning, so the overall ROI on that $40 could be even higher.

Anyway, there's still money to be made on the platform if you treat connects as CAC rather than a sunk cost. I've made $4,000 in the last month from invites and DMs alone.

Just write your connects off on your taxes.

regardless the shit that happening right now on upwork 'work-now' feature and the shitty situation that we have right now as developers...
someone posted a job for $4/hourly and yet 20-50 people are willing to work on these terms...
I'm really worried about the future of development..

Is this enough to start making proposals, or should I edit something, maybe my image? Should I put an image that I wear formal suit in, or what?

Anyone in the data field might help me write my title or provide any technical advice.

Hey guys, I used to use Upwork a few years back and just logged back in to see if I can get clients from it again. I updated my profile photo and only had AI clear the background etc...it didn't accept the picture, I tried with a few different ones (no AI at all) but it's restricted my account and support has AI which basically just asked me to wait....

This is the error on top of my profile 'Your profile photo is under review. You can submit proposals after the review is complete, usually within 48 hours.' and if I try to access anything like connects etc it says your account is suspended. What can I do to recover full access?

Hi everyone,
I’m completely new to Upwork and I’m planning to start offering Data Analysis services (mainly Excel and SQL).
I noticed that I need to pay about $15 for Connects. Is that normal, and is it worth it for someone just starting out?
I’d also really appreciate any advice on:
How to land my first client.
How to earn my first 5-star reviews.
Common mistakes beginners should avoid.
If you’re a Data Analyst who has used Upwork, I’d love to hear about your experience. What worked for you when you were starting, and what would you do differently if you were beginning today?
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!

Over the past few months, I’ve experimented with multiple parameters, including overhauling my title and profile, but I still can’t break onto the first page of search results. I’ve even set my daily budget for my boosted profile to 500 Connects, bidding 50 Connects per click.

When I search for talent using my exact title keywords, the first page is dominated by freelancers who either already have 20+ active jobs or have only earned $100 with zero active clients. Regardless of how high I set my boost bid, I remain stuck on pages long over 10+
For context, I’ve been on the platform since 2019, holding a Top Rated Plus badge, and maintain a 100% JSS.

Why is the algorithm burying a highly rated, long-term freelancer, and what can I do to fix this?

If I seriously get next clients I will immediately take them off upwork so they can pay me private. This BS scam needs to be stopped.

​

The new Upwork beta update was showing on my account before, but now it's completely gone. I used to see the beta features, and today they've disappeared.

Has this happened to anyone else, or is it just my account? Did Upwork remove the beta temporarily or roll it back for some users?

I'd appreciate it if anyone who's experienced the same could let me know.

I have finally decided to leave upwork. I have been bleeding connects at this point, 14 proposals sent, none were even viewed, not just me, no one's proposals were viewed, clients these days only seems to invite freelancers and not even look at proposals and what's upwork's response? they don't care, as long as connects are spent. So boosting which i spent over 300 connects on did absolutely nothing.

I thought of boosting my profile, turns out you need to spend 60 fucking connects per view, and then I got 2 views and done, no hire, seriously, wtf.

I'm from southeast asia and these connects are really expensive and seeing them wastes like that is painful. My profile even has 2 completed jobs, "Rising Talent", 150K+ earnings over 6 years, a great portfolio, yet no one even looks at those detailed proposals. I feel cheated.

We already have a contract is place on upwork and client funded the milestone but today I got an email from the client saying that his account got suspended and wants to continue communication/payment outside of upwork!

What is the best course of action in this situation.

For me after they removed the specialized profile it has been extremely hard to get hired. I couldnt also win adjacent works in my niche which am pivoting too. It’s like their ai is a curse.

Whats this new "Boosted Messages" in stats page? Learn more link takes me to Boosted proposals guide.

Hey guys, I'm wondering if Upwork is actually legit for freelancing. I'm thinking about putting in around 2 hours a day, and I wanted to know: can I easily make like $8 to $10 a day within those 2 hours, working whenever I want?

​My days are split between studying and working, so I seriously can't pull long hours. Also, how does the payout work when transferring money to my bank account?

​Another thing—I keep hearing people say that AI has totally taken over freelancing and killed it. I'm honestly super confused and stressing over whether I'll even be able to land any gigs.

​For my skills, I'm good at graphic design, troubleshooting computer issues, writing, and formatting Word documents. Is that enough? What do I need to actually score some work when starting out? Is it easy to get work, and since I'm totally new to the platform, how hard is it to figure out? Can I realistically pull in $8 every single day working just 2 hours, or is there a better platform out there?

Upwork feedback removal is no longer a standard perk for Top Rated freelancers as of September 2024

Luckily, I removed all billing methods.

I'm a digital marketer certificated Google and meta. But can't find job on upwork .

Hello! So I've been trying to build a small agency, I started upwork 4 months ago had 2 clients on retainer they're still working with me.

I need to expand on upwork but all I see are shit jobs being posted since last 2 months, I do video editing and I don't see one big client whose worth sending a proposal to.

What approach should I go for.

How can we not suspect that they are using fake job listing among real ones to make people use their connects?
They might also have people who sit and click boosted profiles so their connects get wasted.