As businesses grow, entrepreneurs and executives often reach a point where their internal teams can’t cover everything. Virtual assistants (VAs) help bridge that gap—not only by freeing up time so leaders and teams can focus on growth-driving priorities, but also by providing the extra capacity needed to handle busy seasons without resorting to 14-hour workdays.
It pops a question: what’s the best way to bring VAs on board? Some businesses turn to freelance marketplaces like Upwork, where they can connect directly with individual VAs. Others choose a managed VA service like Klarecon, which provides a structured team to support ongoing business needs.
Both models can help you scale in very different ways. In this article, we’ll break down Upwork vs Klarecon to show how each works, what they offer, and how to decide which one fits your business best.
Business Model Differences
Klarecon
Klarecon acts as a one-stop provider for VA services. Businesses using Klarecon’s services express the kind of assistance they need, and Klarecon provides VAs for support. These VAs are hired, trained, and managed by Klarecon and work as part of Klarecon’s team without having first-hand contact with the businesses.
Each business using Klarecon’s services is assigned an account manager. This manager is trained to serve as a point of contact between the VAs and the business they support. When businesses have specific needs on a project or a VA needs clarification on the approach to take on a task, they go through the assigned manager.
To an extent, it feels like working with a VA agency, but there are differences. While VA agencies recruit VAs and hand them over to businesses, Klarecon doesn’t. Instead, they provide ongoing support for the business and can reassign VAs to other aspects of the business operations to maximize productivity.
Upwork
Upwork has millions of freelancers registered on its platform. These freelancers offer a wide range of skills and can pitch to businesses that post jobs. When businesses hire from Upwork, they communicate directly with the VAs; there are no middlemen involved.
Because of this direct involvement, the clients have the option to compare prices and work conditions from one VA to another before making a decision. They also manage any VA they hire here by themselves, which may include training for them to become accustomed to their standards and systems.
Key Difference
While one is a concierge-like service that takes on multiple tasks for businesses, the other leaves most of the work in the business’s hands. Businesses that want a hands-off approach may be drawn to Upwork alternatives like Klarecon, but those who want to directly work with VAs will see Upwork as an attractive choice.
Quality Control And Vetting
Klarecon
When recruiting VAs, Klarecon follows a thorough selection process. Hence, those who make the team aren’t just another VA in the market, but those who have met certain criteria. Beyond recruitment, Klarecon also provides ongoing training and performance monitoring, so businesses can expect consistent results without needing to directly manage or supervise the VAs.
Let’s say a publisher needs a content team to create and publish content on multiple blogs, and they choose Klarecon as their solution. Klarecon will provide them with already-vetted writers, fact-checkers, editors, image searchers, and uploaders, and will be responsible for training them and communicating with them.
Klarecon, as a managed service provider, will also ensure that operations run smoothly even when there’s VA turnover. When VAs leave the team, the business doesn’t feel any direct impact as Klarecon is responsible for replacing them, either by hiring a new VA or reassigning another to fill the gap left behind.
Upwork
Freelancers aren’t required to go through a standardized recruitment process when opening a profile on Upwork. This means you have numerous VA options to choose from. While this also introduces the risk of hiring incompetent VAs, Upwork provides some quality indicators like badges, ratings, and portfolios. The Upwork Business Plus plan offers access to pre-screened talents, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get them.
Businesses that already have internal vetting systems can put VAs through them before making a full hiring decision. For example, they may offer trial projects to assess how well the VA performs before incorporating them into the team. You’ll often find inconsistency in quality among VAs here.
Repeating the example about a publisher looking for a content team to build and post content on multiple blogs. If they choose Upwork as their solution, they will have to vet each writer, editor, fact-checker, and other potential teammates who pitch to them, which may be highly time-consuming depending on the scale of the project.
Key Difference
Quality is much more likely with managed services like Klarecon. Marketplaces like Upwork offer variety instead. Due diligence is required by businesses that want to hire from marketplaces, so they can get consistent and impressive quality. To increase your chances of hiring reliable VAs, here are some things to look out for when interviewing a VA.
