Developers are the powerhouse of any SaaS-based startup. If you don’t have the right team of developers, you can’t build a product that people love.
Hiring developers via a freelance marketplace like Gigster could be a lot more expensive than you think. But why pay such a filthy price when there are several Gigster alternatives you could try!
In this article, I will discuss why Gigster isn’t the right choice to hire developers and list some Gigster alternatives where you can hire developers and CTOs to make an elite team.
4 Reasons Why You Need Gigster Alternatives
#1. Part-Time Freelancers
Gigster promises to deliver Silicon Valley level developers, which it does. But, to do so, their talent pool is filled with developers from unicorn startups and Fortune 500 companies.
These developers are here on Gigster part-time because they already have a 6-figure package.
When you hire such freelancers, you’d see a lack of dedication.
#2. Freelance Project Managers
The manager Gigster appoints for your projects is a freelancer.
What’s the problem with it?
Unfortunately, managers are also part-time freelancers at Gigster. One trait that everyone looks for in a manager is dedication. You might have a tough time finding a dedicated manager on Gigster.
#3. Good Coders But Poor Designers
When it comes to building an app, website, or software, coding and designing go hand-in-hand.
Most Gigster developers are smart but not creative.
They’d follow your coding instructions to the T and nail the app development part, but you’d have to hire a designer elsewhere to make your app look attractive.
#4. No Free Trial
With Gigster, you can’t try out a team, see how they perform, and decide if you want to continue.
Yes, they will replace the freelancer you want them to, but you will have to pay for the work they’ve done till their replacement.
Another thing to note is the minimum project budget fixed by Gigster. The platform doesn’t show interest in any project worth less than $300K.
If you’re a small/medium scale startup, you probably won’t have this type of funds.
Now that you know why you should try out Gigster alternatives, it’s time to discover some of them and decide which ones are ideal for your startup.
#1. Shiny – Hire Fractional CTO
CTOs are a crucial part of any SaaS-based startup. They are the ones who hire, manage and help build software that sells.
Shiny is a fractional talent marketplace that can help you hire CTO at affordable rates.
Why Is Shiny Better than Gigster?
Where Gigster has a minimum budget requirement of $300,000, Shiny has no such requirement. You can hire a fractional executive talent for 2 hours or 20! And we have a wide variety of talent spread across 40+ industries.
Features
- We take no deposit of any kind; you can sign up to our platform and start hiring immediately
- Offers a proper vetting process and shortlisting procedure personalized according to your job description
- Get a shortlist of five candidates within 2 days, conduct interviews, and select the one you like
- Have all kinds of executive fractional talent; it starts at $100/hour and can go all the way up to $600/hour depending on the experience and background of the talent
Pricing
We don’t charge any fee to our clients. You can pay us via Stripe or Plaid.
In case you decide to pay us via credit card, we charge a 3% transaction fee to cover the charges we pay to the credit card companies.
Shiny is the best Gigster alternative if you want to hire executive-level talent at affordable rates.
#2. Turing – Hire Silicon Valley Level Developers
Turing is a freelance marketplace that you can use to hire Silicon Valley level freelancers on a budget.
The platform uses an artificial intelligence talent cloud to get you the most optimal freelancer depending on your requirements.
Why Is Turing Better than Gigster?
For starters, Turing is a freelance platform with a bigger talent pool than Gigster. Secondly, if you’re a low-budget startup and don’t have the funds to hire a team of developers, Turing can help. Unlike Gigster, you can hire individual freelancers via Turing.
Features
- Quality to Cost Ratio: The platform has an intense screening process that shortlists only 1% of 1 million+ developer from 150+ countries
- Refund Option: If you think the work’s not good, you can stop working with the developers and claim a refund (offer only for initial two weeks)
- Tests & Interviews: Turing tests its developers for 100+ skills, data structures, algorithms, frameworks, etc., selecting the best of the best
- Seniority Test: The developers are also tested for management so that they can take the ownership and you don’t have to spoon-feed them
- Tracking & Management: Turing tracks your developer’s working time automatically and gives you reports on all important metrics via the Turing Workspace
Pricing
The platform doesn’t charge any hiring fee or doesn’t take any commission from the client-side.
