GrowthPair is a global marketing hiring partner that helps companies build high-performing teams through senior-marketer-led vetting, ongoing AI training, and an exclusive focus on placing marketing roles.
GrowthPair and Upwork both connect you with talent outside the U.S. On Upwork you post a job and screen the proposals yourself. At GrowthPair, you don’t lift a finger. Marketers vet every candidate, and we handle payroll once you’re paired.
Below, we compare the two on price, contract terms, guarantees, and vetting.
Upwork is an open freelance marketplace where you do the screening. GrowthPair handles the search, the vetting, and the payroll, and sends you the standouts.
| GrowthPair | Upwork | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Managed staffing. We recruit, vet, and employ your hire | Open freelance marketplace; you screen candidates |
| Full-time or part-time | Full-time only | Hourly or fixed-price contracts |
| Roles | 13 marketing and design roles | Every function |
| Talent location | Latin America and the Philippines | Global |
| Price | About $4,000/month on average, all-in | Client fee typically 5% of payments (up to 7.99%), plus $0.99 to $14.99 per new contract |
| Contract | Month to month | Per contract, no minimum |
| Time to hire | About 3 weeks from signed agreement to start | Depends on your own screening |
| Replacement guarantee | For as long as you’re a client | None; you start a new search |
| Payroll and benefits | GrowthPair runs payroll, benefits, and HR | Freelancers are contractors; optional Upwork Payroll through a partner |
| Buyout | 6 months of your GrowthPair rate | Conversion fee: 13.5% of hourly rate x 2,080 hours, $1,000 minimum |
| Reviews | Trustpilot 4.6 (28 reviews) | Trustpilot 4.2 (16,210 reviews) |
GrowthPair made finding our marketing superstar so quick and easy. They found someone who checked all our boxes and fit our budget perfectly.
We faced an endless stream of expensive, underqualified candidates, and hiring was a huge drain. Then we brought in GrowthPair and everything changed.
GrowthPair helped me find a high quality overseas marketer, FAST!
We told them what we were looking for, and we had a video editor hired inside of a couple of days. 10/10 would recommend.
Their ability to place talented designers quickly, especially those comfortable in fast-paced environments, has been invaluable.
We worked with GrowthPair for CRM execution support and had a great experience. Recommend for hands-on CRM support.
GrowthPair helped me find a great social media manager by providing a large list of qualified applicants for me to review.
GrowthPair made finding our marketing superstar so quick and easy. They found someone who checked all our boxes and fit our budget perfectly.
We faced an endless stream of expensive, underqualified candidates, and hiring was a huge drain. Then we brought in GrowthPair and everything changed.
GrowthPair helped me find a high quality overseas marketer, FAST!
We told them what we were looking for, and we had a video editor hired inside of a couple of days. 10/10 would recommend.
Their ability to place talented designers quickly, especially those comfortable in fast-paced environments, has been invaluable.
We worked with GrowthPair for CRM execution support and had a great experience. Recommend for hands-on CRM support.
GrowthPair helped me find a great social media manager by providing a large list of qualified applicants for me to review.
Upwork is the better choice for some teams. Here’s when.
Our team is made up entirely of marketers who have done the work themselves, so we know what strong marketing talent looks like. We can help you find your next:
When growth is a priority, hiring right isn’t optional. But finding reliable marketing talent that doesn’t cost $133K is often time-consuming, expensive, and risky. We believe every marketing team deserves dedicated talent they can trust and a hiring process that embeds new team members quickly and fully. That’s what we’re building at GrowthPair.
If you’re ready to scale with top global marketing talent and a hiring partner built for growth, we’d love to talk.
We’ve made hiring the best marketers easy
Upwork adds a client fee to every payment, typically 5% (up to 7.99%) on its Basic plan, plus $0.99 to $14.99 each time you start a contract. GrowthPair charges one monthly rate, about $4,000 on average, with payroll, benefits, and HR included.
Yes, but moving a freelancer off Upwork costs a conversion fee of 13.5% of their hourly rate times 2,080 hours, with a $1,000 minimum. You can also keep them on Upwork as a contractor.
Mostly you. Upwork is an open marketplace where you review proposals and interview candidates yourself. Its Expert-Vetted tier covers the top 1% of freelancers on the Business Plus plan. At GrowthPair, marketers vet every candidate before you see them.
On Upwork, you end the contract and start a new search. At GrowthPair, we’ll make it right. We replace your marketer for as long as you’re a client.
In 1 year, your savings could be $170,000
This is assuming that each U.S. marketing hire is $133,000, and each global marketing hire is $48,000 in payroll costs per year.
