Fiverr Lost 900,000 Buyers in a Year. Here’s Where Clients Ask for Help Now.
Fewer people are shopping on freelance marketplaces. People asking for help in public haven’t gone anywhere. 5 places to find them, and what to say.
Last Thursday, Fiverr reported its third quarter. One number stood out: 2.4 million active buyers, down from 3.3 million a year earlier. That’s 25.8% fewer people buying on Fiverr in twelve months.
Upwork’s latest report, from August, points the same way. Active clients fell 4% to 763,000.
If a marketplace is where most of your work comes from, those numbers are worth a few minutes. Fewer buyers means more freelancers bidding on each job. And Fiverr says its marketplace traffic will keep falling through 2027.
Here’s what the reports say, what they don’t, and five places where people still ask for help in public every day.
Quick answer
- Fiverr’s active buyers fell from 3.3 million to 2.4 million in a year (October 29, 2026 report). Upwork’s active clients fell 4% to 763,000 (August 10, 2026 report).
- The buyers who stayed spend more. Fiverr’s spend per buyer rose 12.9% to $373, and Upwork’s spend per client rose 5%.
- Fiverr blames search: fewer people find it through Google, and more ask AI tools instead.
- People still ask for help in public: on Reddit, in Facebook groups, in LinkedIn posts, on Nextdoor and on X.
- To win those jobs: search the problem, not your job title. Answer the question first, mention what you do in one line, and reply within hours, not days.
What the numbers say
From Fiverr’s report of October 29, 2026:
- Annual active buyers: 2.4 million, down from 3.3 million a year earlier, a decline of 25.8%.
- Spend per buyer: $373, up 12.9%.
- Marketplace revenue: $55.4 million, down 24.7%.
From Upwork’s report of August 10, 2026:
- Active clients: 763,000, down 4%.
- Spend per active client: $5,230, up 5%.
So the picture is fewer buyers, each spending more. Fiverr says its bigger, more complex projects are holding up best.
Fiverr gave its own reason: “search traffic headwinds” from “AI-related disruption to traditional SEO and SEM.” Put simply, fewer people search Google for “logo designer” and land on Fiverr. More of them ask ChatGPT, or ask people they trust.
What the reports don’t say is where those 900,000 buyers went. Some stopped buying. Some use AI for the small jobs they used to hire for. And some ask for a recommendation in a group, a thread or a post. That last group is the one you can reach.
5 places where people ask for help in public
1. Reddit
People post in r/forhire, r/smallbusiness, r/Entrepreneur, and in niche subreddits for their industry or city. The posts sound like “looking for someone to fix my Shopify store” or “can anyone recommend a bookkeeper who knows Etsy?”
Search Reddit for the problem, sort by New, and bookmark the search. Note that Reddit RSS feeds stop on November 13, 2026, so feed-based alerts won’t keep working.
2. Facebook groups
Local community groups, small business groups and hobby groups are full of “anyone know a good…” posts. A bakery owner asks for a website person. A new homeowner asks for a painter.
Join groups where your buyers are, not groups full of other freelancers.
3. LinkedIn posts
Founders and managers post “looking for a freelance designer for a 3-month project” or “who do you recommend for…” in their feed. Good ones fill up with replies fast, so speed matters.
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Search posts, not people, and filter by Latest.
4. Nextdoor
For local services, Nextdoor is where neighbors ask “who did your roof?” or “need a reliable cleaner, any recommendations?” The posts are only visible to people nearby, so it works best if you live in the area you serve.
5. X
Fewer requests than the others, but they’re often from founders and small teams: “anyone know a good Webflow dev?” X search with quotes and the Latest tab finds them.
What to say when you find one
The person asking gets a lot of replies. Most say “DM me” or paste a portfolio link. The ones that get picked usually do three things:
- They answer the question first. If someone asks “how much should a logo cost?”, say a range, then why.
- They mention what they do in one line, without a pitch.
- They reply fast. By the next day, the person has often already picked someone.
Check the group or subreddit rules before you mention your service. Many don’t allow self-promotion, and a removed comment helps nobody.
How to not miss them
Doing this by hand is free: one bookmark per phrase, checked every morning. The catch is that most people stop after a week, and by the time they look, the request is a day old.
The other route is a tool that watches for you. One example is BuyerSpotter, a Chrome extension. Disclosure: this article was written with the BuyerSpotter team, so here’s the honest version:
- It watches Reddit, Facebook groups you’re in, X, LinkedIn and Nextdoor for phrases you choose, and puts every match in one inbox, sorted by how clearly someone is asking to buy.
- It runs inside your own Chrome and doesn’t ask for your Reddit account. Chrome has to be open on your computer for the checks to run.
- It never posts or replies for you. You open the post and answer yourself.
- Most keyword matches are not buyers. In BuyerSpotter’s own test of 62,296 matches, only 2.8% were clear buying requests, which is why the sorting matters.
- It’s a 5-day free trial with no card, then $39 a month.
If you want to try it on your own phrases, it’s on the Chrome Web Store. The guide to recommendation requests has more example phrases by industry, and how to respond to buyer posts covers replies in more detail.
What to do this week
- Write down 5 phrases a client would use when asking for what you do. Use their words, not yours: “need someone to fix my website”, not “web development services”.
- Pick 2 places from the list above where your clients are.
- Search each phrase there, sorted by newest, and bookmark the searches.
- Check them every morning for a week, and reply to every real request the same day.
- Keep your marketplace profile. Just stop making it the only place work can come from.
FAQ
How many buyers did Fiverr lose?
Fiverr reported 2.4 million annual active buyers on September 30, 2026, down from 3.3 million a year earlier, a 25.8% drop. That’s about 900,000 fewer buyers.
Is Upwork losing clients too?
Upwork reported 763,000 active clients in its second quarter of 2026, down 4% from a year earlier. Spend per client rose 5%.
Why are freelance marketplaces losing buyers?
Fiverr points to falling search traffic as people move from Google search to AI tools. Both companies also report that the clients who stay spend more per project.
Where can freelancers find clients outside Upwork and Fiverr?
In places where people ask for recommendations in public: Reddit, Facebook groups, LinkedIn posts, Nextdoor for local services, and X. Search for the problem your client has, sorted by newest.
Should I leave Fiverr or Upwork?
Not necessarily. The buyers who remain spend more per project. The safer move is to add a second source of work so one platform’s traffic isn’t your whole pipeline.
Where did most of your work come from this year, a marketplace or somewhere else? Share in the comments.
Written with the team behind BuyerSpotter, a Chrome extension that alerts you when someone on Reddit, in Facebook groups, on X, LinkedIn or Nextdoor asks for what you sell. Fiverr figures come from Fiverr’s third quarter 2026 results, published October 29, 2026. Upwork figures come from Upwork’s second quarter 2026 results, published August 10, 2026. The 62,296-match test is from BuyerSpotter’s own test setup, September to October 2026.
