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Updated: January 25, 2022

20 Comments Reviews

Outsourcely Review

Is Outsourcely A Good Alternative To Upwork?

This is a review of the Outsourcely job platform.

Outsourcely Review – Key Points
  About

Outsourcely is an online job board for freelancers and remote workers.

💰  Price

Free to join, or $10/month for a “Featured Profile.”

😍  Pros

No fees, emphasis on long-term engagements.

😩  Cons

Convoluted verification process, low job volume, low pay.

  Verdict

There are much better job boards out there for freelancers and remote workers.

Overall Rating
1.0/5

Note: This Outsourcely review was written by Louise, a member of Freedom Business Builder, and originally published in August 2017.

Like many of my fellow Upwork freelancers, I started to get a little disillusioned with the platform recently.

If you’ve spent much time there, you probably know why – low-quality jobs, difficult clients, ever-increasing fees, and the general feeling that Upwork just isn’t on our side.

This is becoming a common sentiment, and lots of competitors have sprung up to take advantage of the growing discontent around Upwork. I decided to check out the competition to see if they really did offer freelancers a better experience, starting with Outsourcely.

Here’s how it went…

What is Outsourcely?

Outsourcely is a platform that aims to connect businesses with remote workers around the world.

“That sounds a lot like Upwork…”

It is!

But there are two key differences.

First, the emphasis is on long-term engagements.

This is a great selling point if you’re looking for a reliable freelance gig with a steady income. And there are part-time as well as full-time roles, so in theory you could find a part-time job to fund your travels – perfect for the digital nomads among us!

Second – and this is a biggie – freelancers pay ZERO fees on their earnings from Outsourcely.

That’s right – zero, nil, zilch, nada, non.

They make most of their money from the client side, so you get paid directly from the employer and keep all of your glorious, hard-earned dollars for yourself!

So is Outsourcely all it’s cracked up to be?

Obviously, the fee-free model is a major positive. After paying 20% of my income plus transaction fees on Upwork, this was music to my ears.

Outsourcely is completely free to join for freelancers, although like Upwork, there is an advanced membership option. As you can see below, there are a few extra perks from upgrading.

Personally, I felt that $10 was a reasonable price based on what’s included, but let’s take a look at each benefit in more detail so you can decide if it’s worthwhile for you.

Outsourcely free vs. featured profile for freelancers
Outsourcely free vs. featured profile for freelancers

Outsourcely Membership Perks

I think the voice and video attachment is a brilliant feature!

Adding a video or voice message is a great way to add a personal touch to your application. Since most people won’t go to the trouble (myself included – my ‘I-work-from-home’ hair is impressing nobody!), it really sets you apart from the competition.

Having your profile or application show up higher in the search results is obviously a great benefit, too, especially for $10 per month.

My only reservation here is that the low price point makes it super accessible to the majority of freelancers on the platform.

What happens to my search position if everyone is ‘featured’?

Perks or no perks, they had me at ‘fee-free’, so in I went!

The Set-Up Process

I was initially impressed by how quick and easy it was to set up. Depending on how much work you want to put into your profile, you can be up and running within about 20 minutes.

Outsourcely Review: Set-Up Process

There are countless skills on offer and you can be really specific about your level of experience in each.

As you’ll see later on, potential clients get to be equally as specific, so it helps to manage expectations and make sure you’re a good match.

Some employers proactively search for candidates based on these skills, so it also helps to make you more visible in the results.

Outsourcely Review: Skills

Then came verification.

Outsourcely Review: Verification
  • You can’t apply for jobs or show up in the search results until your former employers have been contacted to confirm that you worked for them!

One of my main past employers is a company that no longer exists, but there was no option to submit payslips or contract documentation as alternative proof. My only choice if I wanted to apply for jobs was to remove a substantial chunk of relevant work experience from my profile, which I grudgingly did.

This won’t be an issue for everybody, of course, but it could be a potential roadblock in some cases. If you’ve worked for yourself for years, for example, I’m not sure how that would be handled by Outsourcely.

If you think it might be an issue for you personally, perhaps it’s best to contact somebody from Outsourcely customer support beforehand.

