Alternatives to Upwork for Hiring Unity Developers (UK)

If you need a Unity developer and you're wary of Upwork, these are the main alternatives:

• Other freelance marketplaces such as PeoplePerHour and YunoJuno in the UK, or Fiverr Pro and Freelancer.com, which work much like Upwork
• Vetted talent networks such as Toptal and Arc, which screen developers before you see them
• Games job boards such as Work With Indies and Hitmarker, which reach people who already work in games
• LinkedIn, for direct outreach to developers with a visible work history
• Review directories such as Clutch, where studios are listed with reviews from their clients
• A co-development studio such as Ocean View Games (London), when you need senior Unity engineers, continuity and someone accountable for the result

The rest of this post explains when each one makes sense, the warning signs to look for in a Unity project, and when Upwork is still the right choice.

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Why I'm Writing This

I've been on Upwork since 2020 and have completed 45 jobs there, with 100% Job Success and a Top Rated badge. The work covered full games, porting, bug fixing and technical advice. That track record is mine personally, built alongside running Ocean View Games.

I'm not planning to take new work through Upwork, but this isn't a post about why the platform is bad. It does some things very well. It also has one structural weakness that matters a lot when you're hiring for something as technical as Unity development, and you should understand it before you post a job.

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What Upwork Does Well

If you've never hired a developer before, Upwork lowers the risk of working with a stranger.

• Payment protection. On fixed-price contracts, you fund each milestone in advance and Upwork holds the money until you approve the work. You can request changes before releasing payment.
• Hourly tracking. On hourly contracts, time is logged through Upwork's desktop app, which records activity and takes periodic screenshots. You can review hours before they're paid and dispute them within a set window.
• Admin handled for you. Contracts, invoicing and payments all go through the platform, so you're not chasing paperwork with someone in another country.
• A public track record. Job Success scores and client feedback give you something to go on, which is more than a cold email gives you.

For a nervous first-time client with a small, well-defined task, that safety net is worth a lot.

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Where It Goes Wrong

Upwork is open to the world. There is no technical bar to clear before someone can describe themselves as a Unity developer and bid on your project.

That creates three problems:

1. Skill is hard to judge from a profile. There are many unskilled developers on the platform, and a confident proposal looks the same whether or not the person behind it can deliver.
2. Scams happen. Fake profiles, copied portfolios and people misrepresenting their experience are a real risk, and payment protection doesn't recover the weeks you lose.
3. Unity problems surface late. A Unity project can look fine in a demo and still be built on code and assets that fall apart as the game grows. By the time bugs and performance issues appear, much of the budget has gone.

A Real Example

A client contacted me on Upwork because something felt wrong. He'd hired another freelancer for a Unity app, communication had become difficult, and he'd already put around £20,000 into the project. He asked me to look over the code and give him an honest opinion.

It didn't take long. The project had hard-coded values throughout, no structure that would let it grow or change, and expensive code running constantly. The art was a mix of clashing styles, with high and low polygon models side by side. In my view, he wasn't getting what he had paid for.

I told him plainly that I would start again rather than build on it. He let the freelancer go that same day, and the freelancer didn't dispute it; he simply disappeared. I rebuilt the project, we released it, and he became a very happy client.

The original freelancer passed every check Upwork offers. The problems were in the code and assets, which no profile shows you.

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Red Flags in a Unity Project

These are the warning signs I saw in that project, and they come up again and again when I'm asked to review someone else's work. You don't need to read code to ask about them.

• Hard-coded values everywhere. Prices, speeds, text and level data written directly into the code, so every small change needs a developer and a new build.
• No modularity. Systems tangled together so that changing one thing breaks another. It works today and becomes slower and riskier to change every week.
• Expensive work running every frame. Code doing heavy work dozens of times a second when it only needs to happen occasionally. It's a common cause of poor performance, battery drain and overheating on phones.
• Fighting the engine. Writing plain C# isn't a problem in itself, but a developer who rebuilds things Unity already provides, or ignores tools such as ScriptableObjects and prefabs, is usually creating extra work and extra bugs.
• Mismatched art. Assets in different styles, with very high and very low polygon counts mixed together. It looks unprofessional and hurts performance, and usually means assets were collected rather than planned.
• Poor communication. Vague progress updates and builds you can't run yourself are often the first sign, well before the technical problems show.

If you recognise several of these in a project you've inherited, get it reviewed before paying for new features.

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The Alternatives Available in the UK

I haven't hired through every option below myself, so for the platforms I've stuck to what they say about how they work. Details were last checked in October 2026; check current terms and fees before you sign up, as these change.

Other Freelance Marketplaces: PeoplePerHour, YunoJuno, Fiverr Pro and Freelancer.com

These work much like Upwork: you post a job or browse profiles, and the platform handles the agreement and the payment.

PeoplePerHour is a UK-based marketplace. Its guide for buyers says your money is held in escrow once you accept a freelancer's proposal, and is released when you pay the freelancer's invoice for the finished work. If you're not happy, you can raise a dispute instead.

YunoJuno is a UK platform for booking freelancers. It says it completes IR35 status determinations, keeps a record of each decision and the reasoning behind it, and provides insurance on IR35 bookings. There's more on IR35 below.

Fiverr Pro is the part of Fiverr where freelancers have been vetted by Fiverr's own team. Freelancer.com is a global marketplace whose Milestone Payments hold your money until you release it.

Best for: small, well-defined tasks where you want the platform to hold the payment, or, with YunoJuno, booking an individual UK contractor with the IR35 paperwork handled.

Watch for: none of these tests game development skills specifically, so you still need to vet Unity experience yourself using the questions further down.

