If you have searched for remote work in the last year, you have run into FlexJobs. And if you are like most people, your first reaction was some version of: why am I being asked to pay for job listings?
That instinct is healthy. Free job boards are the norm, so a paid one deserves scrutiny.
Here is the short answer. FlexJobs is legitimate. It is not a scam, it is not a fake job mill, and it is not selling you access to jobs that do not exist. But it is also not for everyone, and whether it is worth your money depends entirely on how you job hunt. Let us go through all of it.
- Get access to vetted remote job listings for just $2.95 for 14 days
- Money back guarantee in the first 14 days
- Extensive job search resources & support
Is FlexJobs a Scam?
No, and the record is easy to check.
- Operating since 2007. FlexJobs has been in business for nearly two decades. Scam operations do not survive that long.
- A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. FlexJobs sits on the BBB profile of its parent company, BOLD, which is rated A+ and has been BBB accredited since 2021. That profile also covers other BOLD brands such as Zety and My Perfect Resume, so the reviews and complaints on it are not only about FlexJobs.
- Acquired by BOLD in 2023. BOLD is the career company behind Monster, CareerBuilder, Zety, and My Perfect Resume, and acquisitions involve due diligence that fraudulent businesses do not survive.
- Every listing is human screened. FlexJobs says its research team hand screens each posting and verifies the employer before the job goes live.
That last point is the entire product, and it is the part most people misunderstand.
What You Are Actually Paying For
FlexJobs is not selling you secret jobs. Many of its listings exist elsewhere on the internet too. What you are buying is filtration.
The FTC says an honest employer will never ask you to pay to get a job. FlexJobs is not the employer and it does not place you in a job. You are paying for access to the screened database, and you apply to the companies yourself.
Anyone who has spent a weekend searching “remote” on a free job board knows the problem. The results are full of:
- Commission only sales roles disguised as salaried positions
- MLM recruiting dressed up as marketing opportunities
- Data entry listings that are fronts for check cashing fraud
- Positions that were filled months ago and never taken down
- Outright identity theft harvesting operations
FlexJobs researchers remove that layer before you see it. You are paying for the hours you would otherwise spend vetting listings yourself, plus the risk you avoid by not handing personal information to a fake employer.
Whether that is worth paying for is a genuine question with a real answer on both sides. It comes down to the value of your time and how hard you are actually searching.
FlexJobs Cost: What It Actually Runs
Most reviews are vague about pricing. Here it is directly.
The annual plan is the cheapest per month by a wide margin, but do not start there. Take the $2.95 trial first. Two weeks is enough to see whether the listings in your field are worth the subscription, and it costs less than a coffee to find out.
Two things to know before you pay. The trial does not end by itself. After 14 days it rolls into $23.95 every 4 weeks until you cancel, and the 3 month and annual plans renew too. FlexJobs also has a money back guarantee. If you are not happy, cancel and ask for a refund within 14 days of signing up or renewing, by phone, email, or chat.
Who FlexJobs Is Worth It For
Be honest with yourself about which group you are in.
It is worth it if you are
- Actively applying to remote roles every week, not browsing occasionally
- In a field with real remote demand such as writing, design, customer service, development, project management, accounting, or healthcare admin
- Someone whose time has an actual dollar value, where an hour saved on vetting listings is worth more than the subscription
- Nervous about scams, especially if you have been burned before
It is not worth it if you are
- Casually looking, with no plan to apply consistently
- In a field that is overwhelmingly on site
- Willing to do the vetting yourself and treat it as part of the search
- On a budget so tight that $10 matters more than the hours it saves
There is no shame in the second column. A tool that goes unused is a waste of money no matter how good it is.
What FlexJobs Does Not Do
An honest review needs this section.
- It does not get you hired. It gets you clean listings. The applications, the resume, and the interviews are still on you.
- It does not guarantee a remote job. Competition for remote roles is heavy, and a curated board does not remove that.
- It does not have every remote job in existence. Some employers post only on their own careers page.
- It is a subscription. It renews, and the trial turns into $23.95 every 4 weeks. Set a calendar reminder if you only want the trial.
Making Money While You Job Hunt
A job search takes time, and the gap between starting and your first paycheck is real. Two things worth having running in the background:
- Testerup pays you to test mobile games and complete surveys and other tasks. It is $10 just for signing up and it cashes out to PayPal. Each task usually takes 15 to 20 minutes.
- Freecash pays you to play games, try new apps, and take surveys. Freecash says most users earn from a few dollars up to around $50 in a typical month. It cashes out to PayPal, Venmo, gift cards, or crypto.
Neither of these replaces a job and neither should be presented that way. They bring in a little extra cash while you wait on callbacks, and that gap is a real problem during a search.
Frequently Asked Questions
Advertiser disclosure: My Millennial Guide may earn a commission when you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own.
