So you’ve heard of HireWriters and are wondering if you should use them for your next book or article. After all, HireWriters is super cheap, and you probably aren’t going to find prices better than these.
But is HireWriters too good to be true? Is the company a scam, or is HireWriters legit?
We want you to make informed decisions when it comes to how and where to invest your money. That’s why our mission is to help educate authors on the various self-publishing companies and services that are on the market today.
Our reviews are meant to be unbiased, 3rd party reviews, but we will speak up if there is a scam or a clearly better option.
Today we will be doing a full review so you can decide for yourself whether this company is right for your next project.
What is HireWriters?
HireWriters.com is a popular website for finding writers for any writing task – big or small.
The company has connections with thousands of native English speaking writers with different types of backgrounds, writing styles, and experience levels, so they claim that you are sure to find a writer that is the right fit for your project.
They have just rebranded to Toptal Writers, but it is the same company.
What services does HireWriters offer?
Here are some of the writing services the company offers:
Article writing
If you want to have an article written, the company is happy to do that for a very cheap price. You will pay on a sliding scale based on the amount of words and the experience level of your writer.
The company designates writers as Beginner, General, Skilled, or Expert level.
Content rewriting
If you have an article that needs to be improved upon, the company is happy to do that for you. They will rework the article to your satisfaction.
Transcription
HireWriters offers transcription services. This means they will listen to your audio notes and write out the content for you. This works for voice notes, podcast episodes, and more.
eBook writing
The company will ghostwrite full eBooks for you. Of course, their pricing scale only shows eBooks up to 100 pages, so it is unclear whether they would write books longer than that or what it would cost you if they did.
Poetry and lyric writing
The company offers a service for writing poetry or song lyrics. You are charged by the length of the poem or song, as well as the experience level of the writer.
Data entry
If you need data entry done for your job or any other reason, the team at HireWriters is happy to do it for you!
Facebook posts
The company will write Facebook posts for your company, or even write Facebook fan reviews for you for the right price.
Blog writing
The company will write blogs of any length. They are billed the same as an article. If you need blogs written cheaply for your website, this could be a good way to do it.
Content writing
It is unclear how this differs from article or blog writing, but the company will write content for you on a sliding scale based on the length of the content and the experience of the writer.
Is HireWriters legit?
Is HireWriters legit? It does appear that it’s legit for clients, but not so much for writers. Writers are underpaid and often cut off from their pay without explanation.
There have also been issues with using the website, so some people may have a smooth experience while others have trouble accessing the site or their articles – which can cause them to get charged for work they don’t agree with.
In short, it’s best to proceed with caution if you are considering using this company.
How do you sign up for HireWriters?
The HireWriters sign up process is easy and free. You just have to give them your email and create a password and you are good to go.
After your HireWriters sign up process is complete, you can post a job and let writers bid on it.
You also have the option to handpick your writers after your HireWriters sign up.
That being said, you have to deposit money into your account in order to start any projects, and the minimum deposit is $10.
HireWriters costs
It must be said, HireWriters is dirt cheap. You can get an article written for as low as $1.85, and an 100 page eBook written for $800.
Pros and cons of using HireWriters
Here are some pros and cons of using HireWriters:
Pros of HireWriters
Extremely low costs: This company is one of your cheapest options for articles, eBooks, and more.
Refund policy: Your satisfaction is important to the team at HireWriters. If you aren’t satisfied with your results, you have 72 hours to let them know and get a full refund for your project.
How does that work? When you order work, the cost of the job goes into escrow. If you reject the work you are sent, the money will automatically come out of escrow and back into your account.
Fast turnaround times: As soon as a writer takes your job, they have 6-24 hours to complete your article depending on your stipulations. If they cannot complete your job in time, the writer will be penalized and your job will automatically be picked up by another writer.
Ease of communication: There is a message function on your account which you can use to communicate with writers. You are also able to post instructions to the writer when you initially create your jobs.
Plagiarism check: The company uses Copyscape API to automatically check any content submitted by their writers to ensure it is original, and not plagiarized..
Cons of using HireWriters
Poor treatment of writers: Writers are paid pennies and penalized for doing a good job. If they start to earn too much money with the company, they are axed and replaced by new writers. This is a horrific practice.
Terrible website: Their website is clunky and outdated and often isn’t accessible when people need it. It goes down for updates regularly.
Glitches with projects: People claim that writers send them work but they aren’t able to view the project. Unfortunately, their 72 hour review window starts. If they aren’t able to access the writing to review it within the 72 hours, they are automatically charged for the work, even if they haven’t seen it.
Minimum deposit: There is a minimum deposit of $10 into your account, so if you only want an article written for $1.85, you still have to pay $10 for it.
Other HireWriters reviews
Take one look at the reviews of HireWriters on TrustPilot and you will see there is an issue. While there aren’t many reviews in general, most of them are quite negative.
These negative HireWriters reviews come from both client and writers, but are mostly from writers who have been treated unfairly by the company.
This first HireWriters review is written by a customer. They have used the website multiple times, but note that there is zero customer service and they had that pesky issue where they couldn’t access the project the writer submitted.
Another review by a customer isn’t that much better. Even though they offered the company three stars, they were unhappy with the quality of the work delivered by HireWriters.
The next HireWriters reviews are written by writers. They say that the company IS a scam for writers.
One other thing to note is the country codes. Clients and writers are from Kenya. While these are indeed native English speakers, they may not understand the nuance or cultural references for authors from the US or UK, etc.
It also explains how the company is able to get away with paying their writers so poorly, but it certainly isn’t an excuse.
It seems that in order to keep costs low, as soon as a writer is an “Expert” or a certain amount of time, their account is closed so the company can hire more writers at “Beginner” rates.
Alternatives to HireWriters
If you are looking for alternatives to HireWriters, you’re going to have to pay a bit more so that your writers can actually be compensated according to their work.
Some services we would actually recommend include:
HireWriters review: Final thoughts
Overall we would give HireWriters a 2 out of 5 stars. While they do fast work and create content that some clients are happy with, it’s hard to support a company that treats writers so abysmally.
If you care about the treatment of your content writers at all, it’s better to go with another company.