Fiverr is a happier marketplace than Upwork as there is no race to the bottom (opens in new tab)

$20 is for a standard prototype or a quick wireframe, its a marketing strategy to bring to client to the discussion table. I don't do full web app gigs for that price! The other two packages (standard & premium) is where most of the development happens.

Picking a large but lower paid economy (India), and using https://tradingeconomics.com/india/wages as an arbitrary and hopefully valid data source, I get a bit over $US 28 per work day for high skilled employees. Lots of fuzz here (IT vs 'high skilled', work from home, own equipment & expenses, ultra short term contracts), but even then, where the 'bottom' is for these sorts of jobs is surprisingly low to many of us.

And maybe the fiverr model is better, where you might need to sit back and wait for a customer prepared to pay for your accent or residency status or physical location, rather than bid against people in a completely different economic situation.

Can you imagine how terrible it is on Upwork?

Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.

Username checks out. :)