The disruption caused by Covid-19 has pushed businesses to harness the power of technology. As a response to it, corporate leaders across the industry landscape are trying to be more flexible and adaptive. With organizations being more stringent with their budgets, decisions of scaling back operations have been made. Employees are working from home and conventional offices have been transformed into co-working spaces.
All of this has led to an evolution that has unleashed exceptional opportunities for the freelance market. Entrepreneurs can offer services to clients by using a freelance marketplace. In this blog, we have covered the importance of a freelance marketplace and the top freelance marketplace builders.
Why Use a Freelance Marketplace?
Freelance service platforms are an online talent hub. The marketplace serves as a medium to connect service seekers with skilled freelancers for a particular task(s) as per requirement. In layman’s language, a freelance marketplace is a repository full of opportunities for anyone looking to get a job done or vice-versa, i.e. someone who is looking to provide services.
Freelance marketplaces are convenient and user-friendly. The user security is taken seriously and both freelancers and clients are shielded from the scammers through a vigorous registration process. Above all, a freelance marketplace is cost-effective with payments done timely to professionals. These platforms are of two kinds: bidding and non-bidding.
Bidding Platforms: In platforms with bidding, freelancers make a profile on the website, highlighting their skills, education, and experience. The clients can register and start with bidding for freelancers after reviewing the profile of the professional. Based on the performance, clients can rate the freelancers. Later, reviews and feedback can attract more clients.
Non-bidding platforms: Freelancers are carefully assessed after their registration in non-bidding platforms. Clients submit requests and it is the platform that provides them with shortlisted applicants. Interviews can be conducted to choose the best fit.
As the market is full of online service marketplace builders, it becomes overwhelming to reach a prime decision with which software is best suited for your online service marketplace business. To quicken the selection process, let us take a look at the things to be considered while choosing a freelance marketplace solution.
Things to Consider When Choosing Freelance Marketplace Builders
As an entrepreneur who is looking for a well-suited freelance marketplace software, you can be easily lured to take up an affordable one. Nonetheless, it is important to do in-depth research for a solution that meets your criteria. The key areas for consideration can be:
- Budget
- Time to market
- Features
- Ease-of-use
- Scalability
Budget
A freelance marketplace solution with customized features can be far from being cost-effective. Hosting the site could cost anywhere from a few to a thousand of dollars. Even though eCommerce hosts offer competitive prices, it should be up to you to decide whether they are cost-efficient or not. An expensive solution might not always give the best experience while a cheaper solution might require add-ons. Consider the cost of the following points and then decide the budget:
- Web design
- Features and functionality
- Security
- Monthly hosting
- Licensing
- Customization
- Maintenance
A stand-alone web hosting could be expensive as the other above-mentioned services would be from different providers. Selecting a premium package with an all-in-one host can provide these services within an optimal budget.
Time to Market
Also known as speed to market (STM), this concept determines the success factor of a freelance marketplace. As technology changes at pace, delay could render the relevance of the solution. Being late could also erode the addressable market.
Features
The most important aspect of a freelance marketplace solution is the features offered. It is the features that add value to a solution and helps with user attraction and retention. Considering the investment, a few features can be avoided while the others are a must-have. Prime features include:
- Registration and user profile
- Advanced research
- Job listing
- Bidding mechanism
- Project Management tools
- Payments
- Customer Support
Ease of Use
The usability of a marketplace builder is another crucial factor to consider. If a solution is complex and is not easy to use, then irrespective of it being free or not, users will most likely move to a better solution that offers easy access. If a solution has a complicated process, it will also have a high learning curve, which will require time, effort, and investment. It most likely won’t be a suitable solution.
Scalability
While launching a freelance marketplace, it is important to consider business growth. If, as an entrepreneur, you are focused, the business could scale rapidly. If your solution is not scalable then it will not be able to take the increase in workload. On the other hand, a scalable solution maintains a high performance level despite the surge. Hence, considering future expansion and ever-changing business requirements, a system should be scalable.
List of the Best Freelance Marketplace Builders
Based on the information shared above and for making the selection of a freelance marketplace solution easy, here is a list of top on-demand service marketplace builders.
A powerful service marketplace platform that helps service seekers hire a skilled workforce to get their work done. Built with state-of-the-art technology, Yo!Gigs offers an intuitive interface to its clients. It is feature-rich and allows entrepreneurs to enter the peer-to-peer marketplace industry with ease. Its secure architecture helps with a quick website setup that helps clients gain a competitive edge. Being easily customizable, several marketplaces like Upwork, Task Rabbit, and more can be built using Yo!Gigs. It is highly scalable and offers 1-year of free technical support besides having a zero-cost installation.
Features
- Multilingual
- CMS management
- Catalog management
- Category Management
- Order Management
- Promotion and SEO management
- Review and Ratings
- Bid management for taskers and service seekers
- Payment processing and management
- Easy task management
- User management
- Finance management
Yelo is a SaaS-based online marketplace solution that helps entrepreneurs to build platforms like Fiverr. The platform supports providing services to consumers through a website. It also has uncluttered and aesthetically pleasing themes which can be customized as per the requirements of its clients.
Features
- Fully customizable
- Catalog management
- Chat support
- Multi-lingual
- Ratings and reviews
- Dynamic templates
- Multiple payments
- Bidding strategy
- Custom search
MartPro is a freelance marketplace builder that connects employers and freelancers seamlessly. A multipurpose freelancing website can be created to hire independent professionals and provide services. It enables freelance marketplace businesses to rapidly scale by integrating a best-in-class set of features, vital to boosting growth.
Features
- Private Marketplace
- Mobile and Web Application
- Searching and Listing
- Mobile-Friendly
- Dedicated Support
- Scalable
- Seamless UI/UX
- Multilingual feature
- Multiple payment gateways
- Fully customizable
Arcadier is another leading (SaaS-based) freelance marketplace builder that powers B2B, B2C, P2P marketplaces. It is a feature-rich, white-label solution that can be customized to meet the requirements of the clients. The platform enables entrepreneurs to get freelancers onboard for service bookings.
Features
- Calendar scheduler
- Addons to add more services
- Set-duration
- Customized marketplace and apps
- Themes are available
- Multilingual support
- Admin dashboard
Sharetribe is an intuitive and super easy freelance marketplace builder that helps entrepreneurs in setting up a high-quality website quickly. It is easy to customize the platform as per the needs of clients. It handles hosting, transactions, and online payments with ease. Sharetribe does not have a free version but it offers a free trial.
Features
- Cataloging/categorization
- Commission management
- Order management
- Payment processing
- SEO management
- Vendor portal
Whitelance enables entrepreneurs to launch their freelance marketplace without spending time and money building the solution. It is readymade and connects freelancers to provide their services. Connected hirers earn commissions and subscriptions. It also automates the process of clients hiring from their contractor workforce.
Features
- Ease in searching freelancers
- Admin dashboard
- Multi-payments
- Shortlist and mark freelancers as favorite
Hatch is also a SaaS-based service marketplace solution that allows entrepreneurs to launch their platform quickly to hire freelancers. It has flexible business models for all service marketplaces. To optimize success, their personalized support is provided to entrepreneurs. The platform can be used by unlimited users, listing, and turnovers.
Features
- Category Management
- Fee / Commission Management
- Order Management
- Payment Processing
- Promotions Management
- SEO Management
- Vendor Portal
Conclusion
A freelance service marketplace can be counted under profitable business models. But, building it from scratch can be difficult. Educating yourself instead of picking a random freelance marketplace solution is the way forward. With the information provided in this blog, we hope that it proves advantageous, guiding you to choose the most suited freelance marketplace builder.
