By skyforbes 
New freelancers are always worried about the most in-demand freelance skills in 2025 and onwards. As a freelancer who has been moonlighting for over two decades and winning online freelance jobs, I have seen a lot of ups and downs in demand for trending and emerging skills. A skill that has been in high demand for a couple of years goes out of demand in the future and is replaced by another skill.
I’ve witnessed once-popular tools like Macromedia Flash, Swift 3D, and Freehand vanish almost overnight. Not too long ago, Flash was the hottest trend — everyone wanted their websites built with flashy animations inspired by the legendary 2Advanced, a site that influenced an entire generation of designers.
But time changes everything. Flash is now obsolete, eRain’s Swift 3D has shut down, and Adobe Illustrator has fully replaced Macromedia Freehand.
Each marketplace releases its own list of trending skills based on what’s popular within its ecosystem. Yet, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern: while emerging skills get the spotlight, some timeless “evergreen” skills — those that have always been in demand — often don’t make it to these lists.
As a Freelancer who has been in this business for about 24 years and also as an instructor who has seen it more closely than many out there, here are my top 10 in-demand freelance skills for all freelance marketplaces in 2024. The order does not necessarily depict the number of projects or high demand.
The order is organized on the basis of my observation of projects on Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer.com, and Guru.com.
Top 10 freelance skills in demand. Watch the video:
10- Data Entry/Virtual Assistant
Regardless of all major technical skills, data entry and virtual assistant jobs have always been in demand online. These skills do not require any four-year college degree and are in demand on all freelancer websites.
9- Creative Writer
I have observed, all freelancer websites have a huge influx of frequent new projects looking for content writers and bloggers.
Usually, the requirement is to look for a writer who can write an SEO-researched article that has a typical word length ranging from 500 to 2000. Often in such posts, the client specifically requests writers to do the keyword research so the article gets ranked when published.
Similarly, there is a huge demand for bloggers as well to write frequently for blogs. You can always make money from your blog in many different ways. For these purposes, there are special services that will help to properly organize work and find new customers and orders for content.
This way, you can register with Adsy, the guest post service, as a publisher.
After that, everything is very simple:
1. Upload your blog links (or bulk upload if you have a lot of them) into the service
2. Set your own prices for your work.
3. Approve new assignments from buyers, complete them, and charge your payments.
The more sites you add, the more new customers and orders you will have. It’s as simple as 1-2-3.
8- Animations/Video Creation
All major social media websites prefer video content over pictures and text posts. This has increased the demand for video creation, and animation because they gain better engagement. Even when advertised, they fetch better results.
YouTube has grown in huge popularity in the recent past. This has also raised the demand for video creation and animation. Software such as Filmora, and Adobe Premier are very popular for video editing jobs.
7- Digital Marketing/Social Media Marketing
The demand for social media marketing, and digital marketing services has surfaced up in recent years because of an increase in the usage of popular social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Linked In, and Pinterest. This tells us that they are going to hold a prominent place in the future as in-demand skills.
Small businesses are looking for DM (Digital Marketing) and SMMA (Social media marketing agency) experts to help them reach out to their potential clients and do business online.
Do you want to learn Digital Marketing or Social Media Marketing? Check my YouTube channel.
6- React Native/ Angular JS/ WordPress
The demand for react native, Angular JS, and also WordPress can be seen in a good number of projects posted on major freelancing websites such as Guru.com and Upwork.com. It won’t be a bad idea to learn these skills and muster up the courage to land a proposal on these projects.
5- SEO
Everybody needs a website but without traffic, the site is good for nothing. SEO (search engine optimization) helps in the better ranking of a website in major search engines, Google primarily.
There are tons of courses out there on the internet but the one I like is on Udemy. You can master this skill within 6 months and practice it to learn more. Keep in mind, that this field changes quickly because the algorithm for SEO on Google changes quickly.
4- Mobile App Development
80% and above of the internet population use smartphones to perform daily activities. This huge traffic has increased the demand for mobile app developers recently. Instead of developing native apps for iOS and Android, clients demand hybrid mobile app developers who can create apps for both iOS and Android.
3- Graphics Designing
The computer needs graphics so therefore the demand for graphic designers will also be there. Be it social media, website, or print media requirements, graphic design projects are posted in a good number on all freelance marketplaces.
Also, with more websites being built, the demand for UX/UI is increasing. It is also increasing for designing user interfaces of mobile apps.
2- Software Development
I fail to understand why Software development misses out as a top skill for freelancers.
When I look at the projects posted on Upwork and Guru, I see a good demand for desktop software developers. Clients are still looking for quality software developers to build their desktop and cloud-based software/applications.
1- Artificial Intelligence
The need for experts with cutting-edge skills in the quickly developing field of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing, with a focus on forecasting, assessment, and prediction abilities in particular. By 2024, these abilities will undoubtedly play a crucial role in determining the direction AI takes.
Staying ahead in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence requires the ability to anticipate advancements and emerging trends. This foresight is essential for effectively navigating and leveraging the potential of new technologies. Equally important are strong evaluation skills, which enable professionals to assess both the performance and the ethical implications of AI systems.
The capacity to forecast outcomes and refine algorithms will play a critical role in maximizing the impact of AI applications. Professionals who excel in prediction, assessment, and optimization are uniquely positioned to drive innovation and shape the transformative role of artificial intelligence across industries in this era of accelerated technological progress.
Website development
Keep it or erase it, yes —website development has always been and will continue to surface as the most in-demand freelance skill. With the rise of demand for AI (artificial intelligence), the demand for programming languages — particularly Python has gone through the roof.
With a boom in internet access, small businesses are turning up huge numbers to get their websites developed.
Amid COVID-19, the demand for e-commerce websites has increased a lot, as can be seen from this report.
Website developers, regardless of the platform they choose to build websites, are in good demand on all freelance marketplaces.
Conclusion:
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