Client reviews

A review is the written half of the end-of-contract feedback; the client rating is the number. On a job post, the client's recent history lists past contracts with the feedback each side left, so a freelancer can read both what freelancers said about the client and what the client said about them.

What Upwork removes. Upwork treats feedback as opinion: in most cases it "can't edit it or make determinations about its accuracy". It does remove feedback that breaks the Terms of Service: manipulation such as bribing, pressuring or extorting someone for a rating, buying or selling feedback or creating fake contracts; abusive or offensive language; feedback unrelated to the contract; insider feedback between closely connected accounts; and feedback on a contract where the client changed the terms, the freelancer declined and reported it, and Upwork found the client at fault.

Reporting and redaction. Feedback is reported from the Job Success Insights page, each piece can be reported only once, and Upwork asks for seven business days to decide. A name or business detail in public feedback that causes a privacy or safety problem can be replaced with a neutral reference such as Client or Freelancer, as long as the substance and rating stay the same.

Reading them. Look for repeated themes across freelancers rather than one angry line: scope that kept growing, slow payment, or praise for clear briefs. Reviews sometimes name the client's contact, which tells you who you would be working with.

How Upsight uses it. Upsight's client identity lane reads freelancer-to-client review text to find the client's contact name, and keeps a name only when the quoted words appear verbatim in the review. Upwork's API carries review scores but no review text, so the text comes from a read of the job page itself.