Toptal Alternatives in 2026, Compared
This page is for companies hiring software engineers who have looked at Toptal and want to know what else does the same job. Arc, Gun.io and Lemon.io also screen engineers before you meet them. Upwork leaves the vetting to you, and Wellfound helps you hire directly onto your team. Wild.Codes, which publishes this page, lets you watch an engineer's recorded technical interview for your role in its full search, before your own interview. Which one fits depends on the engagement you want (hourly, full-time billed monthly, or a permanent employee) and on what you can check before your first interview.
By the Wild.Codes editorial team. Wild.Codes wrote this comparison and is one of the services in it. We list the services alphabetically and do not rank them. Every fact about another service comes from that service's own website, linked where it appears, and we read those pages on 14 October 2026. Terms change, so check them before you sign. If you are a freelancer looking for work, this page is written for the hiring side.
What we found
- Toptal shows no hourly rate on the pages we read. It charges $79 a month once matching proceeds.
- Arc, Upwork and Wellfound publish fees, and Gun.io prices each profile. Lemon.io publishes developer earnings, not a client price.
- Toptal, Arc, Gun.io and Lemon.io do not say you can watch their technical interviews. Wild.Codes says you can, in its full search.
- Five of the nine speed figures in our clock table do not say when the clock starts, and none of them is a start date.
- Turing's developer-hiring page now leads with work for AI labs.
On this page:
- What does Toptal offer?
- What should you check?
- Side by side
- A worked example
- Alternatives A to Z
- Turing, Andela and Revelo
- Which fits your hire?
- FAQ
- Method
- Sources
What does Toptal offer?
Toptal's process starts with a conversation. Its homepage says, "An expert on our team will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics," and offers engagements "from hourly to full-time".
On the three Toptal pages we read (the homepage, the FAQ and the /why page, which is also what /pricing shows), we found no hourly rate. Work is billed at a fixed price on a weekly basis. The FAQ describes "a flat monthly subscription fee of $79 that is charged if you decide to proceed with talent matching through Toptal" and says the subscription "gives you access to Toptal's platform." You can cancel at any time and request a refund on cancellation if Toptal can't provide talent. Invoices go out twice a month on Net 10 terms, and the comparison table on the /why page lists the recruiting fee as $0.
Some comparison pages add a deposit. A Toptal alternatives page from the hiring service lemonly, updated 10 October 2026, says Toptal clients pay "a $500 refundable deposit". None of the Toptal pages we read mentions a deposit, so ask Toptal whether one applies to you.
Each engagement starts with "a trial period of up to two weeks", not billed if you are not completely satisfied, and the /why page adds that you can keep any work completed during it. You can trial up to three people per position.
On screening, the FAQ says that "of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, we accept fewer than 3%." Candidates are interviewed by senior Toptal domain experts and complete a test project. The homepage counts 35,000+ clients served and 140+ countries served.
Asked whether a client can bring a Toptal worker into the company full time, the FAQ answers "For the most part, yes" and offers to work out an arrangement with you. It gives no conversion fee.
The youteam.io domain redirected to Toptal's developer hiring page on 14 October 2026, so a search for YouTeam now ends at Toptal.
What should you check?
We put the same five questions to each service, using only its own pages, and write "not stated" where a page is silent. Our framework for choosing a remote developer hiring platform covers the wider set of criteria.
- Can you see a rate before you talk to anyone? Some services publish hourly ranges or fees, and some start with a call. Ask what this engineer costs per hour or per month and what that figure includes.
- What can you see about the engineer before your own interview? Most vetted services interview candidates first, but you may only get their verdict. How many hours of your own engineers' week go into first-round interviews that end in a no? Ask whether you can watch or read the vendor's interview before you schedule yours.
- When does the money move? Charges can start at matching, on each payment, as prepaid hours or as a percentage of salary on hire. Ask what is charged before the engineer starts and what is charged when you hire.
- What happens if it does not work out? Some trials are free if you are unhappy and some are paid hours. "AI has made every candidate look polished: everyone has a good CV and a smooth interview now," says Serge Lavrinchuk, founder and CEO of Wild.Codes, which publishes this page. "The signal you can't fake is how a person actually works after they're hired." That makes the trial and replacement terms worth reading as closely as the rate. Ask whether the trial is paid, how long it lasts and how many replacements you get.