If you need to hire an individual freelancer rather than a team, Turing is a great Gigster alternative to try out.
#3. Ideamotive – A Top Gigster Alternative
Ideamotive is a marketplace that started in 2014 where companies can find vetted tech talent and 360° tech teams.
You can hire software engineers, developers, or project managers via Ideamotive.
Why Is Ideamotive Better than Gigster?
When you visit both the websites – Gigster.com and Ideamotive.com, you will see that Ideamotive’s website is quite informational.
They explain to you what type of talents you should hire, how to hire them, and all about software development.
On the other hand, apart from the blog page, Gigster just boasts about its ‘Silicon Valley’ level developers.
Features
- Secure & Fast: Get the best talent shortlist under 24 hours and a 7-day money-back guarantee
- Wide Category Pool: Has software developers in about 92 different categories, thus giving you highly specialized freelancers
- Project Managers & Designers: You can also hire designers to make your website/app look stylish and project managers to look over the whole project
- Payment: No matter how many freelancers you hire, Ideamotive sends you only one invoice per month
- Team Reports: Get team utilization reports every week, time logs of every team member, and know how much % of your budget is left
Pricing
Ideamotive charges you per hour for every freelancer you hire. However, the platform isn’t quite transparent with the charges. You’d get to know it once you send them your requirements.
#4. DevTeam.Space – Gigster Competitor to Hire A Team
Like Gigster, DevTeam.Space offers you a team of vetted software developers for all your development needs. They work with startups and young entrepreneurs to make the best products worldwide.
The company has 62 expert teams and has worked with the likes of Disney, Airbus, and Samsung over the past three years. It uses an AI-powered agile process to vet and source talents.
Why Is DevTeam.Space Better than Gigster?
DevTeam.Space has a reliable and dedicated team of software developers. Unlike Gigster, DevTeam doesn’t rely on part-time freelancers who’d not give your project all their time and focus.
Features
- AI-Powered Agile Process: Streamlines product development process and recommends tools, gives notifications, and does performance tracking for you
- Hands-Free Development: Every team has a project manager who can do the heavy lifting and save you enormous management time
- Work Quality Guarantee: If you’re not 100% happy with the project, ask for revisions or get a refund
- Protection: Guarantees complete protection of your intellectual property, including secure codebase storage
- Intense Vetting Process: Their selection process has 5 stages, if a team passes every stage, only then can they be on the DevTeam.Space’s team list
Pricing
DevTeam.Space’s pricing depends on multiple criteria. Every developer team will have a different cost. You can fill out the marketplace’s project specification form and get a rough estimate.
#5. Scalable Path – The Modern Gigster Altenative
Scalable Path is a California-based Gigster alternative founded in 2010.
Apart from developers, the marketplace also has:
- Engineers
- Designers
- Data scientists
- Project managers
Why Is Scalable Path Better than Gigster?
Where Gigster relies on AI for talent vetting and shortlisting, Scalable Path has a different approach and understanding.
They believe humans are superior to machines and shortlist every freelancer without any technology. This gives you a highly expert talent pool for choosing developer(s).
The other point to note about Scalable Path is their customer service; they have technically sound agents who understand all technical issues you might face; such is not the case with Gigster.
Features
- Initial Call: To understand your hiring requirements, a software architect will hop on a call with you and then create a job listing accordingly
- Invite Only: The marketplace sends invites to selected software developers as per the job requirements
- Human Vetting: All candidates have to pass a 30 mins call interview followed by a coding exercise personalized according to your job post
- No Middleman: After you have the shortlist, you can choose the developer you want to work with and talk to them directly
Pricing
The price for hiring developers from Scalable Path varies from $50-70/hr. When it comes to the trial period, you can select any one of the two options the marketplace gives you.
You also get two trial options: A 20-hour trial period where you don’t pay a penny if you’re not happy with the work, and a 40-hour trial period where you pay 50% of the developer’s rate if you’re not satisfied.
The payment frequency is monthly, and you can pay via cheque, bank transfer, credit card, or PayPal.
