One of the advantages of doing a project-based project is that the client is charged all of the money he has promised before the freelancer starts working. That's not the case when the freelancer is getting paid by the hour, so how can he feel secure that he'll get paid?

There are a few safeguards the freelancer should be aware of. First of all, the client cannot close the project (or their account) as long as there are unpaid milestones, so they cannot truly disappear without addressing what the owe. They can also expect a bad rating if they violate codes of conduct and could be removed from the site altogether, so delinquent behavior isn't in their best interest when it comes to using the site in the future.

Should a freelancer actually find himself in a scenario where the client is refusing to pay or has become unresponsive altogether, the ZMZ staff has the ability to charge the client an unpaid milestone from the backend. The freelancer would simply have to submit a dispute regarding that open milestone and demonstrate that they had produced work according to the client's instructions.

The freelancer also has no obligation to work on a project before getting paid the previous invoice. This means that a freelancer can post frequent hourly milestones, stopping his work in between, ensuring that he's being paid for all of his work as he does it.