- How fast, measured from what? Vendors quote a time to match, to first candidates or to hire. Ask which event starts the clock and which one stops it.
Side by side
| Service | Rate before you talk | What you see before your interview | How you pay | Trial or replacement | Speed as stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc | $15 to $110+ an hour freelance. 20% of annual salary full time. | One-hour expert interview or pair programming. Not stated whether you can watch. | Hourly, or a fee on a full-time hire. | Risk-free trial of up to two weeks (freelance). Free re-match for 3 months (full-time). | 72 hours (freelance) or 14 days (full-time) to hire. |
| Gun.io | No price list. Full price on each developer profile. | Live technical interview with a senior engineer. Not stated whether you can watch. | From the start of work. 20% of first-year salary for full time. | Not stated. Clients typically start with a block of hours. | 13 days on average, request to hire. |
| Lemon.io | No client price. Its calculator shows developer earnings. | A senior engineer interviews each candidate. Not stated whether you can watch. | Prepaid hours, a month ahead, 160-hour minimum. | Paid trial of up to 20 hours. Free replacement. | About 24 hours to match. 2-3 candidates within 48 hours. |
| Toptal | None on its homepage, FAQ or /why page. | Senior domain-expert interviews and a test project. Not stated whether you can watch. | $79 a month once matching proceeds, plus a fixed weekly price. | Up to two weeks, billed only if you are satisfied. | Under 24 hours to match. Under 48 hours to hire. |
| Upwork | Each proposal includes the freelancer's bid. | Proposals and optional work samples. You run the interviews. | $0.99 to $14.99 per contract, plus up to 7.99% (Basic plan). | Not stated. | Not stated. |
| Wellfound | Job posts $0. Autopilot $500 a month per role plus 10% on hire. | You run the interviews. | Free job posts, paid sourcing seats, or Autopilot. | Not stated. Autopilot can be paused. | Autopilot: 5 to 10 candidates a week. |
| Wild.Codes | A monthly rate on each pre-selected match. | Full search: a recorded interview for your role, its transcript and a scored assessment. | No cost until you hire. Then a monthly rate, or a one-time fee from 12% of annual salary for a permanent hire. | Subscription: 1-week trial and lifetime replacement. | Subscription full search: 2-3 candidates within 47 hours of confirming the role. Permanent hire: first vetted candidates within 5 workdays. |
Sources: each vendor's own website, read 14 October 2026 and linked in the vendor sections below. "Not stated" means the pages we read do not say.
Each speed figure runs between two events. The table below pairs it with the start and stop events the vendor names, and five of the nine figures do not say when the clock starts.
| Service | Figure | Clock starts | Clock stops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arc | 72 hours | Not stated | A freelance hire |
| Arc | 14 days | Not stated | A full-time hire |
| Gun.io | 13 days (average) | Requesting a candidate | A hire |
| Lemon.io | About 24 hours | Not stated | A match |
| Lemon.io | 48 hours | You tell it the skills you need | A list of senior developers |
| Toptal | Under 24 hours (average) | Not stated | A match |
| Toptal | Under 48 hours | Not stated | A hire |
| Toptal | One to three weeks | Nobody in its network fits | A newly screened expert is introduced |
| Wild.Codes | 47 hours | You confirm the role (subscription) | A shortlist of 2-3 candidates |
A match ends at an introduction, and a hire ends when you agree to work together. The engineer's first working day comes after either one.
A worked example
Say you need one senior backend engineer, full time, for six months, and may want to hire them permanently afterwards. Four of the services publish enough terms to follow that hire.
| Service | Before the engineer starts | Trial | Months 1 to 6 | Keeping them after month 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc (freelance tier) | Not stated. | Risk-free, up to two weeks. | By the hour, within $15 to $110+ an hour. | Not stated for a freelancer. Arc's full-time track charges 20% of annual salary. |
| Lemon.io | No upfront recruitment or setup fees. | Paid, up to 20 hours. | Prepaid hours, typically a month in advance, with a 160-hour minimum. | Not stated. Lemon.io helps with direct hire but gives no fee on the pages we read. |
| Toptal | A flat $79 monthly subscription fee once you proceed with matching. | Up to two weeks, billed only if you are satisfied. | A fixed weekly price, invoiced twice a month on Net 10 terms. | "For the most part, yes." No conversion fee published. |
| Wild.Codes (subscription) | Nothing. No cost until you hire. | 1 week. | A monthly rate with a 160-hour monthly minimum, covering payroll, contracts, compliance and PTO. | A one-time fee from 12% of annual salary when the engineer moves onto your payroll. |
Arc's published range is the only one of the four that puts hourly numbers on the six months. At 160 hours a month, 960 hours comes to $14,400 to $105,600+ by our arithmetic, so ask Arc for the hourly rate of the engineer you are considering before the trial starts.
