When it comes to getting content, there are hundreds of sites and thousands of writers who are eager to take your money. This can make it hard to choose the most efficient method for content procurement.
Some decent options include Upwork, Content Hourlies, and Textbroker. All three platforms have their benefits. Upwork allows you to find freelancers who can do all sorts of work and keeps you in complete control over your project. Content Hourlies is a fairly new platform that has a hand-selected pool of writers. Textbroker has thousands of writers, but isn’t as heavily moderated. To help you decide which service to use, keep reading as we breakdown each platform and compare them in detail.
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Ease of Use
Both Content Hourlies and Textbroker are far easier to use than Upwork. After you sign up with Upwork, you have to find the freelancer that suits your needs best. Depending on your rate, you could be sorting through hundreds of applications per assignment. Content Hourlies and Textbroker are a little more straightforward. Simply post the listing, then wait for a writer at the desired quality level to complete the project. This system eliminates a lot of headaches associated with getting content.
While Content Hourlies and Textbroker are far easier to use, keep in mind that Upwork is more versatile. If you need services beyond basic writing, you may need to turn to Upwork. Content Hourlies also provides a range of managed services in case you need more elaborate services. Textbroker only offers writing services.
Speed of Service
All three services can be fast or slow depending on how attractive your assignment is to writers. Textbroker has more writers, so it can be faster to get work completed. Unfortunately, Textbroker’s lower rates attract a lot of writers who don’t proofread content. This could result in more revisions. Content Hourlies has a small group of writers, so it can take a little longer to get work completed. Upwork is by far the slowest, as you need to find the right person to complete your work and they often stop at any time.
Amount of Writers
Upwork currently has 12 million freelancers, making them by far the largest of the three sites. Textbroker doesn’t post their numbers, but they are one of the largest writing platforms online. Content Hourlies is still fairly new, so it makes sense that they have the smallest pool of writers; however, this number is growing every day.
Quality of Content
Upwork is very much of a hit-and-miss when it comes to the quality of the content. Because you are completely in control over who you hire, you could get exactly what you need or be constantly struggling to find quality writers.
Both Textbroker and Content Hourlies have level systems for writers. In order for a writer to maintain their level, they need to consistently produce work that meets specific standards. If a client feels the work does not meet the expectations for that level, then they can request a revision and after a number of revisions the work can be rejected permanently.
Content Hourlies is heavily moderated, whereas Textbroker often takes months before rating writers. This means that you will have a better idea of what to expect when you work with Content Hourlies.
Customer Service
All three platforms are quick to respond to issues; however, Upwork can’t always help you resolve a dispute with your writer. Textbroker and Content Hourlies both use moderated message systems. They also have several restrictions on writers. Not only are problems less likely to occur, they are also faster to solve.
Because of its size, Content Hourlies has a very distinct advantage over other platforms in terms of customer service. Reaching out to Content Hourlies is easy and problems are resolved fairly quickly.
Managed Services
If you are planning on fulfilling a large order, both Textbroker and Content Hourlies have managed services that can help you. Both companies fulfill the orders differently. For large orders, Textbroker typically assigns an account manager and an editor. They still rely on their writers to pick up work.
While Content Hourlies can support large open orders, they can also help you connect to writers that are willing to meet your deadline. Because they have a smaller pool of writers, their management is able to recommend writers they feel will best meet the needs of your project. This makes them a great choice for large projects.
Upwork can be difficult to use when you have a big project. You will most likely have to hire multiple writers and negotiate terms individually. Then, you will have to assign the work according to their schedule. Managed services eliminate this stress.
Price
Upwork is the most flexible platform in terms of pricing, but you can definitely find someone willing to work within your budget. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get the best quality for your money.
Textbroker is affordably priced, especially for low level work. For 1.8 cents per word, you can get reasonable SEO content. If you find a writer you like, you can hire them at their direct rate. Each writer sets their own rate, so you could wind up paying a lot more depending on your project.
Content Hourlies is also priced by level and providers content of similar quality at 1.6 cents word; however, if you find a writer you like, you won’t be charged an arm and a leg. Direct order are priced the same as open orders.
How to Get the Best Content for Your Website
The best way to get content for your website is to work with a trustworthy platform. Here is how to use each platform:
- Upwork – Good choice for individuals who want complete control over their project, including pricing. A more complicated system can make it difficult to get work right away. You also have to monitor the quality yourself, which could lead to headaches down the road.
- Content Hourlies – Perfectly priced for SEO and web content. Easy to find cheap writers who can produce quality work. Heavy moderation means you always know what to expect.
- Textbroker – Great for large projects and a wide range of articles. A larger pool of writers may mean faster fulfillment, but you don’t always know what you are going to get. You could wind up paying more if you find a writer you really like.
Conclusion
If you aren’t sure which platform is going to produce the best results, don’t be afraid to do a trial run on each. You can also contact customer service for each site. This can help you get the answers you need to make an informed decision.
8 thoughts on “Comparison of Content Providers: Upwork vs Content Hourlies vs Textbroker”
I don’t like Upwork at all. It takes just too long before you can get a writer to do your job for you. The time it takes to read resumes and applications is even sometimes longer than it will take you to do the writing yourself.
Wow this is rude. It takes time to submit applications and a lot of time to start out as a freelance writer. So those unpaid applications may eventually finally yield a writer a winning job that pays out 1.5 cents a word. Factor in the time the writer spent on the resume and applications and you are not looking at anything close to minimum wage.
It seems odd that bloggers would have an issue with reading material or writing themselves for that matter. And it doesn’t surprise me that now many freelance writers do just spin already published work. That is not something I would do, but I would not talk down on anyone writing for pennies. Likely in an effort to build a portfolio, and not because they cannot write well enough to land better paying jobs.
This was an enlightening perspective.
Interesting!
Thanks for this detailed review. It actually pisses me off when I have to send my work back to writers several times for revision. And that’s one thing I seriously dislike about textbroker. I will always prefer Upwork for a quality job any day.
Hi, I’m the founder of Content Hourlies and this is the very reason why I setup my own platform. Textbroker frustrated the hell out of me, their 4-star level writers appear to be content managers instead of writers and Textbrokers 24 hour time limit allows for that. Their absurd low payout of only 1.4 cents/word doesn’t really help either to attract the best writers.
At Content Hourlies our writers have 3 hours to write an article, this makes it as hard as possible for our writers to outsource it, and once we find out a writer is actually outsourcing their content they will be gone in no time. We pay our writers 1.6 cents/word at our 3-star level, and 3.2 cents/word at our 4-star level. Professional writers are willing to write at 3.2 cents/word when they have some spare time, as most of them usually earn 5-10 cents/word, they would never even consider writing for 1.4 cents/word.
Content providers are numerous now and it is becoming an uphill task to make a quality choice. Unfortunately a good number of writers rely on generating articles from existing articles.
Some writers don’t even write unique content manually, all they do is spin existing articles!
However, I’ve used the services of three writers on Upwork, and they all did decent jobs. Though textbroker and content hourlies may have a lot of goodies to offer, so I might try them next.
Good analysis.
I’ve been using Content Hourlies for a while now and the quality of content I get from writers on there is great. They’ve got a number of good writers. I really don’t know much about UpWork and Textbroker, I would love to try the sites in the future but at the moment I’m really comfortable with writers on Content Hourlies.
Nice, thanks for the feedback !