Contractor Marketplace Clone Reviews
Are you building the next Upwork? I’ve reviewed the top 10 contractor marketplace scripts to help you kickstart your platform. I’m going to focus on ‘demand-driven’, or ‘reverse auction’ marketplaces like Upwork, rather than supply-driven models like Fiverr.
Building your Marketplace
If you’re looking to build a marketplace, you can you’ve got two options – build it yourself, or use someone else’s software. Building it yourself is tough – you’ve got to raise cash, find a reliable development company, manage the process, test it, and make the necessary iterations to reach product-market fit before you spend all your funds. It’ll also cost you north of £100k.
“For entrepreneurs at an earlier stage, or who choose to be self-funded, using an existing marketplace software is a much safer bet.”
Clones or Platforms?
Marketplace tech is split into clone scripts and hosted platforms. This article will focus on clones. (If you’re looking for a marketplace platform, check out TalentPools) Clones, or duplicates, are attempts at copying the design and functionality of well-known marketplaces. They tend to be cheaper than hosted marketplaces and involve a one-off fee rather than a monthly subscription. On the other hand and you’ll have to host and maintain the system yourself. Any customisations often require hiring their team, and you’re less likely to get ongoing, regular updates and new features that hosted platforms usually offer.
Clone Reviews
Ok, let’s jump into the reviews. There are a few reviews with missing info, and I’ll continue to update them as and when the developers respond to my emails. Here are the clones I’ll be reviewing:
AIS Technologies, Best Freelance Script, NLance, GetLancer, LogicSpice, PickGeeks, Freelance Script, Bidonn, BSEtech Upwork Clone, EZ Freelancer Clone.
AIS is an Indian tech agency launched in 2011. They’ve built around 50 clone scripts, for all the popular apps from Uber to Spotify. Their founders are Hermit Chawla and Sunny Chawla and you can contact their team via email or Skype (ais.bert). They don’t have any independent reviews yet.
Product: No demo or screenshots are provided, but clients using the clone include Zillion, Olaxir, and Workruit.
Revenue: Listing Fee, Commission
Payment: The team will integrate with any 1 gateway of the client’s choice. Escrow is not possible.
Tech: PHP framework
Support: 1 year included
Price: One-off fee of $5.6k, setup within 24 hours included, further customisations at $12/hr
Best Freelance Script (Previously Flance)
This is a product of OriginateSoft, an Indian development agency. Their CTO is Asharam Pakhira and you can reach them by email or Skype (asim.patra4) . They have a 5/5 Google review, based on 5 reviews.
Product: Demo here and low res screenshots here. Clients using the clone include Virtual Office Gurus, Freelancer Near Me, RockerStop, Mesh, and Skillancer.
Revenue: Listing/Contest Fee, Commission
Payment: PayPal, Escrow enabled (but only via your own PayPal account, which is most likely illegal in the UK without FCA approval)
Tech: CodeIgniter framework
Support: Lifetime support
Price: $499, setup within 24 hours included, further customisations at $9/hr
A product of Ncrypted Websites, a 200+ person Indian development agency founded in 2006 and run by Kunal Pandya. They offer a range of cloned products. According to their site, clients include some significant firms like Ford and Hyatt. They’ve got 4/5 on Google from 70 reviews, and 4.5/5 on TrustPilot. You can reach them by email.
Product: Screenshots here and demo here. Clients using the clone include Find Talents, Refactored and BookSpike. Custom-built examples include CrayFish, GloScout, BackendSkills, Pafekto and Ebentix.
Revenue: Listing Fee, Commission, Membership
Payment: PayPal, 2Checkout, including internal Escrow via PayPal (not allowed in the UK, as above)
Tech: Custom PHP
Support: 1 year of free support
Price: Base: $749, including setup. Enterprise: $949, including an Android App, 1 year free hosting, social login, and other features. Customisations at $15/hour.
Clone vs Platform
With TalentPools your marketplace will be powered by AWS and ready scale to millions of users, with fully compliant Escrow and UK-based support.
A product of Agriya, a 150 person Indian development agency founded in 2000 and run by Arvind Kumar. They’ve also got a bunch of cloned products. Clients include Cisco and Shell. Agriya has a 3.8/5 Google review from 94 reviews, 5/5 on Clutch from 10 reviews and 3/5 on TrustPilot from 2 reviews. You can reach them by email or Skype (agriya.bd).