Alternatives A to Z
Arc
Arc offers freelance developers billed by the hour and permanent full-time hires. Its pricing page lists $15 to $110+ an hour for freelance hires and 20% of the annual salary for full-time hires. Full-time hires come with a re-match: "During the first 3 months, our team will match you with another talent free of charge if you are dissatisfied." Vetting includes "live interviews or video self-introductions" and "a one-hour expert interview or pair programming session," and by Arc's count 2% of applicants pass.
The how-it-works page also uses the line "No cost until you hire," as Wild.Codes does. There it means "You pay a fee based on the candidate's annual salary only when you decide to hire," so ask any service that uses the line what the fee on hire is.
Gun.io
Gun.io places developers on contract, contract-to-hire and full-time salaried engagements. Its FAQ says there are no standard prices: "You'll see the full price upfront on developers' profiles; there are no additional fees," and you pay when you start working with a candidate. Full-time placements cost 20% of the negotiated first-year salary.
Developers pass an algorithmic screening, a work history and background review and a live technical interview with a senior engineer, and Gun.io says it approves about 100 of the roughly 1,000 who join each month. When you have candidates, it arranges Zoom calls, one of its team sits in, and it asks for your feedback within one day. Clients typically start with a one-time block of hours and sign a two-year non-solicitation agreement.
Lemon.io
Lemon.io offers developers from Europe, LatAm, the US and Canada, in-house or on contract. It says, "Every candidate is personally interviewed by a senior engineer before you meet them," and that you "just show up to interview 2-3 engineers who made it."
Billing is a prepaid subscription for the developer's hours with no upfront recruitment or setup fees. Lemon.io says its 160-hour minimum means one month full time or two months part time. Its full-stack hiring page describes a paid trial of up to 20 hours and a replacement "free of charge".
The same page links "Check the hourly rate" to a public rate calculator, which said "The median senior Full Stack Developer earns $45/hr" across 627 active contracts in Q3 2026. The calculator says each figure "is a developer rate on an active contract" and "not a client price." Lemon.io also helps with direct hire, and neither page gives that fee.
Upwork
Upwork is an open marketplace. You post a job, freelancers send proposals with a bid and a cover letter, and you decide whom to interview. Upwork can also give you a shortlist of potential matches, but the interviews and the judgment stay with you.
On the free Basic plan, you pay a Client Marketplace Fee of up to 7.99% on payments to freelancers. The fee is higher on Business Plus and 3% for qualifying US clients paying by bank account. Each new contract also carries a one-time Contract Initiation Fee of $0.99 to $14.99, charged at the first payment on an hourly contract, or when you fund a fixed-price contract or its first milestone.
Wellfound
Wellfound is for hiring directly onto your own team. Job posts cost $0 "forever," and you can post unlimited jobs and manage applicants. Reach, its AI sourcing tool, has a free tier, and paid seats start at $135 a month on the Starter plan.
Autopilot assigns a 1:1 recruiter to the role for "$500 per month per open role, plus a 10% placement fee when you make a successful hire." Wellfound says that recruiter delivers 5 to 10 ready-to-talk candidates each week, with no contract and the option to pause anytime.
Wild.Codes
Wild.Codes, which wrote this page, is an AI hiring platform for engineering teams with two ways to hire. You describe a role and see pre-selected engineers from its ready pool, with a monthly rate on each. When you confirm the role, the full search starts: its AI hiring engine and a talent manager build your shortlist.
In the full search, engineers record a technical interview for your role, with AI + human review, and you watch it and read the transcript before your own interview. Each shortlisted engineer also gets a scored written assessment, and a talent manager makes the final selection. "AI searches, interviews and matches, but a person makes the final decision about people," says Serge Lavrinchuk, founder and CEO of Wild.Codes.
