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It takes a lot to run a business. You have to wear many hats and make all the big decisions. With all that on your plate, hiring a freelancer is a great way to free up your time and focus on other essential aspects of the business.
But is Toptal the right place to look for high-quality freelancers? Well, there's a lot to consider when reviewing freelancing sites.
In this post, you'll discover a few other sites like Toptal and how they fare. By the end, you should have a better idea of whether or not these Toptal alternatives are an excellent place to find your next freelancers.
Like Toptal, Lemon.io screens and vets their developers. This makes it faster and less stressful for you to hire the right developer.
Further, Lemon.io claims that they can get you connected to a developer faster than Toptal and at a fraction of the price.
You can register with Lemon.io. Or you can learn more about Lemon.io in our full review.
There's a freelancing site for just about any niche.
While there are many freelancing sites out there, not all are going to have every freelance category. You have general freelancing sites like Fiverr who offer a wide range of services, whereas sites like Toptal focus more on helping you hire software developers and designers.
When comparing Toptal alternatives, it's essential to know what work you need to outsource. Also, you'll need to have a specific budget for your project. Some sites have inexpensive freelancers, where Toptal has elite-freelance talent.
Upwork is one of the first freelance hiring platforms. They revolutionized the remote work industry with their transparent and trustworthy platform.
One of the most significant issues with Upwork is its unbalanced freelancer-to-project ratio. There are many freelancers on the site compared to the number of projects listed.
Due to the high competition, freelancers need to bid lower hourly rates to find work. While that might sound good for you as the who's looking to hire, the likelihood of finding high-quality freelancers at such low wages begins to dwindle.
If you have a quick project that doesn't require any advanced skills, Upwork may be suitable. But if you're looking for reliable long-term freelancers, you're better off going with Toptal or another Toptal competitor.
Lemon.io (formerly known as Coding Ninjas) is a freelance platform that primarily works with Eastern European programmers. They have a rigorous vetting process to help match you with the best developers for your project. Their consistent quality is what makes them one of the best Toptal alternatives on this list.
To get started, you submit a brief description of your needs to Lemon. They then crawl through their database to find the best highly-qualified developer for your project.
One cool thing about their platform is they give you a free quote with no strings attached. If the developer is not right for you, there’s no obligation to hire. Toptal requires you to put down a $500 deposit, which you can get back if not fully satisfied.
You should check out Lemon if you aren’t happy with the results from Toptal. Their customer service and quick response time are almost unmatched on any other platform.
DesignBro is newer to the freelance game. Similar to DesignHill, they let you run design contests where you can choose from multiple graphic designers.
Both Toptal and DesignBro have a thorough vetting process, which pays off in terms of quality and customer satisfaction. Since DesignBro handpicks all their designers and has only a 5% acceptance rate, you're almost guaranteed to have someone highly skilled.
The DesignBro setup process is super simple. All you need to do is create a design brief, select which results you like the most, and DesignBro connects you with a list of leading designers.
DesignBro is an excellent place for designers, but that's it. You won't be able to find any other freelance job categories. If you're not looking for a designer, you're better off going with one of the other sites similar to Toptal.
Dribbble offers a unique approach to the freelance hiring process. They allow users to post pictures (called shots) of their portfolio to showcase their skills and impress potential employers.
This kind of "toot your own horn" approach is a great way to filter out low-quality designers.
The platform has been used by over 40,000 businesses to hire designers, and their reputation in the design community is sound. Some of the best designers in the world use Dribbble. So as a business owner, you shouldn't have trouble finding high-quality work.
The hiring process for Dribbble and Toptal is different.
Dribbble is a job board style platform whereas Toptal connects you with individual freelancers. When you sign up with Toptal, you'll speak with one of their reps who will connect you with the best freelancer based on your goals and budget.
If you want a more comprehensive selection of designers to choose from, perhaps Dribbble is a solid option. But if you're looking for more personalized services, Toptal is your better bet.
Have a WordPress site that needs a makeover? Codeable is a freelance marketplace that focuses on WordPress developers.
