Fiverr.com is one of the most popular outsourcing destinations online. Built around a very simple concept – what people will do for $5 – Fiverr has grown into a large global community of freelance workers and people who hire them.
About Fiverr
The company was founded by Shai Wininger and Micha Kaufman in 2010. By 2013, it was one of the 100 most popular websites in the US.
Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Fiverr also has offices in New York and San Francisco, but the freelancers are located all around the world.
The company has raised over $107.1M revenue in 2019, an increase of 42% from 2018 to 2019, 400 service categories, 3.1 million buyers and work in 45 different languages. Wow!
How Fiverr Works
Fiverr works a little differently than other freelancing sites. Instead of creating a job posting and waiting for workers to bid on your job, on Fiverr the workers state what they can do for you, and in what budget and timeframe.
You’ll find just about every virtual service imaginable, but it’s more of an a la carte menu system than a request for proposal system. (Though if you can’t find exactly what you like, you can submit a custom request too.)
When Fiverr started, every “gig” was $5. Since shifting their focus to more professional services, such as web development and eCommerce services, Fiverr quickly began experimenting with higher priced offerings.
Today sellers can build packages at different pricing tiers, offer gig extras, and even quote custom jobs up to $10,000.
Fiverr Review
Fiverr Services
So what kind of work can you get done on Fiverr?
You’ll find broad categories like:
- Graphics & Design
- Digital Marketing
- Writing & Translation
- Programming & Tech
- Video & Animation
- Music & Audio
- Business
- Lifestyle
And underneath those, you can drill down to dozens of subcategories to find the specific skill you need.
Personally, I’ve used Fiverr for years — with varying degrees of success.
Some of the gigs I’ve gotten the most mileage from were the book cover for Virtual Assistant Assistant, my podcast voiceover and intro music, and some website fixes.
I’ve ordered graphics for social media and display ads, video intros (including the “logo-slam” you see on many of the Virtual Assistant Assistant videos), transcriptions, blog posts, and even the custom chatbot on this site.
Some of the graphics I’ve gotten back have been unusable, and many of the articles required heavy editing, but for the most part my experience has been positive.
In fact, I recently found a Fiverr seller to clean up a malware infection that plagued several of my sites.
Fiverr Plans and Pricing
For virtual assistants, you’ll find a typical range of 30 minutes to 3 hours of service offered for $5.
Like I mentioned, Fiverr has been on a consistent mission to rid themselves of the low-priced stigma they earned by initially pricing everything at $5. It seems like the $5 gigs are becoming more and more rare on the platform.
In fact, here’s an example of a typical pricing package for a web development service:
A far cry from the $5 past!
Now that’s not to say that great deals and affordable offers can’t still be found; it just might require a little more digging.
Like other freelance platforms, Fiverr has a feedback system in place where employers can rate the workers on their performance. This is a standard 5-star system and I’d be wary of any seller with less than 4.5 stars.
Fiverr also assigns “Levels” to their sellers, but this metric doesn’t carry as much weight with me as it did in the past. All else being equal, I’d rather hire a “Top Rated” seller over a “Level 2” seller over a “Level 1” seller, but don’t let that scare you away from working with a lower level seller.
Another tag is “Rising Talents” which means that they are new but have successes with special talents. Fiverr’s Editorial Team manually reviews new Gigs and handpicks them based on quality and potential. This is a temporary badge and because they are handpicked, they cannot be applied for.
In addition, Fiverr “Pro”, a group of freelancers they’ve hand-selected and verified, is aimed at customers who don’t want to take any chances and demand quality results on the first shot. The company adds that Pro gigs come with “next-level” service and 24/7 VIP customer support.
Fiverr Business
In September 2020, Fiverr launched a platform called “Fiverr Business”, which is designed to make scaling and execution seamless.
The B2B platform provides teams with access to a vetted marketplace of on-demand freelance talent, collaboration and project management tools, one centralized payment method, 24/7 live chat support, and their own Business Success Manager that can help match their business with the best talent for them.