Finding Your Dream Job

I was finally set up and ready to find my dream remote job – what now?

Here’s where Outsourcely started to fall apart for me, I’m afraid!

Job listings on Outsourcely tend to be very detailed, so it’s easier to make an informed choice.

However, one key detail seems to be missing time and time again…

Outsourcely Review: Remote Job Search

Salary.

This isn’t a big deal for everyone, but personally, seeing ‘DOE’ or ‘TBD’ everywhere is really off-putting for me. Maybe it’s because the range of pay on offer is just so wide in copywriting (and freelancing in general).

I can’t think of a time I’ve applied to such a job and haven’t been offered a terrible wage. Now I’m wary of wasting my time, and I tend to think that if you were offering a reasonable salary, you’d use it as a selling point, no?

Then there’s a question of relevance.

Check out those search results.

Outsourcely Review: Job Search

As awesome as it sounds, I have no idea what a “Happiness Engineer” is and how it relates to my search (copywriting).

And I definitely never claimed to be a Japanese porn translator (not on Outsourcely anyway).

The Interview Process

Despite my hesitation, I did apply for a few jobs (not that one!) and managed to get two responses.

While the first potential employer and I mutually agreed that we weren’t a good fit, the second ghosted me when I tried to talk about payment.

The ‘interview’ process was very straightforward, but since no job came of either conversation, I can’t speak about the actual employment process.

For reasons that are about to become clearer, it would be some time before I had the opportunity to try again…

Volume of Jobs

The volume of jobs is staggeringly low compared to Upwork. Now I know that it’s a newer platform, and the emphasis is on long-term engagements, so this is to be expected – to a degree.

Outsourcely Review: Volume of Jobs

You can see that only 184 jobs showed up when I searched for ‘copywriting’, including completely random jobs that were irrelevant to my skills.

When I managed to filter them out, I was left with 63 results. Of those 63 jobs, only the first eight were active and the rest had expired.

  • Only EIGHT out of 184 advertised jobs were in any way relevant or even available.

Just in case it was a one-off, I tried several times, a few weeks apart. No such luck – next time it was five jobs, the next time it was six, and the next time it was eight again.

Ok, eight jobs – that’s still something, right?

Not so fast!

Quality of Jobs

I can only speak for copywriting work here, but boy…let’s just say that if you’re trying to escape the Upwork content mill, you might be disappointed.

I was hard-pressed to find a job that paid more than $800 per month full-time, despite expecting A LOT from you in return.

A few examples…

Outsourcely Review: Skills Sample

On Outsourcely, Level 4 means ‘specialist’ and Level 5 means ‘expert’.

What can you expect in return for your specialisation and expertise in nine distinct areas of writing and communication?

Outsourcely Review: Job Sample

You can expect $1 an article, or $30 a day if you can churn out 30 of them (at a minimum).

Let’s look at another…

And another…

Outsourcely Review: $500 Job

On Upwork, there are so many other jobs that you can just bypass these without a second thought.

However, when there’s only a maximum of eight relevant jobs available at any given time and most of them look like this, your options drop dramatically.

I appreciate that depending on where you live in the world, some of these jobs might actually offer a pretty decent income.

But in the majority of places, working full-time for $500 per month is simply not feasible.

For an entry-level copywriter looking to beef up their skills or resume, a low wage is often a compromise they’re willing to make. However, many of these listings are NOT entry-level jobs.

Many are asking for high output, years of experience and/or advanced credentials, and barely offering writers enough to make rent in return.

Outsourcely Review: Final Verdict

I really want to love Outsourcely, and I do think it has the potential to be a great platform. Features like the zero-fee model in particular go a long way towards addressing some of the frustrations people have about Upwork.

Keep in mind that I’m a copywriter, so if you’re in a different profession, you might have a completely different experience to me. And if you’re looking for experience or a casual, reliable gig to supplement your travel fund, this is definitely a good place to look.

But if you’re looking for steady work and a higher wage, Outsourcely just isn’t there yet, at least not for writers.

If Upwork is the unsatisfying Tinder hook-up of the freelance world, then Outsourcely is the guy who says he wants a relationship but won’t introduce you to his friends.

