If you consider yourself an entrepreneur and look to grow your business, you don’t quite have the technical skill required to do things like building a website or do graphic design. However, options are available to help you hire freelance professionals to grow your brand and help launch your website or other products and services.
Now, if you’ve done any research into hiring one of these freelance professionals, you’ve probably come across websites like Fiverr and Guru. These platforms are relatively similar in what they offer, basically, freelance workers that can help you with whatever projects you need. But they are very different in terms of pricing and the experts available.
So in this article, we’re going to be discussing which is better, Fiverr VS Guru, and what might be the best for you based on your particular situation and needs. Fiverr offers both affordable freelance rates, and it is true you can book a freelancer for as little as $5 sometimes, but Guru claims to have the best freelance experts in the world. Which one is right for you will largely depend on what type of work you need to do and your budget.
Platforms Structure And Workflow
On Fiverr, you’ll be searching through gigs or service packages that promise a specific deliverable. These gigs include writing, composing an advertising jingle, or designing cover art for your latest podcast. It will help you find a freelancer who specializes in precisely what you need.
For instance, if you’re interested in having somebody create a logo for you, you can easily see their exact style on there, and you can match it with what you’re looking for. Guru operates the opposite way. You will post a job and let the freelancers come to you by bidding on the project. So basically, they submit their quotes, and you’ll review them to find the best match.
So you can browse Freelancer profiles and invite them to provide a quote for consideration. But the profiles are a little bit hard to browse, and it’s not a seamless experience. Fiverr is the easier option here. Browsing it is a dream. It has a very appealing layout and fantastic search filters that let you narrow down your choices.
Both platforms incorporate direct messaging to communicate directly on the website with your freelancer, which is a great feature to have. And they also both have a dedicated workspace where you can track and manage your orders. You can ask for updates, put funds in escrow, and approve milestones or entire projects to release funds.
Even though the workflow is similar, Fiverr definitely comes out top here. Searching by project rather than assessing quotes and taking a chance on whether a freelancer can deliver is a great feature. Fiverr is just quicker and smoother.
Freelancer verification standards
Both platforms do have to verify identity but only Fiverr demonstrates skills. These verifications protect you from spam by ensuring everyone on the forum is who they say they are. Now with Guru, that’s where the process ends.
Instead, you’ll have to manually bet freelancers based on the strength of their profile transaction stats and previous employer feedback. Fiverr has these criteria, but it also has a few standards to make it easier to determine which freelancer is best for you.
Fiverr has a feature called Fiverr pro verification. And as a freelancer, you’ll have to submit information about your work history and skill. And that will allow you to earn the pro designation on their profile. If you are a pro verified freelancer, you can have work samples and showcase your professional background.
It is tough to achieve this status, so few pros are on offer. Fiverr will also rate their freelancers based on being active on the platform and completing orders with a high satisfaction rate and a few other criteria. It will categorize the freelancers into level one and top-rated. If you’re top-rated, it’s a safe bet that your seller will provide what you need on time.
Guru also gives stats on seller activity, earnings, and job satisfaction rate but lacks any level or rating system to help you interpret that information. Guru also equates high earnings with quality work. And that’s not always the case. Fiverr avoids this trap, making it the better choice in this situation.
Freelancer profiles
Both platforms are relatively similar here. Fiverr showcases gigs where Guru showcases more general services, which essentially show you the work a freelancer can do for you where Fiverr comes ahead. The situation is how the information is presented to you.
Fiverr is more precise, concise, and clean looking, and Fiverr buyers rate sellers on a five-star scale for things like communication. And if the service was delivered as described, these ratings are then averaged. So you can see a seller’s overall rating.
The Guru system is the buyer only has to say whether they’re satisfied or unsatisfied with the work. The feedback score is displayed on a freelancer’s profile as a percentage, which is also weighted regarding the more pricey jobs. So if you do have a more expensive job for a client, that rating will impact your score more.
However, it can be a bit tricky because most of the profiles on Guru have a 100% rating. So how can you choose between two freelancers when they both have a 100% rating, and you know nothing else about them?
Fiverr also defaults to showing you the most relevant reviews rather than the most recent. So this is a great option to give you a better picture of who the freelancer is and their current workflow.
Pricing
Regarding pricing, both offer expert services, but only Guru charges for expert prices. With Fiverr, tons of Fiverr gigs cost just $5. There are many more expensive options out there, but you can get some quality work done for just five bucks. Of course, if you do hire one of those Fiverr pro freelancers that we mentioned earlier, you’ll get into spending a lot more money.
Generally, Fiverr gigs will list a basic standard and premium package with different prices, with the premium package typically including extras like more revisions and additional file types.
Guru is entirely different. You’ll be able to create a custom agreement between you and your freelancer. And there are multiple ways to set up payment terms. So it is very flexible in comparison to Fiverr. But on Guru, there’s no way to get work done for as low as $5.
Freelancers on Guru list their prices as a per-hour rate and a minimum job cost, usually between $25 and $50. Another thing to keep in mind with Guru is the transaction fee. You will pay 2.9% for every invoice as a handling fee.
Despite Gurus’ claims that they have the lowest transaction fee in the industry, Fiverr only charges the listed price. In addition, both Fiverr and Guru have options to hold funds in escrow to make sure that both you and the freelancer are protected. Both platforms also accept credit card and debit payment as well as PayPal.
Dispute Resolution
Both platforms empower you to prevent and resolve issues early. For example, if you’re a seller or a buyer, you don’t want to end up in an awkward dispute about payment or work quality. In this case, Guru takes a more proactive approach.
Once you hire the freelancer, you will set up your work agreement outlining the payment terms, the scope of work, and other necessary details. There will also be funds placed in escrow to ensure that both parties are protected. Work agreements are also binding on Guru. So if there is a dispute, the arbitrator will use the contract as the baseline for a ruling.
On Fiverr, they’re called gig packages, but they work the same as Guru’s work agreements. They have clearly defined work criteria and payment terms. If there is a dispute, A Fiverr dispute resolution center gives you several options to help you solve the issue independently.
You can request updates on your order status, extend the delivery time, or recommend canceling the order altogether. Also, if the seller doesn’t respond to one of your requests, the order will be canceled automatically after the waiting period ensuring you don’t pay for work you didn’t receive or aren’t happy with. So both platforms do have great features in this regard.
But, in the end, Fiverr is the way to go for quality freelance work that doesn’t blow your budget. Guru does have expert freelancers, but it’s much harder to find the best options for your needs. And you’re going to spend a lot of time sorting through quotes and much higher rates.
Conclusion
I would only suggest Guru if you are interested in an extensive complex project for which you need multiple freelancers. But at the end of the day, for the best all-around option, definitely go with Fiverr for all of your freelancing needs. You can find both excellent freelancers and the best rates anywhere.