The process works similarly to Toptal. You provide a short project brief, and Codeable will connect you with the best match. If you choose to go with that freelancer, you can begin to collaborate.
You can post small or large tasks on Codeable such as broken plugins, 404 errors, and slow load times.
Codeable is essentially a one-stop-shop for all WordPress related freelancers, but that’s all. If your business has nothing to do with WordPress, you won’t find much on their platform. That’s why Toptal is a better option with a more diverse list of freelance developers to choose from.
Let’s face it, finding top-talent to write software is neither easy nor cheap.
Gigster does a great job of connecting you with first-class developers that are reliable and complete projects quickly.
What makes Gigster different from other freelancing sites is that it connects you with teams, not individuals. Having a full team eliminates the need to hire external freelancers for the same project. Gigster gives you a complete team for a fixed rate.
The platform has internal software that makes managing the processes easy for both you and your freelancers.
For more sophisticated design projects, Gigster may be the way to go. But it’s not the right platform for most small business owners. You’re better off going with Toptal if you’re looking for affordable, high-quality developers.
Andela is a crowdsourcing platform that focuses on developers from Africa. The company has big-name investors like Mark Zukerberg and plans to maximize Africa’s tech talent.
Andela has a strict vetting process for freelancers. They only take on the top 2% of applicants to ensure quality.
Andela has been struggling to maintain it’s high standards. This is likely because even the highest-skilled developers can’t earn a decent living from the platform, so they turn to alternative sites like TripleByte or X-Team.
You could still benefit from using Andela if you have a cluster of small tasks. But if you’re looking to build long-term partnerships with your freelancers, you’re better off going with Toptal.
Gun.io may not be the biggest name on this list of Toptal competitors, but they sure have potential.
Gun.io is one of the few sites like Toptal that is exclusively for hiring software engineers. They have excellent customer service and a fast matching process whenever you post a project brief.
Like Toptal, Gun.io has a rigorous vetting process. They set up comprehensive interviews with their applicants to ensure they have the necessary skills to complete projects.
But is Gun.io better than Toptal?
The good thing about working with Gun.io is you know you’re getting freelancers who are serious about their work. The only catch is that their workforce is entirely software engineers.
So if you’re looking to hire a UX designer or product designer, you’re better off with using Toptal or one of the other Toptal alternatives.
Guru is a vast marketplace with over 2 million freelance accounts on their platform. They offer free job posting and protect all of their payments with SafePay. With their integrated WorkRooms, it's easy to manage multiple freelancers working on one project.
Though they have affordable freelancers for hire, Guru has been struggling with quality, which seems to be a common occurrence for budget-friendly freelancing platforms. Too many contractors and not enough projects.
Guru does have a phenomenal customer service team for both freelancers and job posters. If you have any technical or financial issues, their resolution center is super efficient and responds quickly.
If you're looking for affordable freelancers for small projects, you may have some luck on Guru. But don't expect to get high-end work unless you're willing to pay top dollar for it.
Fiverr is a general freelancing site where gigs start at $5.
Fiverr also offers many freelancer types to choose from, and it's easy to find something within your budget.
With that in mind, Fiverr doesn't have a thorough screening process, as Toptal does. Therefore, the quality is often mixed.
That doesn't mean you can't find reliable freelancers on Fiverr. There are tons of creative professionals with thousands of reviews vouching for their services. However, almost anyone can make a Fiverr sellers profile and start advertising themselves as a freelancer.
It's great if you need a quick design, translation, or blog post. But for long-term projects, you're better off sticking checking out Toptal or one of the other Toptal alternatives.
Choosing a freelancer should be exciting.
Outsourcing your work is a highly-effective way to scale your business, especially if you have a small team. But if you're going to have any success with outsourcing, you must select the right freelancing site for your business.
Finding the right freelancing platform boils down to your goals and budget.
If you're looking for high-end developers for long-term projects, websites like Lemon or Triplebyte are great places to start. For quick, cheap short-term gigs, check out Fiverr and Upwork.
Are you ready to hire your next freelancer? Now you know other Toptal alternatives where you can find highly-skilled freelancers.
Remember, sometimes all it takes is a little trial and error to find the right people to hire.