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ACXHUB vs Upwork and Fiverr comes down to who runs the work. Pick Upwork or Fiverr if you want to choose individual freelancers yourself, pay per contract or per gig, and manage each one directly. Pick ACXHUB if you would rather brief one Account Coordinator and have an office-based team in Cebu deliver across disciplines from a single prepaid pool of hours.
ACXHUB vs Upwork and Fiverr at a glance
What you are buying
ACXHUB: Work delivered by an office-based team in Cebu, Philippines, coordinated by one Account Coordinator who is your single point of contact.
Upwork: Access to a work marketplace. Upwork's user agreement says it is "not involved directly" in negotiations or the delivery of freelancer services and is not a party to the agreements users make with each other (source).
Fiverr: Access to a marketplace of digital services sold by independent sellers (source).
Fees the platform itself charges
ACXHUB: No marketplace fee. New customers deposit $100 and get 20 hours (10 paid plus 10 bonus). After that, top-ups are a minimum of 50 hours at a standing rate we quote before you pay.
Upwork: A 5% service fee on the Basic plan and 10% on Business Plus, plus a one-time contract initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99 per contract on Basic (source). Freelancers separately pay Upwork a service fee of 0% to 15% of their earnings (source).
Fiverr: Buyers pay a 5.5% service fee on gigs, plus a $3.50 small order fee on purchases under $200. Hourly contracts carry a $5 order initiation fee and a 5.5% service fee on the hourly rate. Sellers are credited 80% of the purchase amount (source).
Who vets the people
ACXHUB: We recruit and vet the team, and they work from our office.
Upwork: Upwork says it verifies every freelancer's identity and location, and Business Plus adds access to talent it labels Expert-Vetted (source). Choosing between candidates is your job.
Fiverr: You choose a seller from the gigs on offer.
Who manages the work
ACXHUB: Your Account Coordinator routes each brief to the right specialist and reports back.
Upwork: You manage each freelancer and each contract yourself.
Fiverr: Buyers agree to engage sellers as independent contractors and not to direct the manner or means of the work (source).
Working hours
ACXHUB: 3:00 PM to 5:00 AM Cebu time, which covers 7 of the 8 hours of a US East Coast working day in standard time.
Upwork and Fiverr: Set by each freelancer. Upwork lists freelancers across 180 countries (source).
How do the fees compare in practice?
The marketplaces charge a percentage on top of whatever the freelancer quotes, while ACXHUB's hours are prepaid with nothing added. Upwork's own example puts a $100 contract at $105 on the Basic plan, before the contract initiation fee (source). On Fiverr, a $100 gig carries the 5.5% service fee and, because it is under $200, the $3.50 small order fee as well (source).
There is a second layer that buyers rarely see. Upwork charges freelancers 0% to 15% of their earnings (source) and Fiverr credits sellers 80% of the purchase (source). Freelancers set their own rates, so that cost often sits inside the price you are quoted.
ACXHUB works differently. New customers deposit $100 and 20 hours land on the account at once, 10 paid and 10 as a one-time bonus. That bonus applies to the intro pool only. Later hours are bought in blocks of at least 50 at a standing rate we put in writing before you pay. Hours never expire and there is no contract. If you want the full arithmetic on outsourcing versus hiring, see in-house vs outsourced.
Who manages the work day to day?
On a marketplace you are the manager, and with ACXHUB the Account Coordinator is. That is the real difference between the two models, more than price.
Upwork and Fiverr are built so that you find, brief, review and pay each freelancer. That suits a buyer who already knows exactly what they need and enjoys running freelancers. It gets heavier once you have three or four freelancers on separate contracts, each with their own schedule and their own way of working.
With ACXHUB you brief one person. The Account Coordinator assigns the work to a specialist on the team, keeps you posted and brings the result back for review. One pool of hours covers websites, design, video, content and AI work, so you can spend this week's hours on a landing page and next week's on a promo video without opening a new contract. First drafts typically land within 48–72 hours, and revisions within scope are unlimited.
What happens when a freelancer leaves?
On a marketplace the relationship belongs to you and the freelancer, so when they move on, you start a new search. Upwork states it is not a party to the agreements between users (source), which means replacing someone is a fresh hire on your side. On the Basic plan that new contract also carries a new contract initiation fee (source).
With ACXHUB the context sits with the team and the coordinator, not with a single person. You brief once, and the same team carries it forward. If a specialist is out, the work stays with ACXHUB to cover, and you keep the same coordinator throughout.
Which option fits US working hours?
ACXHUB's team works a fixed Western shift, while marketplace hours depend entirely on the freelancer you hire. Our office runs 3:00 PM to 5:00 AM Cebu time (UTC+8), which is 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM UTC.
US Eastern Standard Time is UTC minus 5 hours and Pacific Standard Time is UTC minus 8 hours (source). Daylight saving time in 2026 ended on November 1 (source), so for the standard-time season our shift runs 2:00 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern. That covers 7 of the 8 hours of a 9-to-5 East Coast day. On the West Coast the shift runs 11:00 PM to 1:00 PM Pacific, which is 4 hours of overlap. In summer, with clocks moved forward, the overlap rises to all 8 Eastern hours and 5 Pacific hours. The why the Philippines page runs the same calculation for other regions.
A freelancer on Upwork or Fiverr could be anywhere. Upwork lists talent across 180 countries (source), which is a real advantage if you need someone in your own city or time zone, and something to check before you hire if you do not.
When Upwork or Fiverr is the better choice
A marketplace is the better fit in several situations, and it is worth being honest about them.
You need one small, clearly defined deliverable. A single logo or a one-off script is quick to buy on Fiverr, where a gig under $200 carries a $3.50 small order fee on top of the 5.5% service fee.
You want to pick the exact person. On Upwork you can read portfolios and work history and choose the individual yourself.
You need a rare niche skill. A large marketplace can surface specialists our team does not have.
You need someone in your own time zone or city. A local freelancer may suit you better, and our shift does not cover the late West Coast afternoon.
You already have someone who manages freelancers. If that role exists in your business, the management overhead is already paid for.
When ACXHUB is the better choice
ACXHUB fits when the work is recurring, spans several disciplines, and you do not have time to manage it.
You want one point of contact. One coordinator covers design, development, video, content and AI rather than one contract per freelancer.
You want people in an office. The team works from our Cebu office, supervised and equipped by us.
You want hours you can spend as needs change. The pool never expires and can move between disciplines.
You expect the work to grow. You can move to Managed Marketing, Dedicated Staffing or Fixed Projects later and keep the same coordinator.
Questions buyers ask
Is ACXHUB a freelance marketplace?
No. ACXHUB is a delivery company founded in 2017, with its team working from an office in Cebu and a US office in Delaware. You do not browse profiles or post jobs. You brief your Account Coordinator, and the team does the work.
Is ACXHUB cheaper than Upwork?
It depends on the freelancer's rate, which Upwork does not set. What we can compare is the structure. Upwork adds a 5% or 10% service fee and a per-contract initiation fee on Basic (source). ACXHUB adds no fees on top. New customers get 20 hours for $100, and later hours are quoted before you buy them.
Can I use both?
Yes. Plenty of buyers keep a trusted freelancer for one specialty and use a managed team for the rest. The question is whether the management time is worth it for each piece of work.
What happens to unused hours?
They stay on your account. ACXHUB hours never expire, and nothing renews on its own.
Competitor details were checked on 5 November 2026 and may have changed since.
If you would rather brief one coordinator than manage a row of contracts, start with the Hourly Retainer: new customers deposit $100 and get 20 hours to spend on real work.