On the subscription, the full search returns 2-3 candidates within 47 hours of confirming the role, and the subscription has a 1-week trial, lifetime replacement and a 160-hour monthly minimum. You can also hire a permanent employee onto your own payroll for a one-time fee from 12% of annual salary, paid only when you hire. For a permanent hire, the first vetted candidates arrive within 5 workdays. Engineers come from Eastern Europe and LATAM, and the pre-selected matches are a preview in which only some have video. Our head-to-head comparison of Wild.Codes and Toptal goes through the two services point by point.
Turing, Andela and Revelo
We opened Turing's developer-hiring page expecting an offer to place developers and found an AI-lab pitch. On 14 October 2026, turing.com/hire-developers carried the title "Turing | Accelerate Superintelligence" and the line "Two lines of business, one mission," and it describes "helping frontier labs improve models and enterprises deploy agentic systems." Its older team-hiring URLs, /services/teams and /hire-engineers, landed on the same content, and its enterprise page offers "forward-deployed engineers (FDE)" who build AI agents. These pages did not tell us whether Turing still places developers in general roles, so ask Turing before you shortlist it.
Andela and Revelo show a similar shift. Andela's homepage title that day was "The Human Layer Powering Production AI". Revelo's homepage led with "THE DATA LAB SPECIALIZING IN CODE" and still offered vetted senior engineers across Latin America with payroll and compliance handled. Its pricing page offers a two-week trial you pay for only if you are happy, and its hiring page gives 14 days as the average time to hire.
Which fits your hire?
For hourly or part-time specialist work, Toptal and Arc's freelance tier both bill by time and start with a trial, and Arc publishes its hourly range. Upwork works if you will screen proposals yourself, and Lemon.io if you can commit to its 160-hour minimum.
For a full-time engineer you pay for as a service, Lemon.io bills prepaid hours, Toptal a fixed weekly price, and the Wild.Codes subscription a monthly rate that covers payroll, contracts, compliance and PTO. Our overview of platforms to hire remote developers covers more services of both kinds.
A permanent employee on your own payroll is a different purchase, usually paid as a fee on hire. The FAQ answer on permanent hires lists each fee these services publish.
If you would rather run the search and the screening yourself, Wellfound's job posts are free, and on its free Basic plan Upwork charges only its contract and payment fees.
If watching an engineer's technical interview before your own is the check that matters most to you, describe the role and see pre-selected matches on Wild.Codes, each with a monthly rate. When you confirm the role, the full search starts and engineers record an interview for it. No cost until you hire.
FAQ
How much is Toptal?
Toptal does not list hourly rates on its homepage, FAQ or pricing page, as read on 14 October 2026. It charges a flat $79 monthly subscription fee, which it says gives you access to its platform, once you decide to proceed with talent matching. It bills engagements at a fixed weekly price and does not bill a trial you are not satisfied with.
Is Toptal better than Upwork?
They work differently, so the answer depends on who you want doing the vetting. Toptal screens engineers and introduces candidates, with a monthly subscription fee and a trial billed only if you are satisfied. Upwork lets you post a job and review proposals yourself, and on its Basic plan it charges $0.99 to $14.99 per contract plus up to 7.99% on payments.
Is Toptal a legitimate company?
Toptal is an operating company that publishes its screening process, trial terms, billing schedule and $79 subscription fee in its FAQ. It says the subscription is activated according to its Platform Subscription Terms, and its homepage counts 35,000+ clients served and 140+ countries served.
Which Toptal alternatives publish their rates?
Arc lists $15 to $110+ an hour for freelancers, Upwork and Wellfound publish their fees, and Gun.io shows a full price on each developer profile. Lemon.io's rate calculator shows what developers earn, a $45 an hour median for senior full-stack developers, and says that figure is not a client price. Wild.Codes shows a monthly rate on each pre-selected match.
Can I watch a developer's technical interview before I meet them?
In the Wild.Codes full search, yes: engineers record a technical interview for your role, and you watch it and read the transcript before your own interview. Some of the pre-selected matches also have an interview video. Toptal, Arc, Gun.io and Lemon.io describe their own interviews, but none of the pages we read says a client can watch them.
Which alternatives work for a permanent full-time hire?
Arc charges 20% of annual salary, Gun.io charges 20% of first-year salary, and Wellfound offers free job posts or Autopilot at $500 a month per role plus 10% on hire. Wild.Codes charges a one-time fee from 12% of annual salary, paid only when you hire, and its first vetted candidates for a permanent hire arrive within 5 workdays. Toptal and Lemon.io offer it, but neither gives the fee on the pages cited here.
