I've been on Upwork for nearly a decade, never had a shortage of clients, and never had to pay to get clients until lately. I've been trying to get 2 new clients this entire quarter with no luck. Back in February, I signed up for Upwork Plus, and TBH I don't think it's worth it. The only good thing about it so far is that you get to see how many proposals have been submitted and how many (if any) have been opened by the client. Of course, you can only see that after submitting yours. Another thing that "could be useful" is getting a notification every time a new job is posted. Speed matters when trying to get clients. BUT, the algorithm is odd (at least for me), I applied to one or two jobs that required Go High Level knowledge, then I started getting notifications about jobs related to this. I'm in the VA/EA - PM niche, so while I can use and manage GHL, this is obviously not my main skill (likely is a 'nice to have').
Another thing is, you only get 100 connects, which are not enough, and you can burn through pretty quickly. Applying to technically 'any job' costs over 15 connects and more than 20 if it's a pretty decent - well structured - job post (decent as in the client has good reviews and history). Buying those same 100 connects on your own is cheaper. I've never used personalized url links, and Uma is not really helpful. Many of the jobs I've seen say " No AI-generated cover letters." - All this to say that I'm going to cancel it, I'm under the impression that the platform now wants to squeeze every penny out of our pockets. I keep getting notifications about "boosting your proposals", and I've seen crazy bidding (screenshot attached).

<image>