Freelance bidding tool: nine things to check before you trust one with your account
A bidding tool touches the one asset a freelancer cannot replace: the account with the reviews on it. So the questions to ask are not about features first. They are about what the tool can do to that account without you, and whether you can see it.
Here are the nine checks we would run on any tool — including ours. Where DealPrinter falls short of a check we say so; there are things it does not do.
The nine checks
- How does it log in? It should ask for a personal access token from Freelancer.com's developer settings and nothing else. A tool that wants your password, or drives a hidden browser, is operating outside the platform.
- Can you see every bid before it goes out, and stop it? Not 'review mode' as an option — as the only mode. If bids can leave without a person, the tool is a bot and your account is the one at risk.
- Does it write from the brief, or fill a template? Ask to see three drafts for three different projects. If they share sentences, it is a template.
- Can you tune what it shows you? A match floor, a budget floor, skills to include and exclude. Without a floor you drown in listings and start approving badly.
- Does it respect the 1,500-character limit and show the count? Freelancer caps proposals; a tool that writes past the cap or truncates silently is not reading the platform.
- Does it track what happens after the bid? Awarded, milestone created, milestone funded, project closed. Otherwise you are chasing ghosts by hand.
- Does it help with the replies? Most deals are won in the chat. A tool that stops at the bid leaves the hard part to you.
- Is the pricing legible? What the trial includes, what a plan includes per day, what credit costs and who can buy it. If you cannot work out what a month will cost, walk away.
- What happens to your token and data when you disconnect? The token should be removed. Your bids, threads and settings should be yours to export or delete.
How DealPrinter answers each one
| Check | DealPrinter |
|---|---|
| Login | Personal access token from Freelancer's developer settings, pasted into Settings. Never your password. Tokens last 30 days; you re-link the same way. |
| See and stop every bid | Every bid waits in the queue for your one-tap approval. There is no unattended mode. |
| Brief, not template | Drafts are written from the full brief, the budget, client signals and your own profile and scripts, in your voice. |
| Tuning | Match floor and skills are yours to set; scores run 0–100 against your profile. Declined leads stay out of the feed until you restore them. |
| 1,500-character limit | Drafts aim for 1,000–1,500 characters — the band that got every reply in our first week — and show the count. |
| After the bid | Awards, milestones created and funded, closed and revoked projects are tracked and flagged in the inbox and on the dashboard. |
| Replies | Reply drafts in every thread, with a deep mode that reads the whole conversation. You edit and send. |
| Pricing | Free 1-day trial (5 bids, 2 AI replies, 1 deep reply, no card). Starter $20/month, Pro $99/month. Credit for extra usage is sold to subscribers only, minimum $2. |
| Disconnect | Disconnecting removes the stored token. Your data stays in your account until you delete it. |
What DealPrinter does not do
- It does not work on Upwork or Fiverr. It is built on Freelancer.com's official API and nothing else, and adding a marketplace without an official API would mean scraping, which we will not do.
- It does not bid for you. If you want a tool that places bids while you sleep, this is not it, on purpose.
- It does not guarantee replies. Our own first week was 8 replies from 272 bids. We publish that number so you can decide with it.
- It does not do direct outreach or email. It works inside the marketplace you connect.
If those are deal-breakers, you want a different tool. If they sound like the right constraints for a business you intend to keep, the free 1-day trial is the fastest way to check the rest of the list yourself.
Before you connect anything: two minutes of hygiene
- Read your Freelancer.com profile as a client would. The tool writes from it.
- Decide your floor price and the projects you do not want, and set them before the first bid.
- Generate a fresh personal access token rather than reusing one another tool has seen.
- Approve the first ten bids slowly. That is where you teach the drafts what you sound like.
Then read the rules on what is allowed once, so nothing in your setup ever puts the account at risk.
Questions people ask
What is the safest way for a tool to access my Freelancer.com account?
A personal access token generated in Freelancer's developer settings, used through the official API. Never share your password with a tool.
Can DealPrinter bid without me?
No. Every bid waits for your one-tap approval; there is no unattended mode.
Does DealPrinter work with Upwork?
No. It works with Freelancer.com through its official API only.
What does a bidding tool cost?
DealPrinter is free for a 1-day trial, then $20 a month for Starter or $99 a month for Pro, with credit for extra usage sold to subscribers only.