#6. Upwork – Biggest Freelance Marketplace
With 500+ employees and 140K+ core clients, Upwork is one of the biggest freelancer marketplaces in the world.
From hiring a freelance developer to hiring an elite team of developers and engineers, Upwork is a quick, affordable, and easy-to-use marketplace.
Why Is Upwork Better than Gigster?
Upwork gives you the option to search for talent on your own. You can visit Upwork’s services page, type developers in the search bar, apply filters and get the developer you want.
Filter the results based on location, cost, freelancer or agency, delivery time, and more. On the other hand, with Gigster, you can’t even see the talent pool.
The other point to note is that there’s no minimum requirement to hire from Upwork.
This means you can hire a developer for 4 hours or 40 hours, but if you want to hire a team from Gigster, you must have a minimum budget of $300K.
Features
- Quick & Easy: Has pre-made gigs which you can directly buy, talk to the freelancer, and get things started
- Does Hiring Process for You: With the Upwork’s Plus plan, you get a job post and talent sourcing assistance who does all the hiring for you
- Talent Scout: Upwork’s Talent Scout program lets you talk to recruiters who give you a shortlist of pre-vetted, highly-skilled talent who might be a great fit for your job
- Freelance Tires: Has three tiers of freelancers – Top rated plus, Top rated, Rising talent, which you can filter out depending on your budget and experience requirements
Pricing
With Upwork, you can either hire via the Free plan or buy the Plus plan for $49.99 a month. The platform doesn’t take any commission from the client side.
#7. CloudDevs – Hire LatAm Developers
CloudDevs is a Delaware-based company that helps startups find Latin American (LatAm) developers in under 24 hours.
From Django to Ruby and Rails, the marketplace has 14 different categories of developers.
Why Is CloudDevs Better than Gigster?
CloudDevs is quite transparent with its pricing; they charge startups anywhere between $45-70 per hour, depending on the category and experience of the freelancer. With Gigster, you can’t hire individual freelancers, and it’s comparatively expensive.
Features
- Get vetted talent shortlist in 24 hours
- All the freelancers which CloudDevs shortlists for you, depending on the job specifications, match your time zone
- Has weekly payments with no minimum commitment
- You can test the developer for 7 days, if you don’t like it, don’t pay
Pricing
As mentioned earlier, CloudDevs might charge you anywhere between $45-70/hour (might exceed 70 in some cases); apart from this, there’s no extra fee.
#8. We Work Remotely – Biggest Job Board
We Work Remotely is a Canada-based company founded in 2011. It’s a job board and not a freelancer marketplace that lets you post jobs – part-time or full-time.
Over 3 million people visit WWR to hire or get hired, which means you get a lot of options.
Why Is WWR Better than Gigster?
Once you sign up on WWR, you don’t need to jump on a call with anyone to tell them your requirements and wait for them to come to you with a shortlist. You can directly post a job post and kick things off.
Features
- Post a job on WWR with just three simple steps – Create, Preview, Purchase
- The marketplace has a free job posting template made to save the time that goes into curating a job post from scratch
- WWR has a 90% fill rate for any job posted on the job board
- Has a set of upgrades you can pay for and get, like displaying your company logo, sharing job posts on WWR’s slack channel, highlighting your posting, and much more
Pricing
For posting a job on WWR, you have to pay $299. Apart from this, if you want the upgrades I talked about in the features section, they have three plans – Good, Better, and Best.
With an 80% customer return rate month over month, WWR is a reliable and affordable Gigster alternative to try out.
#9. Lemon.io – Find Developer In A Day
Lemon.io is a freelance marketplace that helps startups find and connect with high-quality developers in less than 24 hrs.
At Lemon.io, you can find high-end developers committed to the startup hustle and hold the experience of a master.
Why Is Lemon.io Better than Gigster?
One of the significant drawbacks of using Gigster is hiring part-time freelancers. At Lemon.io, you onboard developers who are solely devoted to your project.
Moreover, unlike Gigster, Lemon.io has a comprehensive recruitment process. Only 3 out of 10 developer applications are accepted, and among those 3, only 1 gets onboard after clearing a 4-stage recruitment process.
