Malt vs Upwork
Malt is a European alternative to Upwork — same crm & marketing use case, built under EU data-protection law.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Europe's largest freelance marketplace matching 700,000+ tech, data, design and marketing experts with companies through managed contracting, invoicing and compliance workflows.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
Upwork — a non-EU product.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
About Malt
Malt is a European freelance marketplace connecting independent tech, data, design and marketing experts with companies that need flexible external talent. Founded in Paris in 2013 and now operating across France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the Nordics, Malt has a community of 700,000+ freelancers and 70,000+ client companies.
The platform pairs algorithmic matching with a fully managed contracting, invoicing, compliance and payment workflow. Enterprise customers get Malt Strategy (consulting assignments), Malt Community (private talent pools), compliance checks on freelancer legal status and integration with SAP Fieldglass, Coupa, Beeline and internal vendor-management systems.
Key benefits:
- 700,000+ freelancers across tech, data, design, marketing and management consulting
- Algorithmic matching recommending profiles in hours based on mission brief
- Fully managed contracting, invoicing and payment across 8+ European countries
- Compliance and risk management with freelancer status checks under local law
- Malt Strategy and Malt Community for consulting projects and private talent pools
- Vendor-management integrations with SAP Fieldglass, Coupa and Beeline
- Ratings and reviews from verified missions on every freelancer profile
Malt is headquartered in Paris, France, and hosts all freelancer and client data on EU-based infrastructure under GDPR and French CNIL oversight. ISO 27001 certification, SCCs for sub-processors and a full DPA are standard on every enterprise contract.
Trusted by L'Oréal, Orange, BNP Paribas, Deloitte and 70,000+ companies across Europe, Malt is the reference choice for businesses that want a large, compliance-first freelance marketplace fully operated from the EU.
Why choose Malt over Upwork?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Upwork is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes — the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Malt removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors — health, public administration, finance — that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.