In any case, Fiverr is a great way to get started with outsourcing. It’s very low risk.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is to align your expectations with what you’re spending. In a lot of cases, you get what you pay for, but sometimes you can get some really great values.
Read more about Fiverr Business here!
Fiverr Learn
Fiverr Learn is an e-learning platform providing online training. Where Fiverr Learn differs from other learning platforms is that the instructors have been handpicked to create content for the platform.
At the time of publishing, the platform had around 47 tutors listed. Individual courses range from $23-$94, bundle course prices are also available.
Read more about Fiverr Learn here!
Fiverr Alternatives
Fiverr is best for quick on-demand help for specific projects or tasks. For dedicated support or ongoing team members, I think you’re better off looking on another platform.
Related: Our Top 49 Fiverr Alternatives to Find Freelancers
| FreeeUp | Upwork | Fiverr | OnlineJobs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Established | 2015 | 1999 | 2010 | 2008 |
| Location | Worldwide, w/ concentration in USA and Philippines | Worldwide | Worldwide | Philippines |
| Customer Rating | ||||
| Size of Talent Pool | Thousands | 12 million | 830,000 | 250,000 |
| Hourly Rate | $5-75+ | $3-100+ | $3-100+ | $3-20+ |
| Platform Fee | 15% | 5-20% | 20% + processing fee | $69 a month |
| Worker Tracking | (optional) |
|||
| Pre-Screened Freelancers | (w/ Fiverr Pro) |
|||
| Best For | Quick hires, e-commerce | One-off projects | Smaller jobs | Affordable full-time help |
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
For larger projects, you might consider Upwork, (here’s our full comparison of Upwork vs. Fiverr) and to bring someone on your team on a more regular basis, you might take a look at FreeeUp or another virtual assistant company.
Because Fiverr covers so many categories, it might also make sense to check out specialist services in design, writing, or tech help if that’s what you need.
Your Turn
Have you outsourced work on Fiverr? Please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.
A seller Savita Rani scammed me for $1500 on Fiverr. She is not a developer herself and hires random people who can’t complete any tasks. The code provided is ridiculously bad and full of bugs and issues. When asked to fix the bugs she can’t help and doesn’t know how to fix the issues and make it work. She refused to provide a refund and was completely arrogant about the fact she has basically stolen the money from me. She is providing her services under “savitaraniteam” on Fiverr. Please be aware of this scam Fiverr account: https://www.fiverr.com/savitaraniteam
I purchased a logo from a designer at Fiverr a couple of months ago. The logo never happened, but customer service was prompt, helpful, and I didn’t have to pay. However, I did my research, asked questions and still ended up wasting my time and have nothing to show for it. I’m not a fan of this company. I’m not sure I’ll try them in the future.
First seller disappeared after a couple emails back and forth.
I cancelled the order, but you can NOT get your money back if that happens, they stay on your Fiverr “account”.
So I searched for another service, which actually delivered the service and it had little to no impact.
5$ wasted, a few hours wasted and many doubts on their policy of keeping the money you put for unsuccessful services.
I purchased my first gig on Fiverr about a month ago, and couldn’t believe how fast and easy the process went. The project was delivered quickly, but I needed some changes done. The gentlemen made them and delivered the final project to my exact specs!
They’ve recently upgraded their interface, so it’s a lot simpler to use (if that were possible).
Fiverr was one of two freelancer sites I tested to dip my toe into the “outsourcing” waters. I shared some tips about my experience with both services in a post on my blog entitled, Outsourcing: How To Work Smarter and Get Things Done.
I DEFINITELY plan to use the service again!
I’ve purchased two gigs on Fiverr. In both cases delivery was super fast and the alterations I requested were done gracefully and promptly.
Their system is efficient and promotes accountability for both parties. I will definitely use again where appropriate.
I’ve only used it for logo design. I’m a first time VA-buyer.