So, as a startup founder, you don’t have to rush through applications to find the best developer. Lemon.io has already filtered out exalted programmers for you.
Features
- Intense Vetting Process: Has a 4-level vetting process for developers, including 2 interview calls to get onboard best in class developers
- Weekly Reports: Get a list of tasks your developer has accomplished and the total time dedicated to your project weekly
- On the Spot Support: 24*7 email assistance to keep your projects on track and leave you stress-free
- Miraculous 24-hr Matching: Match with an elite developer and get your project running in less than 24 hrs
- Zero-Risk Replacement Guarantee: You can ask for developer replacement if you are not satisfied with the services without any extra charge
Pricing
With Lemon.io, you can choose a startup plan ranging from $45-$80/hr or create a custom plan based on your requirements.
#10. Toptal – Gigster Alternative to Hire Vetted Talent
Toptal is the largest global network of top 3% freelance developers, designers, and product & project managers.
Why Is Toptal Better than Gigster?
When you visit the Toptal website, its user interface is precise and clear. You can easily understand how its services are beneficial for your business. Whereas Gigster only portrays why it’s the perfect choice for your business and nothing else.
Gigster may have a pool of developers ready for you, but it might not be your first choice when looking out for designers, product managers, or project managers.
Toptal, on the other side, has the upper hand in connecting you with the elite fleet of freelancers from diverse industries.
Unlike Gigster, Toptal allows you to hire a full-time dedicated project manager who solely focuses on your project and the team.
Features
- Quality Freelancers: Hire from the top 3% without rushing through applications or screening process; Toptal does it all for you
- No-Risk Trial: Every time you work with a new Toptal freelancer, you will have a free trial period to decide whether they meet your expectations or not; pay only if you like the work
- Continued Excellence: Even after hiring the top 3%, Toptal has a strict rating process for every freelancer to motivate them for quality work in the long term
- Hire Quickly: Match with the best-fit freelancers in 48 hrs after sharing your project needs with Toptal’s experts
Pricing
Toptal doesn’t charge any commission or hidden fees from its clients. However, it requires an initial deposit of $500 when you hire a freelancer.
You can work with freelancers on an hourly, part, and full-time basis at a fixed price. On top of that, if you decide not to continue with Toptal, you get your initial deposit refunded in no time.
#11. Arc.dev – Hire Permanent Freelance Developers
Arc.dev is a globally trusted marketplace for hiring permanent and remote freelance developers.
The marketplace has a network of 34,000+ developers with ex-Googlers and engineering Ph.D. holders in its talent pool.
Why Is Arc.dev Better than Gigster?
Unlike Gigster, Arc.dev focuses on long-term hiring by helping companies hire full-time remote developers. Its talent pool consists of developers from 100+ tech stack niches.
Moreover, Arc vets its remote developers through a six-step intense vetting process, starting from hand-picked profiles to technical interviews and pair programming.
Features
- Dedicated Hiring Consultant: Get on a call with Arc’s hiring consultant to share your project needs and end up with the perfect candidate in less than 72 hrs
- No-Risk Trial: 2-week trial period to help you test and find the best developer; you won’t be charged if you are not satisfied with the work
- Seniority Test: Arc’s talent pool is filled with experienced developers, so you won’t have to spoon-feed them every time
- Weekly Invoice: Get updated with your developers working hours and payment invoices every week
- Intense Vetting Process: Only 2.3% of developers pass its Silicon Valley caliber vetting process, including technical and behavioral tests
Pricing
Freelance developer(s) typically charge between $60 to $100 per hour. However, a full-time remote role involves an annual salary package which can be discussed with their hiring consultant.
Wrapping Up
Outsourcing work to developers could be a long and costly procedure. That’s because you can’t just keep replacing developers time and again.
In case you want to make a proper team, Gigster isn’t the right choice for you because it will cost you at least $300K; try Ideamotive instead.
If you want freelancers at affordable rates, CloudDevs could be a great option.
And lastly, to manage the technicalities, you can hire a CTO from Shiny at an affordable rate.
All the marketplaces mentioned above are the best alternatives for Gigster. Choose the one that fits your needs.