10 best sites for hiring cheap freelance writers
January 31, 2020
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John Thomas
Explore a curated list of budget-friendly platforms for hiring skilled freelance writers. We review the top 10 sites for hiring affordable content writers.
Website content is the key to driving traffic, securing a committed and growing customer base, and developing a brand identity that creates trust and demonstrates your commitment to high quality in everything you offer.
The problem is that writing is very time consuming and most business owners and marketers already have a lot of other things to worry about.
Outsourcing your copywriting is the simplest solution, so here are 10 sites we recommend for hiring content writers:
Upwork
Draft
ProBlogger
Guru
Fiverr
WriterAccess
Textbroker
Scripted
PeoplePerHour
Verblio
Each site has their pros and cons, so we’ll dive deeper into it below!
1. Upwork
Price: varies/up to 20% commission on invoices
Upwork is the most popular freelancer platform in the world, covering skills that range from copywriting and marketing to software development and even illustrators. It’s popularity means that they have access to a vast pool of writers.
There is also no cost to the business owner, as Upwork makes its money from taking a commission on the writer’s payment.
The problem with using Upwork to hire writers is that the quality varies greatly. You have to invest a lot of time and effort in defining your precise content writing needs and use complex filters to narrow down the writers available with the right credentials and within budget.
2. Draft
Price: 10 cents per word, based on usage. Learn more.
All of Draft’s writers are rigorously vetted. Before acceptance they undergo pre-tests of fluency and research accuracy, and their ability to write for a specific purpose in the appropriate tone. All have English as their natural language. Usage-based pricing means you only pay for the content you need, and the risk-free trial offers a full refund up to your first 4,000 words, no questions asked.
Draft offers your brief exclusively to a selected pool of accredited writers. Because writers accept the jobs they’re most expert in and only ones where they know they can meet the deadline, turn-around time is extremely fast. A distinguishing feature of the Draft service is that in the unlikely event that content doesn’t perfectly meet or exceed your expectations, you can have virtually unlimited revisions with no further cost.
You don’t get to choose your writers, although the platform does let you pick favorites if you find that special someone.
3. ProBlogger
Price: varies/$75 to post a job
ProBlogger doesn’t source the writers. It’s actually a very successful blog about blogging!
It makes money through its job board – as a business operator you pay a fee of $75 to advertise your project and then select from the writers who apply.
While there are many excellent writers on the ProBlogger job board, you’ll need to invest some time into managing them and the process won’t be fast.
4. Guru
Price: varies/2.9% commission on client’s invoices/9% commission paid by freelancer
Guru operates similarly to Upwork with no fee to the business owner listing the project. There is also a useful project manager app.
Once you’ve created your free account you can use this tool to define your tasks, communicate with writers and create agreements. Guru provides good value but again it can be time-consuming to put together your briefs and source a suitable writer.
5. Fivver
Price: varies/$2 service fee for transactions under $40/$5 service fee over $40
Fivver has fans and detractors. You can get lost in its massive scale but its platform enables easy communication between business owners and writers, including defining the brief, negotiating payment and asking for edits and revisions.
However, low budget jobs dominate this marketplace and Fiverr has a reputation for sacrificing quality for cost. Its self-description is ‘for the lean entrepreneur’. It’s certainly ‘cheap and cheerful’ but that may not be what you want for your business.
6. WriterAccess
Price: varies/platform fees starting from $39 per month
This marketplace is different in pitch and quality from Fivver, but it remains affordable even for small start-ups.
There is no fixed pricing as the cost is dependent on the task and the quality of the writer selected. The cost can be as low as just a few cents per word, but moving up to as much as $2 per word for high quality papers requiring substantial research.
The platform also requires a membership subscription with levels varying from $39 per month through to $349 a month for a wholly managed process with a designated account manager.
7. Textbroker
Price: starting from 1.5 cents per word
This is a high quality and easy to navigate site exclusively devoted to finding writers and content creators. Over 100,000 authenticated writers are available.
After opening your account you choose your own price point from between a two and five star writer rating system. For most businesses the two and three star levels aren’t worth considering but even at the highly professional five star level prices are very affordable.
8. Scripted
Price: Plans start from $199/mo, content costs extra
Scripted is another self-serve content writing platform that comes with an intuitive and user-friendly interface. They have a wide range of topic experts available and since the writers go through a vetting process you won’t have to worry about quality too much. For the best results you should spend extra time making sure your briefs are concise.
You do have to pay extra for the actual content and the writer fees vary quite a bit so you’ll be spending some effort managing your budget. Also while there is a 30-day free trial, you’ll be required to pay for the whole year when it ends.
9. PeoplePerHour
Price: varies/hourly rates
This is a UK-based global site where it’s easy to connect with and manage freelancers who quote for your project. You can also browse for writers whose profiles and rates suit. There is no upfront membership subscription and, best of all, you don’t pay until you’re happy with the finished product.
10. Verblio
Price: Scalable flat rates, starting from $34.95/piece for 300 words
Similarly to Draft and Scripted, Verblio puts a lot of effort into vetting their writers – many of them are Hubspot inbound-certified and their large and diverse pool of talent includes experts on even the most niche fields. Verblio also has options to buy images and video to support your copy.
Verblio has a rather complex pricing system which depends on the copy length tier, the number of monthly articles and optional extra service fees. This can be a turn off for first time buyers, although there is a 30-day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with the results.
Conclusion
There are literally millions of blog posts created every day. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you also need to think hard about what your audience cares about and invest in quality as much as possible. Hiring a freelancer to write content for your website can save you a lot of time and money, but cost-effectiveness should not be your primary concern.
If you want to know more about working with freelance creators, then check out our guide on how to get the best content writer that fits your needs and what you need to keep in mind when outsourcing your writing!
