With over 850,000 clients in 2023, Upwork continues to be the go-to place for sourcing freelancers. This online marketplace has a large and diverse talent pool and makes it easy for companies and professionals to connect, communicate, and do business.
While one of the most popular platforms of its kind, Upwork may not be the best place to connect with expert marketers. It doesn’t focus exclusively (or primarily) on hiring marketing talent and doesn’t have a vetting system for candidates, so finding a good match can take a lot of time and effort.
To help you find the best Upwork alternative for sourcing expert marketers, we’ve rounded up the ten top-rated platforms and marketplaces along with their pricing, pros, and cons. Before diving into our final selection, we will present the criteria to consider when choosing an alternative that helped us narrow down our top picks.
What To Look For in an Upwork Alternative?
There are many Upwork alternatives today, but not all are worth your time and money. Consider these six factors when choosing your next platform for sourcing marketers:
- Marketing verticalization: Upwork offers size and variety, but a platform focusing exclusively on marketing talent may help you get top-quality hires. Such platforms are usually built by marketing experts themselves and offer a more tailored hiring experience
- Vetting process: Your chosen Upwork alternative should employ a rigorous vetting process, ideally conducted by marketing experts to ensure only the top marketers can enter its freelance network
- White-glove approach: Unless you choose Upwork’s Enterprise plan, which includes talent-sourcing services, you’ll have to spend a lot of time setting up your profile, posting jobs, and screening candidates. Look for a solution that can quickly match you with suitable candidates, support you throughout the hiring process, and require minimal effort on your part
- Quality assurance: If your Upwork freelancer isn’t the right fit, there’s not much you can do about it. To get your money back, you must request it from the freelancers themselves. Besides, you’d have to restart the hiring process from scratch. You should look for a platform that has quality guarantees in place, offering you free trials or rematching to ensure your satisfaction with the candidate
- Transparent pricing: Upwork entails various fees, so the final cost of hiring is typically unknown until the end. Look for platforms with clear pricing models and no hidden or upfront fees so you know what to expect and can plan your budget in advance
- Client support: Choose an Upwork alternative that offers personalized assistance and support during the recruitment and onboarding processes to ensure your goals are met
1. MarketerHire
Unlike Upwork, MarketerHire was created specifically to connect businesses with the best marketers across all verticals and industries. Since its establishment in 2018, it has made more than 25,000 successful marketing-focused matches and earned the trust of big names like Netflix, HP, and eBay.
Hiring expert marketers with MarketerHire is fast and hassle-free. After describing your company and project on a short call, you’ll be assigned a dedicated growth manager or a CMO who will support you throughout the hiring process. They’ll suggest the best match according to your needs and check in every two weeks to ensure everything is going according to plan.
Before being admitted to MarketerHire’s network, all candidates undergo a rigorous multi-step screening and auditing process that includes skill reviews, test projects, and video interviews. Since only the top 3% make the cut, you can be confident that you're connecting with the finest marketing professionals.
MarketerHire’s sophisticated MarketerMatch technology combines AI and hand-matching to single out the most fitting candidates. This results in clients accepting their first suggestion 83% of the time!
Even if you’re not satisfied with your match, MarketerHire offers a one-week free trial and free rematching. Every contract is on a monthly basis, so you can cancel risk-free and scale your business effortlessly.
Bonus read: Check out our case study to discover how and why Strategica Partners, a go-to-market agency, decided to switch from Upwork to MarketerHire to hire expert marketers. The company’s managing partner, Rebecca Sadwick, specifically praised MarketerHire’s “concierge-style” matching process and its rigorous vetting system for freelancers.
MarketerHire Pricing
- Lite: 10 hours/week; $3,000–$6,000/month
- Part-time: 20 hours/week; $5,500–$11,000/month
- Full-time: 40 hours/week; $9,000–$20,000/month
MarketerHire Pros and Cons
2. Toptal
While it doesn’t specialize in hiring marketing talent like MarketerHire, Toptal offers to match you with high-quality, pre-vetted freelance marketers in various niches.
