Compare / Upwork
RemoteHire.ph vs Upwork
Upwork: general freelance marketplace. RemoteHire.ph: a directory of ID-verified Filipino freelancers you hire and pay directly, for a flat $39/month or $199/year. They are different kinds of thing, and the table says where.
| Row | RemoteHire.ph | Upwork |
|---|---|---|
| Price to hire | Price to hireFlat subscription: $39 a month or $199 a year. Freelancers pay nothing. | Price to hireNo subscription; a 5% marketplace fee on every payment (3% US bank), plus $0.99–$14.99 per contract. |
| Cut of what you pay | Cut of what you payNone. You pay your hire directly and we never touch it. | Cut of what you pay5% of everything you pay (3% US bank; 10% on Business Plus). |
| What the freelancer gives up | What the freelancer gives upNone, ever. No commission, no membership, no bidding fees. | What the freelancer gives up0–15%, set per contract; the freelancer sees it when the offer arrives. |
| Government-ID verification | Government-ID verificationYes. A person reviews every freelancer's government ID before the badge appears. | Government-ID verificationYes. “Upwork verifies every freelancer's identity and location”: their claim, and the page does not say “government ID”. |
| You own the relationship | You own the relationshipYes. The relationship is yours from the first message; nothing bans taking it anywhere. | You own the relationshipNo. Off-platform pay is banned for two years; buying the relationship out costs 13.5% of the freelancer's annualised rate. |
| Messaging built in | Messaging built inYes. Yes | Messaging built inYes. Yes |
| Time tracking built in | Time tracking built inYes. Hours with weekly approval. No screenshots, no activity monitoring. | Time tracking built inYes. Yes |
| Contracts built in | Contracts built inYes. Yes | Contracts built inYes. Yes |
| Invoicing built in | Invoicing built inYes. Yes | Invoicing built inYes. Yes |
| Trial and notice terms | Trial and notice termsCancel anytime. Free accounts keep full search and saved lists. | Trial and notice termsNot stated on their site. |
Worldwide freelance marketplaces. They take a percentage of every payment on both sides, and the platform owns the relationship.
A worked example
Paying a freelancer $12,000 over a year: on RemoteHire.ph you part with $12,468 in total and they keep all $12,000. On Upwork you part with about $12,608, and they keep $10,200 to $12,000. Worked from the sourced figures below; the calculator on /compare-costs runs the same arithmetic at your own spend.
When Upwork is the better choice
- You need talent outside the Philippines, or escrow-protected fixed-price milestones for a one-off project.
- You want payment protection the platform itself administers, and the percentage is worth that.
Worth knowing
- The freelancer's fee is a range set per contract, so it is drawn as a band. Anyone showing you one Upwork number for this is showing you a number they chose.
- Taking the relationship off-platform inside two years requires a conversion fee of 13.5% of the freelancer's annualised rate: their own worked example is $8,424 for a $30/hr freelancer.
Where every claim comes from
Upwork
- Price to hire · Cut of what you pay · Government-ID verification · Messaging built in · Time tracking built in · Contracts built in · Invoicing built in: upwork.com/pricing/client
- What the freelancer gives up: support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062538
- You own the relationship: support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043723533
Checked 23 Aug 2026.
See who is on RemoteHire.ph first
The directory is free to search, and every face on it has shown a government ID to a person.