Pricing And Cost Transparency
Klarecon
At Klarecon, pricing is determined by client requirements. Every client’s needs differ, and the logistics of fulfilling each requirement can vary widely. A client may only need assistance with customer inquiries. Another may require added support with lead generation, sales outreach, and order tracking. The scale of each client’s work also matters.
With managed services, costs are also predictable. After consultation, clients are aware of the expected payment per project or month and stick to it, unless there are changes to the arrangements. Everything, from management to support, is typically bundled into a single bill.
Upwork
Hourly rates on Upwork vary widely. Here, you can find some freelancers charging as little as $5 per hour and others going as high as over $50 for the same service. Prices often reflect quality on Upwork, so you have the flexibility to match your budget with your preferred level of expertise. Prices are also based on a freelancer’s location; for example, a Filipino-based VA will likely charge you less than a US-based VA. We made a more detailed price comparison in the article, How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost? (US vs India vs Philippines).
Pricing for projects also ranges widely, still offering flexibility. You may not always spend more hiring freelancers directly than you would when working with a managed service like Klarecon. However, you would spend more time managing these freelancers directly. It’s like trading cash payment for time payment instead.
Also, there are fees to pay when hiring freelancers on Upwork. Clients pay a 5% contract initiation fee using their Marketplace plan and up to 10% using their Business Plus plan. You can learn more about their fees on their client pricing page. Considering these costs, in addition to whatever you’re paying the freelance VA, Upwork may not always be the most cost-effective option.
Key Difference
When flexibility matters, Upwork presents a compelling case, and in many instances, it may even be more cost-effective. Klarecon, however, offers businesses a solution that combines convenience and predictability.
Risk, Accountability, And Reliability
Klarecon
With managed VA services, VAs are held accountable for the quality of tasks and deadlines, even without the client’s involvement, because they are on the payroll of the service provider. Since most associate VAs work with Klarecon full-time in a supervised environment, businesses can be assured their tasks are prioritized by the VAs assigned to them. As a company, Klarecon is also involved in supporting businesses in protecting their sensitive information through NDAs signed by associates under terms enforced by the company.
The nature of managed services also means there is hardly any break in service when a VA falls sick or quits. Klarecon assigns the client’s task to a backup VA, who is already familiar with your process. They also offer training to the VA at no extra cost to the client if the newly assigned are unfamiliar with the tasks. This type of setup minimizes operational disruptions during VA transitions.
Upwork
Just because you agreed with a VA to get a job done doesn’t mean the VA will keep to their word. That’s one of the risks of using Upwork to recruit VAs. A VA can quit at any point, leaving businesses disappointed and having to restart the recruitment process and transfer of knowledge. This is not to say that many freelancers aren’t responsible professionals, but you may not always get them.
Also, you have no guarantee that a VA will take your work seriously or prioritize it, considering they likely have multiple clients and may prioritize based on who pays the highest.
You directly manage all securities and NDAs on your own, as Upwork doesn’t meddle into such details of your operations. When a VA delivers poor quality or misses deadlines, clients often have limited options, such as ending the contract or filing a dispute. Combine this with the turnover or low-quality risk, and Upwork becomes a platform that demands you tread with caution.
Key Difference
While Upwork remains a popular choice for businesses outsourcing gigs, it comes with a caveat: “at your own risk.” That means businesses must find their own ways to ensure VAs prioritize their work, keep their information secure, and quickly recruit reliable new VAs when existing ones fail to meet expectations. Klarecon offers a safety net with multiple backup VAs and direct involvement in protecting clients’ data.
Scalability And Operational Support
Klarecon
When working with Klarecon, you already have a few VAs assigned to your tasks. Scaling with them is as simple as having more VAs added to your tasks. Even though it may come with an adjustment in running subscriptions, it tends to be smoother as they likely already have VAs they can reassign to your work.
Besides not having to run a hiring process whenever you have new work, managed services help with quality control. While their recruitment process filters out VAs likely to deliver poor quality, their regular trainings and steady quality assessments make sure that the quality you get for every assigned task remains consistent.
Also, sudden surges in operational demands don’t always mean new recruitments with managed services. For spikes that last only a few days or weeks, VAs can be assigned to tackle them, saving the client from the stress of hiring and then ending contracts with new personnel after a short period.