Product: Demo (Employer: employer/agriya, Freelancer: freelancer/agriya, Admin: admin/agriya). Clients using the clone include Execuvite, CorporateBrainz, and FlexoForce.
Revenue: Listing Fee, Commission, Membership
Payment: PayPal, with Escrow available internally (not allowed in the UK without FCA approval, as above)
Tech: Custom PHP. See it on GitHub (last updated a year ago).
Support: 3 months free, then $15/hour
Price: $696, including setup, with customisations at $20/hour. An Android app is currently in Beta, and available at $2,000.
A product of LogicSpace, a 30+ Indian dev agency with 17 clone products, run by Manish Shrimal. You can reach them by email and Skype (logicspice). They have a Google review of 4.4/5 based on 52 reviews, a TrustPilot review of 4/5 based on 2 reviews.
Product: Demo on request. Clients using the clone include Malaysian Freelancer Directory and Professionals Club.
Payment: PayPal
Tech: PHP framework
Support: 6 months of free updates, 3 months of free support
Price: $399 including setup.
The freelancer product of MintTM, under Sukhadaam Infotech, an Indian firm founded by Nirav Dave in 2013. They offer a huge 75 clone products! They’ve got reviews of 3/5 on TrustPilot with 2 reviews, and 4.1/5 on Google with 51 reviews. You can reach them by email or Skype (sales.minttm).
Payments: PayPal
Support: 1 month provided
A freelance clone provided by i-netsolution (AKA PHP Scripts Mall), an Indian dev agency founded in 2005. They’ve got a 4/5 TrustPilot review from 25 reviews and a 4/5 SiteJabber review from 7 reviews. You can reach them by email.
Product: User demo, admin demo and full documentation.
Revenue: Membership
Payments: Only available by paid customisation.
Support: 1 year tech support, 6 months of upgrades.
Tech: PHP
Price: $99 with customisations at $12/hour.
A freelancer script from MavenTricks Technologies, a 20 person Indian dev agency founded in 2012 and run by Sathik Batcha. They’ve got a Google review of 4/5 based on 20 reviews. You can contact them via email or Skype (sathick).
Product: Demo here. Clients using the clone include RenoOffers, ProjectJobz, DoctorMyHome, Kentoro, and YesQuoteIt.
Revenue: Listing fee, Commissions.
Payments: Stripe Checkout, including an internal Escrow (probably illegal in the UK without FCA approval, as above)
Tech: PHP & CodeIgniter
Support: 6 months+ depending on package
Price: $199 (6 months support), $399 (12 months support) and $699 (lifetime support) with customisations at $12/hour.
Bonuses: Social sign on, live chat, SMS, ongoing updates
This is a marketplace product of BrickSteel Enterprises, a 30+ Indian firm that offers 10 clone products. Few reviews are available – 3.5/5 on TrustPilot from just 1 review, 4.5/5 on Google from 35 reviews (mostly from staff). You can reach them via email.
Product: Demo no longer available. Screenshot of admin here.
Revenues: Membership, Commission
Payments: PayPal
Tech: A SPA on Angular, Python, NodeJS, Django
Support: 3 months of free support and upgrade
Price: $999 including setup, with customisation at $15/hour
Bonuses: Social login
A product from iTechScripts, an Indian firm with several clone products. They’ve got pretty mixed reviews – 3.5/5 on SiteJabber from 12 reviews. You can reach them by email.
Product: Web demo and Admin Panel demo.
Support: 3 years free tech support.
Revenue: Listing fee, Membership, Ads
Payment: PayPal
Bonus: Free Android app, free hosting for 3 years
Summary
As you’ve probably noticed, marketplace clones offer a very budget-friendly option, with affordable one-time prices and customisations around $15/hour. For entrepreneurs getting started, the functionality will probably be sufficient, and there’s usually a decent support policy. Some even offer free hosting and a free Android app.
On the down side, the default designs are a little dated, and there are no UK-legal Escrow options. The reviews are pretty mixed too, and the support you do receive will be on Indian Standard Time.
For those reasons, most entrepreneurs see these scripts as false economies and go for a hosted marketplace platform like TalentPools instead. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with using a cheap script to test your marketplace concept, and then shift to a platform that can work with you as you scale.
Anyway, hope that’s useful and good luck with your marketplace startup! Feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments 🙂