Same problems, different packaging.

Outsourcely is a young platform competing with a giant, and I did take that into account. When it starts attracting a bigger audience of clients, I imagine the quality and the volume of jobs will go up.

I’ll definitely give it a try as it starts to grow, but for now, it just doesn’t have what I’m looking for.

Summary

Outsourcely is a platform that connects businesses with remote workers.

PROS

  • Freelancers pay no commission or fees on their income.
  • Freelancers are paid directly by the employer.
  • The emphasis is on long-term, steady jobs or projects.
  • The platform offers a good mix of part-time and full-time work.
  • The advanced membership plan is very affordable at $10, and it has great perks like video and voice attachments to make your application stand out.

CONS

  • Low job volume.
  • Difficult to find relevant jobs.
  • Inconvenient verification process.
  • Jobs are generally not well-paid.

GREAT FOR

  • Digital nomads looking for a side gig while travelling.
  • Newcomers looking to build experience.
  • Freelancers based in countries with a lower cost of living.

NOT SO GREAT FOR

  • Experienced freelancers looking to earn a higher wage.
  • Freelancers based in countries where the cost of living is higher.

Have you tried Outsourcely?

If so, let us know how you fared in the comments below.

  • Do you find Outsourcely to be a good alternative to Upwork?
  • Did you experience any of the problems detailed above?
  • Are there other sites you’d recommend as an alternative to Upwork?

Update from Niall

I reached out to Outsourcely to let them know about this review and received the following response from someone there:

“I’ve read the article. Pretty interesting. This is the first time I’ve read an article about Outsourcely that is not all positive. Then again it cannot be helped at least there were pros and cons mentioned at the end of the article.”

That was it. Nothing more.

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

20 thoughts on “Outsourcely Review”

  1. I came from Upwork and decided to try this out; was very disappointed–most of the jobs listed have long since expired, and worse, there is no way to manually delete my account on this platform, so just be careful in sharing information here.

    Reply
  2. I found them to be an utter waste of time and effort! Signed up in January, went through the account verification process and was told I’m good to go. Last week received a notification telling me my profile picture violates their policy. (I was wearing a hat).

    Went in to change the picture, noticed a typo that I’d asked them to correct and they had said they would (in 24h, in Jan) was still there. Changed the picture as requested and was again told my typo would be changed (in 24h). Went in two days later, same picture, same typo.

    It also now seems my profile has just sat there for 20 WEEKS seeing as the picture THEY approved and said was good to go violates their policy.

    The jobs they advertise pay peanuts and the platform employs monkeys, all in all? Just another profile harvesting affair (like Torre) to keep some investor sweet (IMHO)

    Reply
  3. A VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE…
    We stopped working with UpWork several years ago and went through a series of other job sites before we settled on Outsourcely.com. We have hired some really awesome, long-term and very experienced remote team members. The biggest issue we have had is that people seem to apply without even reading the qualifications, and some even get snary and indignant when we send them a polite rejection message. But that is not the platform’s fault.

    The issues you experienced happen when hiring companies put in the wrong qualifications, much like applicants that apply that are not qualified and waste our time. But I will say the Outsourcely platform itself is terrific, we combine it with payment via Skrill and TimeDoctor and the results have been phenominal.

    Reply
  4. Hmmm.. I’ve been using Upwork and off since 2015 and I have thought at times that I’ve outgrown it but it remains a decent lead source at minimum. I found this article researching Outsourcely as another option but based on the feedback in your article and from others in the comments, I’ll pass. Appreciate your review!

    Reply
  5. what i found bad about this platform is that jobs have a higher volumen of aplications and dosnt show how many interview they have with freelancers

    Reply
  6. Being a stay at home dad for the last 4 years and looking for a work from home job now, almost all of my jobs were for major companies in the country I reside in like Mtv Philippines, EMI Virgin Records, Time-Warner Music, and Tower Records which all have closed down years ago or have undergone major changes, and even tho I’m in contact with a couple of my former employers they didn’t have their corporate emails anymore (which outsourcely requires) but I could give their personal emails and phone numbers yet this was not enough for Outsourcely. The cons heavily outweigh the pros considering someone with 12 plus years experience in graphic design can’t even get their account verified to apply for a job.