Is Turing still an option for hiring developers?
On 14 October 2026, Turing's hiring page led with helping frontier AI labs improve models and enterprises deploy agentic systems, and its enterprise page offered forward-deployed engineers who build AI agents. Ask Turing directly whether it will staff the role you have.
Method
Wild.Codes wrote this page and is one of the services compared, so claims about other services come only from their own websites. We read each vendor's homepage, pricing, FAQ or help pages on 14 October 2026 and quote them where the wording matters. Where a vendor's page says nothing on a point, we write "not stated" instead of using third-party estimates. The one third-party claim we mention, the Toptal deposit, is labelled as that page's claim. We did not review other services that come up in searches for Toptal alternatives, such as BairesDev, Fiverr Pro and CloudDevs, for this edition. The Wild.Codes facts come from our homepage and our current terms, and the quotes from Serge Lavrinchuk are his stated views, rendered from Ukrainian.
Sources
- Toptal, homepage, https://www.toptal.com/, read 14 October 2026.
- Toptal, FAQ, https://www.toptal.com/faq, read 14 October 2026.
- Toptal, Why Toptal (also what /pricing shows), https://www.toptal.com/why, read 14 October 2026.
- lemonly, Toptal alternatives (third-party claim of a $500 refundable deposit, updated 10 October 2026), https://www.lemonly.ai/alternatives/toptal, read 14 October 2026.
- Arc, homepage, https://arc.dev/, read 14 October 2026.
- Arc, pricing, https://arc.dev/pricing, read 14 October 2026.
- Arc, how Arc works, https://arc.dev/how-arc-works, read 14 October 2026.
- Gun.io, FAQ, https://gun.io/faq/, read 14 October 2026.
- Lemon.io, homepage, https://lemon.io/, read 14 October 2026.
- Lemon.io, hire full-stack developers, https://lemon.io/hire/full-stack-developers/, read 14 October 2026.
- Lemon.io, full-stack developer rate calculator, https://lemon.io/rate-calculator/full-stack-developers/, read 14 October 2026.
- Upwork, What is the Contract Initiation Fee on Upwork, support.upwork.com, read 14 October 2026.
- Upwork, What is the Client Marketplace Fee, support.upwork.com, read 14 October 2026.
- Upwork, Review job proposals, support.upwork.com, read 14 October 2026.
- Wellfound, recruit pricing, https://wellfound.com/recruit/pricing, read 14 October 2026.
- Turing, hire developers, https://www.turing.com/hire-developers, read 14 October 2026 (/services/teams and /hire-engineers showed the same content).
- Turing, enterprise AI, https://www.turing.com/enterprise-ai, read 14 October 2026.
- Andela, homepage, https://www.andela.com/, read 14 October 2026.
- Revelo, homepage, https://www.revelo.com/, pricing, https://www.revelo.com/pricing, and hiring page, https://www.revelo.com/clients/hire-nearshore-elite-developers, read 14 October 2026.
- YouTeam, youteam.io, HTTP redirect to toptal.com/developers checked 14 October 2026.
- Wild.Codes, homepage and current terms, https://wild.codes/, read 14 October 2026.
• PHP expertise;
• Database management skills;
•Jungling traits, methods, objects, and classes;
• Agile & Waterfall understanding and use;
• Soft skills (a good team player, high-level communication, excellent problem-solving background, and many more)
• OOP & MVS deep understanding;
• Knowledge of the mechanism of how to manage project frameworks;
• Understanding of the business logic the project meets;
• Cloud computing & APIs expertise.
• Reasonable life-work balance;
• The opportunity to implement the server-side logic via Laravel algorithms;
• Hassle-free interaction with back-end and front-end devs;
• Strong debugging profile.
• Using HTML, XHTML, SGML, and similar markup languages
• Improving the usability of the digital product
• Prototyping & collaboration with back-end JS experts
• Delivery of high-standard graphics and graphic-related solutions
• Using JS frameworks (AngularJS, VueJS, ReactJS, etc
• Clean coding delivery and timely debugging & troubleshooting solution delivery
• UI testing and collaboration with front-end JS teammates
• Database experience
• Building APIs while using REST or similar tech solutions
• Collaboration with project managers and other devs
• Delivery of design architecture solutions
• Creation of designs & databases
• Implementation of data protection and web cybersecurity strategies.
• Both front-end and back-end qualifications