Vetted Talent Networks: Toptal and Arc

These networks screen developers before clients ever see them.

Toptal describes a screening process covering language and personality, an in-depth skill review, live screening and test projects, and says typically fewer than 3% of applicants are accepted. The process takes weeks, which tells you it's more than a profile check.

Arc offers vetted freelance and full-time developers, and says its candidates are vetted for domain expertise and English fluency.

Best for: companies hiring an individual engineer who will work inside their own team.

Watch for: general screening tests software engineering, not game development. A strong web developer can pass and still have never built a Unity game. Use the questions further down to check for game experience.

Games Job Boards: Work With Indies and Hitmarker

These boards are used by people who already work in games, so you skip the general freelancers who bid on everything. Hitmarker is a UK company, founded in Newcastle, and lists games and esports roles worldwide.

Best for: contract or permanent hires where game experience matters more than platform safeguards.

Watch for: there's no escrow or payment protection, so you handle contracts and payment yourself.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn lets you search for developers by the studios and games they've worked on, and approach them directly. Work history there is public and easier to check against real projects.

Best for: finding experienced developers who aren't actively bidding on freelance platforms.

Watch for: the best developers on LinkedIn are often employed, so expect a slower process and plenty of polite declines.

Review Directories: Clutch

If you'd rather hire a team than an individual, Clutch lists studios with reviews gathered from their clients. You use it to research and shortlist, then contact the studios directly.

Best for: projects big enough that you want a company, not a person, accountable for delivery.

You can see how this works on our own Clutch profile.

Watch for: a directory is a starting point, not a guarantee. Read the reviews for projects similar to yours and still ask to see their work.

A Co-Development Studio

A co-development studio provides senior engineers who either build the game for you or work inside your existing team. This is what we do at Ocean View Games: you speak to the engineer doing the work throughout, not to an account manager. Ocean View Games is a London-based Unity studio, and I lead it as a Unity Certified Expert and former Jagex developer.

Best for: projects where architecture, performance or a launch deadline matters, and where you need the same people from start to finish.

Watch for: you pay for senior experience, so it isn't the cheapest route for small tasks. For a comparison of costs and trade-offs, see Co-Development vs Freelancers vs Full-Time Hires.

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Hiring a Unity Developer in the UK

If you're hiring from the UK, a few rules and practicalities apply whichever route you take. This is a summary, not legal or tax advice.

IR35 and Off-Payroll Working

Many UK contractors work through their own limited company. Under the off-payroll working rules, known as IR35, a medium or large client is responsible for deciding whether the contractor would count as an employee if they were engaged directly, and must give them a status determination statement explaining the decision. If you're a small client, you're exempt from making that decision: the contractor's own company makes it instead.

Engaging a studio to deliver a defined service under a business-to-business contract is generally a different arrangement from hiring an individual's personal services, although the terms of the contract and how the work is actually done still matter. Check the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) guidance on understanding off-payroll working for your own situation.

Practical Points

• Contracts under English law. A UK supplier will normally contract under the law of England and Wales, so a dispute is handled in a legal system you already know.
• Invoicing and payment in pounds. There's no currency conversion or international transfer fee, and the price you agree is the price you pay.
• VAT-registered suppliers. A supplier registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) shows its VAT number on its invoices, and if your business is registered too you can usually reclaim the VAT you're charged.
• A UK time zone. Calls happen during your working day, and a problem raised in the morning can be looked at the same day.

Several of the options above are UK companies: PeoplePerHour and YunoJuno are based in London, and Hitmarker was founded in Newcastle.

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A Quick Comparison

Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr and Freelancer.com all hold your payment until you approve the work or release it. With job boards, LinkedIn and studios, your protection comes from the contract you sign and paying against milestones.

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Questions to Ask Before You Hire

Technical quiz questions don't tell you much any more. Anyone can paste them into an AI and read back a convincing answer. What an AI can't do is talk about work the developer has actually done, or show they understand your product. Ask about them, not about trivia.

1. "What have you built?" It doesn't need to be a fully released game. A prototype, a game jam entry or a personal project all count. A good answer is something you can see or play, with a clear explanation of which parts they built themselves.

2. "Walk me through a decision you made on that project. What were the pros and cons?" A good developer can explain why they chose one approach over another and what they gave up. If they can only describe what they did, not why, be wary.

3. "What would you do differently if you built it again?" Experienced developers always have an answer, because every project teaches you something. "Nothing" is a red flag.

4. "Tell me back what you think I'm building, and who it's for." Before any work starts, they should be able to explain your product in their own words. If they can't, the code they write won't fit what you need.

5. "How will I see progress, and how often?" You want builds you can run yourself at regular points, not just screenshots and status messages.

Alongside the conversation, protect yourself with the basics:

• Pay against milestones, each with something you can run and test.
• Insist on version control from day one, in a repository you own, so the project is never held hostage.
• Get IP ownership in writing. The contract should assign the code and assets to you.
• If you've inherited a project, get it reviewed before adding features. A Unity technical audit tells you what you've actually got, so you're not paying for features on top of foundations that won't hold.

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When Upwork Is Still the Right Choice

Use Upwork when the task is small and clearly defined, such as fixing a specific bug, integrating an SDK or getting a second opinion on a technical decision. Use it when you're new to hiring and the payment protection matters more to you than anything else, and when you're prepared to vet candidates yourself using the questions above.

Look elsewhere when the project is large, when the architecture needs to last, when there's a launch date you can't move, or when you need the same experienced people from start to finish.

If you're weighing up budgets across these options, our game development cost guide covers typical project ranges and what drives them.

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Frequently Asked Questions