What is the Contra freelance platform?

Freelancers now support over 35% of the global workforce.

If you are one of these independent contractors, you will know the normal journey all too well.

You are locked into overarching platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. You are doing battle against thousands of other workers. And paying 10-20% in fees for the pleasure.

It is no wonder that the Contra freelance platform is on a mission to change this freelance experience.

The platform was founded in 2021 by Ben Huffman and Gajus Kazlauskas. It connects independent professionals and freelancers with clients. The difference here is that Contra does not take a cut. It is a commission free portfolio marketplace.

The big news is… It is growing rapidly. It now has over a million users and 50,000+ companies hiring. These include names like Canva, Framer, AppSumo and Webflow. Big names.

So if you've heard about Contra but you want to know what it is all about, then you are in the right place.

Together, we will go through a Contra freelance overview, its real pricing strategy, how to get started and how to get paid quickly.

What is Contra freelance?

Contra describes itself as a portfolio focused marketplace. Like any good freelance hub, it brings workers and clients together.

For independent freelancers, the platform focuses on six key features:

1. Profile creation

It is a space to create a complete portfolio with off the shelf templates that create visually stunning profiles for your work. You can build your Contra portfolio using AI in minutes that features your previous work history, provides a home for your service offerings and prices, while showcasing your best reviews.

It can even save you the bother of hosting your own website.

2. Project hunting

There are two different ways to find work with Contra. Either you can browse its job board, where clients post their projects and submit proposals with your portfolio. Or you can optimize your portfolio to show up when clients are searching based on services, prices and quality.

So it pays to spend time crafting your space.

3. Contract management

Once you agree to work with a client on Contra, you can use the built in contracting feature so that both parties are protected. As a freelancer, it means that if you hit your deliverables, you have backup and a third party mediator to ensure you get paid.

4. Invoicing

You can invoice instantly within Contra, whether that's for the project you are working on or even just use it as a standalone invoicing tool, even if you are not actually running contracts directly on Contra.

5. Getting paid

Contra has a digital wallet where payments are deposited from your clients. Using this is still commission-free and you can withdraw to your bank account or crypto wallets in several different ways.

Realistically, it has everything you need to run a successful freelance career.

A word on Contra pricing: Really 0% fees?

Contra is free to sign up and create a portfolio. Then you can work without being charged a fee. It is a real breath of fresh air. But it does limit your features. You can only choose from a small set of portfolio templates and customization choices are limited.

If you really want to stand apart, then you can upgrade to Contra Pro, which is $29 a month or $199 a year. This gives you the ability to choose from a wider set of portfolio templates and increased personalization for really unique offerings.

It is not critical to go Pro, but it might increase your earning potential. Sneakily, it also gives you better visibility in search rankings and a faster response to job offers. So it does increase your chances of getting hired.

As a rule, Contra's promise of commission-free work is true. It is entirely up to you whether you want to pay for the extra bells and whistles.

How to use Contra as a freelancer

So if you are ready to start using Contra, here is a step by step guide. We will go through everything you need to do to find your first job and some pro tips to stand out against the crowd.

1. Portfolio building

The first thing you will need to do is create your portfolio. To get going fast, you can use their AI tool, which generates the content and launches your freelance business in a few clicks.

To do this, you will need to install the Indy AI Chrome web browser extension, which then scans your LinkedIn profile and X profile to build your portfolio. This was actually incredibly helpful. It honestly feels like magic with the base of your profile generated and curated Contra freelance jobs delivered to your feed. 

From there, you can go much deeper to add your skills, tools you use, hourly rates and the jobs you are open to working on.

This all works on the free plan. In less than 60 seconds, you can have a Contra profile and start searching for jobs.

2. Optimizing your profile

You want to spend a little more time optimizing your profile further. The built in AI will help you complete your profile to get hired and walk you through everything you need to do to increase your discovery score.

5 key sections need addressing on your profile:

• ‘Work’ allows you to manually add details of previous projects and case studies. You can import these via links if you have examples elsewhere, including images and formatting.

• ‘Posts’ get your work discovered so you can publish social media-style snippets of what you are working on or daily thoughts. 

• ‘Reviews’ enable past and current clients to leave public feedback on your work. You can’t add these manually; instead, you have to request reviews. This email contains your request with instructions on how to complete a review. 

• ‘Services’ lets you define your specific offerings with clear deliverables and pricing. Clients can then order services from your profile when they discover your talents!

• ‘About’ reveals a little more information on you and your business. So you can add a short bio, verify identity, display response times, location, hourly rates and social media profiles. 

3. Finding your next opportunity

Quickly, you are ready to start discovering jobs, getting matched or inviting clients to work with you on the platform. Your profile homepage feels a bit like a mix of social media and job opportunities.

You can then select the job area and start scrolling through recommended jobs that match your profile. You will see clear pay brackets and job descriptions to decide whether it is a fit. Then you can simply hit the apply button to put your name forward.

Or wait for clients to discover your profile and get in contact, although that might take longer.

4. Getting the work done

Once you've found and agreed on a position, you can sign the contract through Contra for protection on both sides. Then it is up to you to go and complete the work to the agreed deliverables and submit it to the client.

