Best apps to make money in Australia for expats

The right platform depends on your skills, visa conditions, location, and whether you want remote freelance work, local gigs, or casual shifts. This guide focuses on six apps that are relevant to expats in Australia.

It is general information only, not legal, migration, tax, or financial advice, and visa conditions, app fees, and platform availability can change, so check VEVO and current platform rules before you start.

Key takeaways

These six apps are useful starting points for expats in Australia who want flexible work.

• Upwork: suited to remote, skilled freelance work and repeat client projects. Freelancer fees can vary by contract, while payout and currency conversion costs can affect net pay, so avoid spending too much time on obviously low-budget jobs.
• Airtasker: useful for local practical gigs and small in-person jobs. Tasker service fees depend on the Tasker’s current pricing tier, so check the fee shown in your account before accepting work. Travel, supplies, tolls, or parking can also reduce the value of a task.
• Fiverr: works well for packaged, repeatable services. Sellers keep 80% of each order value and standard clearance periods apply, but broad or generic offers can face heavy competition.
• Freelancer.com: provides access to bids, contests, fixed-price projects, and hourly work. Fixed-price project fees are 10% or USD 5, whichever is greater, so selective bidding matters.
• Sidekicker: focuses on casual shift-based work in hospitality, events, logistics, and business support. Sidekicker says workers are employees and are paid weekly, although some roles require local checks or licences.
• SEEK: is useful for casual, contract, temporary, remote, and recruiter-led roles. Pay and employment conditions are set by the employer or recruiter, and not every short-term contract listing is freelance work.

Wise for getting paid from overseas clients in Australia

If you use apps like Upwork or Freelancer.com and your clients pay in USD, EUR, or another currency, a Wise account can help you hold supported balances, convert to AUD when you need to cover local costs, and see fees before you exchange. Always check each platform’s official withdrawal options, holding periods and charges first.

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If you expect overseas clients, compare how each platform pays out against receiving money through Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, or an alternative such as a Wise account if you need to hold or manage multiple currencies. If you are still setting up an Australian bank account, it is worth sorting that out early because platform withdrawals are often easier once your local details are ready.

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Next step: shortlist two apps, then compare payout costs, setup friction, and work type before you create profiles.

Upwork

If you want remote, skills-based work that is not tied to one Australian city, Upwork is usually the first app worth trying. It works well for expats who have no local network yet because you can pitch for writing, design, development, virtual support, marketing, bookkeeping, and similar roles without needing local transport or in-person availability.

Upwork is usually a stronger fit than local gig apps when you want repeat clients and rates based on expertise rather than travel time. A common mistake is bidding on every cheap project just to get moving. In practice, that can lead to poor-fit work, weak reviews, and rates that are hard to raise later. Upwork says freelancer fees can vary by contract and withdrawal methods can change by location, so check the live fee and payout pages before you price your first jobs.

• Best-fit skills: writing, design, development, paid ads, virtual assistance, customer support, bookkeeping, and research.
• Profile positioning: lead with one niche, one result, and the tools you use instead of listing every skill you have ever tried.
• What to verify: the fee shown before you submit a proposal, the withdrawal route, clearance timing, and any currency conversion costs.
• First week on the platform: complete your profile, upload two or three relevant samples, send a handful of tailored proposals, and skip projects that are obviously underpriced.

Mentioning AEST or AEDT availability and one Australia-relevant niche, such as APAC customer support or local ecommerce content, can make your time-zone availability and positioning clearer to potential clients, even when the job is fully remote.

Airtasker

Airtasker is one of the clearest gig-work apps in Australia for local, practical jobs. It suits expats who want in-person work such as moving help, cleaning, photography, admin support, assembly, delivery, or small repair tasks in major cities.

The big catch is that a task price is not your take-home pay. Airtasker applies a Tasker service fee based on your current tier, and its current public pages do not all display the same fee range. Check the fee shown in your Airtasker account before accepting a task. Once you add travel, tolls, parking, equipment, and time spent messaging, a low-budget task can stop making sense very quickly.

• Best for: practical local work when you know your suburb, transport links, and what jobs you can complete confidently.
• How tasks are won: clear offers, fast replies, and a profile that builds trust through reviews and completed jobs.
• What to check before accepting: location, access, timing, equipment, insurance needs, and whether the budget still works after fees.
• Red flags: vague task descriptions, unrealistic timelines, or jobs where the poster has not explained access, materials, or scope.
• First smart move: target clearly scoped tasks close to train or tram lines before you start taking long suburban runs.

Same-day city jobs can move quickly, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. New arrivals often do better with short, well-defined tasks near dense transport areas than with bigger jobs that look attractive but hide more travel and setup friction.

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Fiverr

Fiverr suits expats who would rather sell a defined service than pitch from scratch every time. It is often a better starting point when you can turn your skill into a clear offer, such as copy editing, logo refreshes, subtitle cleanup, voice work, or weekly virtual assistant support.

Fiverr’s payment terms say sellers earn 80% of the order value, and its help pages say standard earnings become available only after the platform’s safety clearance period. That means the model works best when your service is easy to describe, easy to prove, and easy to deliver on time. It is less useful when every job needs long discovery calls or a custom quote before the work starts.