Fiverr is great for at least two things in my view:
1 – It’s very easy to buy your first VA-job here. Getting an actual VA seems intimidating at first, so you can start small by buying something at Fiverr.
2 – You get a lot of inspiration about what VAs can do. Scrolling through the categories and seeing what’s popular gives you lots of ideas.
And it’s very easy to track the gigs you’ve bought through their built-in to do system.
I’m sure the quality varies, but doesn’t it everywhere?
I’m actually a professional VA and writer. I found Fiverr last year and picked up quite a few gigs that I enjoy doing. Most of my buyers understand that I delivery quality content so they are willing to order the number of gigs for it. I have purchased a few gigs also. Fiverr isn’t for everyone, especially if you live in the US. As a buyer, you expect quality and as a seller you expected to be treated with respect and fair pricing. The trick is to find something you enjoy doing. If you are looking for a gig on Fiverr, I would try checking out their recommendations or using the hash tag on Twitter to find excellent help!
I have used Fiverr for a couple of different “gigs” and overall, I have been happy. I usually upgrade to a $10 service, but it is still a great deal. I had an article written for me that was decent. I have had a couple of different people transcribe my video blog posts and have been happy with that. Fiverr is a very user-friendly website and they will even contact you if your freelancer is late on a gig. So easy to keep track of everything and communicate with freelancer.
Boom or bust, feast or famine seems to be my experience over on Fiverr. I’ve had some amazing video intros done, but some really sub par logo design. If you think about it though, the type of jobs which make sense are those in which the provider has spent a lot of upfront time once, and then can crank out results repeatedly. Tasks/projects which require a decent amount of effort on their part will tend to suffer in quality.
It seems a number of folks are using Fiverr to get follow up work at a higher rate, and use the Fiverr project to show what they can do. I’m totally fine with that. I had a US based IT professional spend 2 hours trying to remove a virus from my computer remotely, and now I have a great contact I’d gladly pay more in the future for similar issues.
If you have $10 – $20 to spare, it’s worth it just to take a shot at some Fiverr projects. You just might find some good talent!
Amazing place…as long as you know what you’re looking for. I’ve gotten a number of fantastic drawings and sketches for $5, as well as 2 hours of VA work for $5 that I was insanely happy with – you run the risk of getting burned, but as long as you follow reviews and pick people with a track record of delivering the kind of work you’re looking for, you should do well here!
Fiverr is ABSOLUTELY THE WORST PLACE FOR FREELANCERS! It might be a good place for cheapa$$ buyers, or sellers from third world countries trying to pay off the mortgage on their huts, but not for anyone else. Buyers purchase gigs for a measly 5 bucks, then complain about the most ridiculous things. If the seller doesn’t then kiss the buyer’s a$$, negative feedback is immediately threatened. There’s nothing a seller can do at that point, but either bend over for the buyer or take the negative feedback. I completed almost 200 gigs in my less than 2 months on Fiverr (should be called Fourerr) had a 100% rating, but was called names, threatened, harassed, and more by crazy buyers. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this online sewer.
I’ve hired fiverr for a number of things and have liked their work very much (for the most part). I had one vendor do eight illustrations for a presentation. She was late and some of the last illustrations lacked the detail of the first. However, for forty dollars I used the top three and think it’s a really good value.
I had a necklace made. VERY beautiful. I had a poem composed for my mother’s birthday. It was okay. I’ve had traffic driven to a website. It worked extremely well and is very measurable, so I’m confident that the results are valid.
My advice; look for multiple excellent reviews and remember it’s only five dollars, so don’t be massively picky.
I like Fiverr for it’s simplicity. As long as you manage your expectations, you’ll be fine. At first I was a little bummed by some of the projects I got for $5, but then I realized it was $5. Not a huge deal. And actually I’ve had some pretty decent success hiring copywriters and article writers. If you’re looking for real programming help or real graphic design that actual customers are going to see, I think it’s worth it to spend a little more to get it done right. But if you just need something “quick and dirty”, there’s no better place than Fiverr.