5. Getting paid

Built in contracts are linked to the jobs and your Contra payments, so you can streamline your whole workflow without heavy commissions. Submit your work and invoice for the client to pay at the click of a button.

Then funds land in your Contra wallet. From here, you will need to withdraw your earnings to your preferred destination. Contra offers five ways to get paid, including:

• Bank transfer

• PayPal

• Payoneer

• Bank card

• USDC crypto

Bonus Contra Features

Contra has some great features built in to help businesses expand their global team and freelancers to work regularly.

Contra community and social features

Contra isn't just a job hunting platform for freelancers. It also runs a community with a social media style feed.

That means from your workspace, you can post to share updates, project highlights and daily thoughts. Plus, you can engage with other freelancers on the platform to build your network and community.

It has fun features like the ability to integrate with Ideogram for high-quality AI images and taste tests to share two visuals and let the community vote for which is their favorite (great for designers).

All of this is matched with hashtags to curate feeds and explore new topics.

Analytics

It doesn't just look pretty; it has data to back your freelance career. So you can use the analytics function to see active projects, invoice status and income totals.

With the Pro upgrade, you will also be able to see profile impressions and views, keywords that find your profile and traffic by source.

Then there's a recently viewed column where you can see what clients are checking you out, as well as your most popular services.

Finally, there's a discovery score in the analytics tab, which gives you a rating on how you rank and provides further insights on how to boost your score.

Contra Partners

There's a lot of hype around Contra Partners and it has some big name companies using this feature. It allows companies to connect tools with talent.

So, for example, a website company like Framer can build a hub for Framer experts. Freelancers can sign up for Contra and list Framer as one of their skills, then earn an expert badge by showcasing their Framer expertise.

This allows anyone who's looking for a Framer expert to find you via both Contra and Framer. That's pretty neat.

Contra Ads

Contra allows businesses to advertise and run campaigns on the platform. It can help promote brand awareness, drive traffic and even make conversions through your website.

So if you are a company that has something particularly useful for freelancers and digital workers, then it is a great way to advertise your tools. For example, Bolt partnered with Contra to help freelancers earn more by using Bolt.

Hackathons

If you are a tech company that wants to hire and find talent through hackathons, then you can arrange these on Contra. It gives you a way to activate top-earning talent and generate content for your brand.

And for freelancers and creators, it is another opportunity to grow. During a Contra challenge, a community-led event is run where creators build with a particular tool and share projects on their Contra feeds. It is a terrific way to grow community adoption.

Contra vs competitors like Fiverr and Upwork

Here's how Contra stacks up against the competition:

Pro tips for landing clients on Contra

As with all freelancing marketplaces, it can be tough to land your first client. Newcomers are always up against more established players with verified work history and reviews. Adding to this, more experience means you learn the ‘tricks’ for landing clients through trial and error.

So let’s help you skip ahead. Here’s how the top 1% land clients on Contra:

Build trust through signals: Your profile exists to quickly establish trust with new prospects who find you but don’t know you. You are aiming to put a trustworthy face to a name. Make sure to switch on the ‘enable contact’ toggle to allow people to get in touch. Then, accumulate stats ASAP, such as hire count, star rating and total earnings, to show immediate reliability. 

Earn badges: Badges work as a stamp of authority. For example, the ‘unicorn club’ shows the level of client you’ve worked with, while Frameship gives tool-specific credibility. Jobs are then also filtered for you based on specific badges you hold. It is a game, play it. 

Target niche networks: Competing in saturated partner networks for tools like Framer or Webflow is like pushing a boulder uphill. Take the easier route and look for small, newer companies/tools that have less competition. 

Engagement strategies: Focus on posting your work every day to your profile. Then engage with other freelancers’ work. This helps you build a name in the community and encourages people to view your profile to boost stats and signals. 

Is Contra worth it for freelancers?

If you are a freelancer who's frustrated with Upwork but you haven't found a great alternative, then Contra is an enticing prospect.

It is still growing in reputation, so maybe you won't have the depth of opportunities there yet. But its commission free setup, combined with innovative features, means you can't ignore this.

There's certainly no harm in setting up a free profile and optimizing it to be found. Should you happen to find some great job opportunities there, then even better. It will cost you nothing but a few minutes to get going.

Honestly, in a world where you can gain an advantage by seeking underpriced attention, getting in early on Contra's fresh approach could be a real legup in growing your freelance business.

How Acctual helps freelancers using Contra get paid

If you are a freelancer looking for the easiest way to get paid, then try Acctual. 

It is designed for remote workers to invoice and accept payment globally. 

You can get started with the free, easy to use invoice generator. In a few quick steps, you will have the necessary business details, itemized service descriptions, prices and payment terms ready.

When it comes to payment, Acctual really stands apart with unrivalled flexibility. For example, you could send an invoice that allows your client to pay in US dollars but receive the funds as USDT stablecoin into your crypto wallet or vice versa.

You can use fiat to crypto, crypto to fiat and crypto tocrypto: every payment method you can think of. 

So in a workforce supported by freelancers, you don't have to drown in multicurrency accounts and hidden fees when collecting your invoices.

Plus, it automatically integrates into your accounting system, like Xero or QuickBooks. Every payment is entered into your records. So, keeping an eye on your cash flow and filing your tax returns is just as easy.

If that sounds helpful, get started today with a free Acctual account.