The marketing professionals in Toptal’s freelance network go through a comprehensive selection process, which includes the assessment of:
- Technical knowledge and problem-solving ability
- English fluency
- Communication skills
- Personality traits
The average time for matching is as little as 24 hours, but the process can take up to a few days depending on your specific case and expert availability.
Toptal offers a two-week trial period during which you can assess the aptitude of your marketing expert. You pay only if you’re satisfied—if not, you can cancel the contract or request another match.
Bonus read: Read about Toptal’s alternatives and see how Toptal and Upwork stack up in our detailed comparison.
Toptal Pricing
- $500 initial deposit (refundable) + freelancer fees
Toptal Pros and Cons
3. Freelancer
Like Upwork, Freelancer is a popular online marketplace for finding freelance workers. Its talent database includes over 60 million professionals, nearly two million of whom are in sales and marketing.
Unlike MarketerHire and Toptal, the platform doesn’t provide matching services and doesn’t vet freelancers before accepting them into its network. You’ll have to select the best candidates yourself by reviewing portfolios and client feedback on individual freelancer profiles.
However, you can quickly identify top performers through a Preferred Freelancer badge on freelancer profiles or sign up for Freelancer Enterprise for a more personalized hiring experience.
The sourcing process is based on a bidding system—you post the job and receive no-obligation quotes from interested freelancers. You can then hire your favorites, paying them only when you’re satisfied with their work. The platform also lets you:
- Make payments
- Chat with freelancers
- Track their progress
- Hire a team of recruiters to select and manage candidates for you
Bonus read: Check out our Upwork vs. Freelancer review to see how the two platforms compare head to head.
Freelancer Pricing
- Free to sign up, post projects, receive bids, and review portfolios
- Freelancer-set service prices
- Additional platform and service fees
- Freelancer Enterprise: On request
Freelancer Pros and Cons
4. Creative Circle
Creative Circle is a recruiting and consulting company that promises to connect you with a broad range of creative professionals, including marketers, designers, and copywriters. The platform can match you with candidates for most types of roles and working arrangements, from contingent to full-time.
Creative Circle’s recruiting process goes as follows:
- You meet with the platform’s experts to communicate your needs
- They’ll vet candidates using technical and soft skill assessments and live interviews
- They’ll then present you with a suitable individual or team
- You’ll continue to optimize your partnership
The Creative Circle team also claims to be devoted to ensuring diversity and inclusion, creating equal opportunities for all employees, clients, and candidates.
Creative Circle Pricing
- Available upon request
Creative Circle Pros and Cons
5. Mayple
Mayple is another popular alternative to Upwork that offers to match you with freelance marketing talent on demand. You only need to fill out a form to describe your requirements and the platform will suggest the most suitable candidate from its pool of pre-vetted experts within three days.
Mayple uses an AI-powered matching system that considers 25 factors, including budget, niche, and even personality. You’re required to pay only after approving the suggested candidate.
Once work gets underway, Mayple monitors the KPIs of your marketing campaign to ensure the hired marketer is delivering on the promises. You’ll also be assigned a dedicated strategist to assess the expert’s performance.
You can keep track of the campaign performance and sourcing process within a personalized Mayple dashboard.
Bonus read: Check out our articles on Mayple alternatives and Mayple user reviews.
Mayple Pricing
- Pricing based on the chosen marketing branch and your monthly media budget
- Paid Media package starts from $1,800/month
Mayple Pros and Cons
6. Growth Collective
Growth Collective promises to fill your team’s marketing skills gap within 24 to 48 hours. Its experts are carefully vetted and all meet the following four criteria:
- Over five years of experience
- Track record of client satisfaction
- Expert in at least one marketing channel or tool
- Excellent communication and punctuality
The first step is to create a role to explain the work your expert will be doing. Afterward, you’ll get an estimate of the weekly cost based on the required time commitment and seniority level.
The Growth Collective’s expert marketing team will then hand-pick two to three individuals who can meet your needs. The contract is short-term and flexible, so you can scale up or down as needed. You can manage the hiring process, timesheets, and invoices within Growth Collective’s client portal.
Bonus read: Explore similar sourcing solutions with our Growth Collective alternatives guide.
