Choose SolidGigs when you already know how to pitch and manage clients and your bottleneck is finding external opportunities. Choose PeoplePerHour when you want proposals, Offers, Escrow, WorkStream, invoices and dispute support inside one marketplace—and you accept application moderation, Proposal-credit limits, tiered service fees and clearing rules.
AlreadyChecked Verdict
SolidGigs fits freelancers who already manage the client relationship and want less opportunity hunting. PeoplePerHour fits freelancers who want proposals, Offers, Escrow, WorkStream, invoices and disputes inside one marketplace and accept its proposal-credit, fee and clearing rules.
| Choice | Best for | Current cost | Biggest advantage | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| External lead curation SolidGigs | Established freelancers who can pitch, contract, invoice and collect independently but want less lead hunting. | $35/month or $350/year after a 14-day free trial. | Fixed-cost discovery without a SolidGigs percentage of freelancer earnings. | You own the downstream client/payment process and do not get one universal marketplace escrow/dispute layer. |
| Proposal marketplace PeoplePerHour | Freelancers who want proposals, Offers, Escrow, WorkStream, invoices and disputes in one marketplace. | No freelancer signup fee; current Terms provide 15 free Proposal credits/month, while paid work uses tiered service fees currently 20%, 7.5%, and 3.5% across lifetime-billing thresholds. | Integrated project and payment workflow with qualifying Escrow/dispute support. | Application moderation, proposal-credit economics, service fees, clearing time and platform rules remain; Escrow is not guaranteed payment. |
Checked September 4, 2026. This receipt summarizes evidence already present on this page; it is not an A✓/CHECKED automated-verification badge.
There is no honest universal winner. SolidGigs sells lead discovery. PeoplePerHour provides a marketplace and transaction workflow. Comparing only $35 with a service-fee percentage misses the main product difference.
Trust boundary: This is a manually researched editorial comparison. It is not an A✓/CHECKED automated verification record and carries no A✓/CHECKED approval badge. This support page contains no direct merchant affiliate destination.
Best for: established freelancers who can pitch, contract, invoice and collect independently but want less lead hunting.
Current cost: 14-day free trial, then $35/month or $350/year.
Model: external lead curation; SolidGigs says it takes no percentage of freelancer earnings.
Best for: freelancers who want an in-platform marketplace with proposals, Offers, Escrow, WorkStream and dispute workflow.
Current proposal baseline: current Terms provide 15 free Proposal credits per month, with additional credits purchasable afterward.
Current service-fee model: tiered by lifetime billing per buyer—20%, 7.5% and 3.5% across the current thresholds, excluding VAT.
SolidGigs says it is not a freelance marketplace. It searches multiple external sources, adds matching opportunities to the member dashboard or email, then sends the freelancer to the original source to pitch.
PeoplePerHour keeps more of the relationship inside its marketplace: freelancer application, profile, Offers, project proposals, Escrow, WorkStream, invoices, reviews and dispute support.
That is why a flat subscription and a marketplace service fee are not interchangeable prices for the same service.
SolidGigs currently lists $35 monthly or $350 billed annually, with the annual plan displayed as about $29/month effective. Both currently include a 14-day free trial.
SolidGigs says it does not take a percentage of freelancer earnings. Current Terms require cancellation before the trial ends to avoid the selected paid charge and do not guarantee refunds or prorated adjustments after a missed cancellation deadline.
PeoplePerHour support currently says there is no freelancer registration/sign-up fee, no fee to search projects, and no fee to post an Offer.
Its current Terms separately list freelancer service fees based on lifetime billing per buyer:
These are current provider fee tiers, not a universal effective-rate promise for every invoice or freelancer. Other minimums, VAT and transaction rules can matter.
Current PeoplePerHour Terms state that freelancers receive 15 Proposal credits per month for free and can buy more after the free allotment is used.
Proposal credits are a marketplace-access mechanic, not outcome evidence. Fifteen credits do not mean 15 suitable projects, replies, interviews or wins.
Recent user discussion contains complaints about proposal-credit economics, but anecdotal posts do not override the current Terms or prove representative marketplace outcomes.
PeoplePerHour's current application guidance says freelancers submit an application for moderation before they can fully participate as freelancers. The normal review path is currently described as free and targeted within seven working days, while a paid Fast-Track option can target one working day.
Moderation is an access rule—not proof that every freelancer, buyer or project is safe, high quality or likely to succeed.
PeoplePerHour uses Escrow for accepted Offers or custom proposals and uses WorkStream to keep project communications, agreements and payments inside the platform record.
Its Trust & Safety guidance says paying outside PeoplePerHour leaves the project outside its protection. That makes in-platform workflow a meaningful advantage over an external lead directory.
But Escrow and dispute support do not guarantee a successful project, complete payment, a favorable dispute result, or protection for arrangements that fall outside the qualifying workflow.
Current payment guidance says a paid invoice may undergo processing and that funds can take approximately 14 working days to clear before they become available for withdrawal.
If cash-flow timing matters, compare that delay with whatever payment method and terms you use for direct clients or external lead sources.
SolidGigs fits better. Its job is to reduce lead-searching work, not run the transaction.
PeoplePerHour fits better. Those marketplace tools are exactly what SolidGigs does not try to provide.
SolidGigs may fit better. It uses a fixed subscription and says it takes no percentage of earnings, but you still need your own downstream client/payment process.
PeoplePerHour may fit better. Current support says signup/search/Offers can be free, while paid work and heavier proposal use introduce separate service-fee or credit economics.
Neither. PeoplePerHour has workflow protections, not guarantees; SolidGigs curates leads, not guaranteed outcomes.
No direct merchant affiliate handoff is approved on this comparison. When SolidGigs is the fit described above, readers may continue internally to our governed SolidGigs review. PeoplePerHour's current referral reward is PPH account credit and AlreadyChecked has no approved PeoplePerHour production destination. Affiliate economics did not influence the ranking.
Publication status: Last checked September 4, 2026. Refresh due October 4, 2026. Pricing, proposal-credit rules, fee tiers, platform policies and commercial custody can change. Production deployment remains separately unproven under issue #369.