    Reply
  7. I had to stop at the verification process 🙁
    May be it’s just me, but I didn’t want to bother my former empolyers, nor let them know what I’m up to now. I also feel like I didn’t have a good relationship with some of them, it just felt degrading to reach out to them so I can find work on some website most haven’t heard of.

    Reply
  8. I personally Love Outsourcely I hired some amazing hard working honest VAs from it and just love how easy it is to filter and voice message people during the interview process.

    Reply
  9. I searched on google on some other outsourcing sites like Upwork. I’m an Upwork freelancer for more than 5 years and just like you said, “Upwork just isn’t on our side”. and then I saw the Outsourcely as one of the list on Google. Thank God I read your reviews with complete details.

    Reply
  10. Upwork rejected my application. I have superior writing capabilities and access to online databases like EBSCO Host. I could have brought excellent writing and content creation skills to the platform yet they rejected my application because they have too many writers. How is that possible? Why not let employers decide? I guess I should have lied and showed myself to be less capable of delivering quality writing and online content. Don’t waste your time with Upwork!

    Reply
  11. I will never use Outsourcely again… I signed up for an account to find a freelancer and forgot to remove my card so I was charged for 1 month (fair enough, that’s my fault). However, when I saw the charge, I reached out to their customer support and asked that my membership be withdrawn as Outsourcely does not make it easy to cancel on your own from your account. I’ve looked under billing, my account and my profile and there’s no where to cancel your membership. Oddly enough, Outsourcely’s customer support did not repsond to my request until the day I was to be charged for another months membership. How convenient. I’ve had great results using Upwork. I will need another VA in the near future but will not come back to Outsourcely as they have proven to be unreliable in their communication and untrustworthy to their customers.

    Reply
  12. I wanted to live Outsourcely as well. Mainly for entry level or temporary assignments. Well, recently I had three different responses from “employers” that turned out to be total scams. The tell tale was a Google hangout, offering inflated wages, asking for banking information, and also asking to mobile deposit a $2,300 check from a different type of business. I played along with the first one and called the business on the check, an auto shop. I explained this to the business owner and the emailed him a copy of his check that had been “washed”. I thought he was going to cry. While I never had any intention of depositing his check, because that would make me a part of the scam, I simply did the right thing for this man.

    I also tried to contact Outsourcely with no response. This has happened twice more since then. Beware if you apply any company on this site and give NO personal information!

    Reply
  13. I haven’t been thrilled with Outsourcely.

    I signed up to search for writing jobs. So far, the job opportunities that have contacted me have all been data entry or office support type of roles. Several of the messages are poorly written, with typos and entire words missing. Some of them are supposedly coming from different employers at different companies, but the employers’ names are very similar and the wording of the messages is almost identical. Very weird.

    Reply
    • Yeah, doesn’t sound great.

      I reached out to Outsourcely to let them know about this article and received the following response from someone there:

      “I’ve read the article. Pretty interesting. This is the first time I’ve read an article about Outsourcely that is not all positive. Then again it cannot be helped at least there were pros and cons mentioned at the end of the article.”

      Reply
      • I came across your article as I wanted to check if Outsourcely will be worth my time and effor. After reading their response when you informed them about this review, I immediately lost all interest. That reply sounds downright rude. Their PR Team or whoever handles such communication seems to need re-training on Customer Service because clearly they do not practice it.

        Reply
  14. This is very helpful. Thank you so much!

    I didn’t know about the verification process, and the self-employment issue will be a problem for me.

    I am still waiting to hear back from them regarding profile privacy settings. Do you know if they allow you to make your profile unsearchable by search engines once it’s all set up? I only want to be searchable within Outsourcely. I’m stuck in the middle of the sign up process until I hear back from them.

    Reply
    • Hi Kathy,

      Thanks for the comment. I’m not sure about if you can make your profile private on there. I see many freelancer profiles on Outsourcely show up when I do a google search, but there may be an option to set it to private.

      Reply

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