Upwork
Upwork provides a marketplace where you can find a wide range of skills. All one needs to do to attract freelancers is to make a good offer. However, some freelancers may reject your offer when they fully understand the work involved. Some may start the conversation with you and ghost after a while. Others may even wait until the project begins, then ditch it halfway through.
For those who stick, quality consistency varies from one freelancer to another, so companies may have to offer additional training or replace poor-performing freelancers, which means repeatedly going through the whole recruitment process described in the paragraph above. Upwork freelancers typically work independently, so controlling quality may involve hiring a project manager to directly supervise their work. Also, every spike in workload may require a full recruitment process.
With Upwork, you enjoy the benefit of handpicking your VAs. This may mean disappointments from many VAs before you get one that’s satisfactory, but some businesses that want to directly interact with their VAs don’t mind. Plus, most managed services prefer long-term clients or projects billed monthly, whereas Upwork also gives you access to freelancers open to short-term gigs, such as 1–3 weeks.
Key Difference
The flexibility of Upwork cannot be overlooked in the Upwork vs managed VA companies discussion. The wide market provides almost every skill you need and allows you to directly select and manage your VAs. Klarecon focuses on offering seamless expansion for businesses and helps businesses manage the team of VAs working on their projects.
Which Model Fits Your Business?
The model that works for your business will depend on the nature of the project and other business-specific needs.
Who Is Upwork Best For?
- Cost-sensitive clients: clients with budgetary limitations may find that Upwork is ideal for keeping costs low, in many cases.
- Niche or one-time projects: businesses needing support for skills that are not popular are more likely to find it with Upwork, as a managed service usually doesn’t have VAs with all skills.
- Businesses comfortable with hands-on management: those who don’t mind the extra work and time spent training, managing, and assessing the quality of work done by VAs will prefer Upwork.
Who Is Klarecon Best For?
- Clients seeking hands-off hiring and management: those who don’t want the rigors of hiring processes or training and managing VAs can rely on Klarecon’s already trained team.
- Great for executives or startups scaling up: changing workloads is easily absorbed by Klarecon’s already existing team. Repeatable systems allow rapid scaling and multiple ramp-ups faster than traditional models.
- Clients needing operational continuity: downtime is minimal with a managed service, as they often have backup virtual assistants to step in when issues arise with the main assistants assigned.
Comparison Table: Klarecon Vs. Upwork At A Glance
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I use both Upwork and Klarecon at the same time?
Yes. You might use Upwork to access highly specialized skills or short-term support, while relying on Klarecon for structured, ongoing assistance with high-volume projects in their areas of specialization.
Q: How quickly can I get started with each platform?
Upwork allows instant job posting and proposals, but vetting and training a new VA may take a few days. Klarecon can be faster if they already have a team to absorb your work. Or else, they may take a few days to weeks to recruit and train the VAs needed for your project. It depends on the project scale and task complexity.
Q: Do both options allow me to scale internationally?
Yes, both do. Upwork is open to freelancers from all countries, so you can build a global team of VAs. Klarecon also hires from different countries around the world, so working with them automatically gives you an international team—indirectly.
Q: Do both options cover time zone differences?
On Upwork, many freelancers are willing to adapt to their clients’ time zones. This is something you can look out for and confirm during the recruitment process. Klarecon, on the other hand, primarily operates on Israel Daylight Time, but arrangements for partial time overlap can be made if it’s extremely necessary.
Q: Can I request highly specialized skills with Klarecon?
Yes. Klarecon can take on highly specialized skill requirements, though it may require thorough planning at the start. Once a process is built, it can be scaled consistently to support long-term needs. If you need those skills immediately, you can start with freelancers while Klarecon develops the capacity for you. And if a skill is truly outside our scope, we’ll be upfront and let you know.
Q: Which option is better for building a long-term working relationship?
On Upwork, many freelancers do build lasting client relationships, but since they work independently, there’s always a chance they may move on to higher-paying projects or other opportunities. With Klarecon, your relationship is with the service, not the VAs, so even when VAs leave, the service remains. For a longer working relationship, what matters more is a structure that ensures continuity, and that’s what Klarecon brings to the table.
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