• Pick one offer first, not five. A tighter gig is easier to rank and easier to explain.
• Show proof fast with portfolio screenshots, before-and-after examples, or a short process summary.
• Build simple tiers, such as a starter package, a standard package, and a premium package, so buyers can self-select.
• Set delivery times you can actually meet, especially if you are balancing freelance work with a new job or visa-related admin.

A Brisbane-based virtual assistant, for example, might list a starter inbox tidy, a standard weekly admin support package, and a premium ongoing support option. Before you rely on any payout route, check Fiverr’s current withdrawal methods, timing, and provider fees on its official help pages.

Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com can appeal if you want access to several work models in one place. It mixes project bidding, contests, fixed-price jobs, and hourly work, which gives you more volume than a narrower platform but also more noise to screen out.

That variety is useful for expats in Australia, but it still means competing in a global marketplace. Freelancer’s fees page says fixed-price project fees for freelancers are 10% or USD 5, whichever is greater, and hourly project fees are 10%. So the real question is not whether there is a lot of work. It is whether the listing is specific, realistic, and worth your admin time after fees.

Freelancer.com sits between Upwork and Fiverr in how it works. It usually has more contest-style options than Upwork and far less of Fiverr’s packaged-service feel. That means you need a sharp pitch, a strong niche, and a habit of rejecting weak briefs quickly.

• Look for credible briefs with a clear scope, budget logic, and signs that the client understands the job.
• Treat contests carefully. They can be useful for designers, but they can also absorb time without guaranteed return.
• Check payout rules before you rely on the platform, including withdrawal fees, minimum withdrawal amounts, and any timing holds.

Used well, Freelancer.com is not a volume game. It is a filtering game. The freelancers who do best there usually ignore most listings and focus on the few that genuinely fit.

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Sidekicker

Sidekicker is a better fit for expats who need casual shifts in hospitality, events, logistics, and business support rather than classic freelance projects. The key difference is that Sidekicker says workers on the platform are employees, not contractors, so the pay and rights framework is different from apps built around independent bidding.

That can make Sidekicker more practical if you want visible hourly rates, clearer shift details, and work that starts faster once you are approved. Sidekicker’s worker pages say you can see the pay rate, company, timing, uniform requirements, ratings, and location in the app before applying, and that weekly pay is made on Thursdays. City coverage and onboarding demands vary by role, so not every expat will have the same route in.

• Best for: hospitality, events, exhibitions, warehousing, logistics, and business support shifts.
• What to prepare: ID, employment details, and any role-specific documents the app or employer asks for.
• What to check: whether the shift is casual employment rather than contractor work, what the hourly rate is, and whether local credentials such as RSA, police checks, a Working With Children Check, or other role-specific certificates may apply.
• What matters in practice: weekend, evening, and major venue availability can count for more than broad weekday availability.

If you can work weekends, public events, and peak venue periods, Sidekicker can move faster than a remote freelance app. That is especially true for new arrivals who need local earnings before they build a longer-term client base.

SEEK

SEEK is not a pure freelance marketplace, but it is still one of the most useful routes for expats who want contract, casual, temp, or project-based work in Australia. It reflects how the broader job market in Australia works, which matters if you want better-structured local work rather than scattered micro-gigs.

It can outperform gig apps when you want roles that come through recruiters, agencies, or employers directly. Some of those listings are genuinely short-term and flexible, but they are not all the same. A contract role may be employment, temp agency work, or independent contracting. That difference matters for tax, super, and work-rights checks, so do not treat every short-term listing as freelance work.

• Useful search terms: contract, casual, temp, freelance, short-term, project, and remote.
• Filters that help: work type, classification, location, and remote or hybrid settings.
• Good signs for newcomers: clear start dates, recruiter-managed roles, and job ads that explain scope, hours, and contract length.
• What to verify before applying: whether the role is employee, temp, or contractor work, and what that means for pay, super, and documents.

If you want more formal short-term work and a clearer path into local experience, SEEK can be a smarter long-term move than chasing one-off app gigs alone.

If freelance work becomes a regular part of your income, check how your setup affects tax and business administration. The guides to freelance tax in Australia and starting a business in Australia explain the wider issues to consider.

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Conclusion

The best app depends on whether you need remote freelance projects, local practical jobs, shift work, or a more formal contract role. Start with one or two platforms that match your skills and visa conditions rather than trying to use everything at once. Compare fees, payout routes, travel costs, and employment status before accepting work. As your income becomes more regular, make sure your tax and business setup still matches the way you are working.

Sources

• Australian Taxation Office: guidance on working as an independent contractor and ABN obligations, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Australian Taxation Office: deductions for home-based business expenses, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Australian Taxation Office: superannuation information for sole traders and partnerships, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Department of Home Affairs: VEVO visa condition checks, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Department of Home Affairs: information on checking entitlement to work in Australia, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Fair Work Ombudsman: guidance on independent contractors and employee status, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Upwork Help: freelancer service fee information, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Upwork Help: payout and withdrawal information, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Airtasker Australia: Tasker policy and fee information referenced by the article, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Fiverr: seller payment terms, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Fiverr Help Center: withdrawal methods and payout timing, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Freelancer.com: project, contest, and withdrawal fee information, checked on 19 August 2026.
• Sidekicker: worker model, onboarding, shift information, and pay cadence, checked on 19 August 2026.