I’ve used Contra for most of the past year. When I first signed up the jobs available were mostly in design/development (I’m a content/copy writer), but there’s more consistent work now that they’ve grown. I still use UpWork alongside it, but have multiple clients on Contra that I work with consistently.
The biggest advantages/disadvantages of Contra are, IMO:
Advantages
- No fees. This is a claim a bunch of freelance sites make (*cough* Braintrust), while actually charging money to clients which effectively comes out of what you’d otherwise get paid. In Contra’s case the fees are effectively zero. The only fee they take is the 3% cut on credit card payments that Stripe takes, and that’s paid by your clients.
This is what sold me on it originally, as it means I can have clients book me directly through my portfolio site and LinkedIn profile without having to pay fees for doing so.
- Clients are overall much more willing to pay for quality. I don’t know if this is a function of Contra’s minimum rate of $25/hour, or just the kind of clients they attract (mostly US based and tech companies that have better budgets), but it is probably the biggest pro of Contra.
- Built-in portfolio site. This is another recent update that lets you use your own domain and connects directly into your portfolio on the site. I’m not a web designer by trade, so having that built in is a big plus and hopefully it stays free.
Disadvantages
- When I first signed up early last year they only had USDC payouts in my country (Canada). Clients could still pay with a credit card/whatever method they want, but payouts in USDC can add some friction if you weren’t familiar with crypto (as I wasn’t).
They’ve since added debit card and bank payouts here, but I believe some countries outside North America are still awaiting options like debit card payouts from people’s requests on the site Slack channel. If getting paid in USDC vs. a bank account is dealbreaker for you, it’s worth checking if they have bank account payouts in your country.
- While they’ve grown a lot since I joined, it’s still smaller than the big incumbents like UpWork. This is less of an issue if you’re a designer/developer and has become better in writing jobs, but in more niches areas like consulting I would guess you’d still find more jobs overall on UpWork.
As a TL;DR: if you’re in the US, I’d strongly recommend Contra. Outside the US, the job quality is still very high, but some countries only have USDC payouts which can be a pain and is worth checking into if you don’t have an easy way to convert that to your local currency.