Growth Collective Pricing
- Mid-Level: $50–$100/hr
- Senior: $100–$150/hr
- Executive: $150+/hr
Growth Collective Pros and Cons
7. GrowthAssistant
With GrowthAssistant, you can employ pre-vetted, full-time assistants from the Philippines to handle your routine marketing tasks and help scale your business.
You’ll first need to complete a survey and meet with the GrowthAssistant team to define your company’s needs. The team will then source, screen, and interview candidates on your behalf.
The platform accepts only 1% of all candidates who apply to join the network. Each assistant has a college education, excellent English proficiency skills, and over two years of experience in their respective field.
GrowthAssistant’s team does more than sourcing, though. It will also help the candidate integrate into your company, making sure they can adapt to your time zone, communication style, and tech stack.
Bonus read: Discover the ten best alternatives to GrowthAssistant. We particularly recommend MarketerHire’s Expert Assistants service, which lets you streamline your marketing, sales, and design operations by having top offshore talent deal with manual and repetitive tasks.
GrowthAssistant Pricing
- Most roles are $3,000/month, but premium roles may cost more
GrowthAssistant Pros and Cons
8. RevelOne
Another excellent Upwork alternative for hiring marketers and sales professionals, RevelOne is a recruiting firm specializing in executive and leadership roles. It aims to understand your company goals and requirements and turn them into an actionable recruiting plan.
After you define the role you’re looking to fill and your business goals, RevelOne will:
- Provide you with sample candidates to assess if the search is going in the right direction
- Use pattern recognition to identify suitable individuals from within and outside their vast database
- Reach out to marketers on multiple channels
- Vet candidates and ask questions to assess aptitude and fit
- Engage with the candidates on your behalf
The firm’s service includes the RevelUp Success Program, a unique onboarding program designed to help new hires drive success fast. It achieves that through consultation, access to the specialist and vendor network, and extensive resources for both the marketer and you.
RevelOne Pricing
- Available upon request
RevelOne Pros and Cons
9. Right Side Up
Whether you need a fractional freelancer, a full-time marketer, an agency team, or an advisor, Right Side Up’s flexible and strategic solution can help you find marketing talent that meets your exact needs.
When you sign up for Right Side Up’s services, its senior marketers will take the time to understand your vision and existing team. They’ll combine their extensive industry experience with proprietary technology to match you with experts from their pre-vetted talent database. You’ll get recommendations within two days, and you can hire a candidate within two weeks.
Right Side Up’s team will handle the contracting and check in on you to ensure everyone’s content with the arrangement.
Right Side Up Pricing
- Available upon request
Right Side Up Pros and Cons
10. Catalant
If you run into a complex business problem, you can turn to Catalant for external expertise and tailored practical solutions. Its network includes over 100,000 pre-approved consultants in marketing and a range of other fields, with an average of 19 years of work experience.
Once you post your project, Catalant’s team will identify the consultants with the exact skill sets needed for it. You’ll be able to hire them within a few days. The process is streamlined with guided in-app hiring, contracting and compliance workflows, and continuous support.
Catalant Pricing
- Available upon request
Catalant Pros and Cons
MarketerHire: The Best Upwork Alternative for Hiring Expert Marketers
If you don’t want to spend hours sifting through low-quality freelancers and risk making a bad hire, choose MarketerHire as the best Upwork alternative for hiring expert marketers.
With elaborate vetting and matching systems, continuous support from marketing experts-turned-recruiters, as well as free trials and rematching, MarketerHire ensures your marketing roles are filled with only the best marketing talent!
How MarketerHire Works
It takes only three simple steps to start collaborating with MarketerHire’s expert marketers:
- Hop on a 20-minute intro call with your dedicated marketing manager to describe your company and project
- Get matched with a pre-vetted marketing expert or team within 48 hours
- Have them start working with your team within three days
If you’re burdened with tedious but inevitable work, MarketerHire’s Expert Assistants can give you a leg up. These fully vetted, highly educated professionals enable your teams to focus on high-impact work by handling manual and repetitive tasks.
Reach out to MarketerHire today and connect with the best marketing talent—without the usual guesswork and hassle!
