10 Best Toptal Alternatives for Startups and Small Businesses in 2022

By Jacob SheldonApril 18, 2022April 18, 2022

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10 Best Toptal Alternatives for Startups in 2022

Toptal is one of the most popular freelancer hiring marketplaces worldwide. But with popularity comes high costs.

No doubt, the platform has vetted talent, but if you’re a startup, the price to hire them might burn a hole in your pocket.

In this article, we will talk about why you should consider Toptal alternatives and suggest 10 marketplaces you can use to hire similar talent like Toptal.

So let’s get started!

5 Reasons Why You Need a Toptal Alternative?

#1. Toptal’s Pricing Model

When it comes to pricing, Toptal is a free-to-use platform. But it takes a huge commission from the client side by marking up freelancer rates.

For example, if a developer’s rate is $40/hour (that’s why the developer has submitted to Toptal), chances are Toptal might quote you a price of $70 or $80 per hour (~100% markup) for the same developer.

#2. Poor Customer Service

Toptal has slow and poor customer service. Yes, we know it’s a bold statement, but we aren’t the ones saying it. Look at the review below given to Toptal by a startup on TrustPilot.

The review has no reply from Toptal yet, which proves the point of poor customer service.

Note: The above review also shows that Toptal isn’t a startup-focused marketplace. It won’t entertain you much if you just have a couple of vacancies.

#3. Developer & Designer Focused Platform

Toptal is known for its talented developers and designers. Both these domains are in demand if you’re a SaaS startup.

But ask yourself, as a startup, would you go for a freelancer or an in-house full-time employee who excels in software development or graphic design?

We’d recommend going with the latter.

Many small businesses prefer full-time in-house developers. Why?

Because the startup can work more closely with them this way. And the employee can give them more time than a freelancer would.

But, you might need freelancers for other roles like data entry, digital marketing, and customer service, none of which Toptal has.

#4. Strict Demands with No Flexibility

Contracts made by Toptal between a freelancer and a company are strict and rigid. For example, Toptal has a mandatory rule stating that a company must hire a freelancer for either 20 or 40 hours a week.

What if you want to hire a freelancer for 10 hours? In that case, Toptal isn’t a choice!

On top of this, a company can’t modify the contract as per their requirements. This means you can’t add or remove any clause set up by Toptal in the contract.

Lastly, you can’t negotiate rates with freelancers even if you’re willing to shake hands with them for long-term projects.

#5. Tedious Hiring Process

Many companies have complained about the lengthy and tedious hiring process Toptal has. It could take days just to do all the formalities to get a freelancer onboard.

The review below says it all:

The sad part is that even after spending ten days, the person could not get a candidate on board.

Toptal might have some of the best freelancers connected to their marketplace, but the above reasons clearly indicate that companies aren’t happy with them.

Here are some of the best Total alternatives to get epic customer service, flexibility, and faster hiring.

Best Toptal Alternatives in 2022

#1 Shiny – Fractional Talent Marketplace

To keep their business afloat, most startups look for guidance from an experienced person. But it’s no secret that hiring an experienced executive-level person costs a fortune.

Well, not anymore.

Shiny’s fractional talent marketplace is the new secret weapon that you can leverage to hire C-suites from 2 to 20 hours a week.

It’s a great asset to save Startups the time and money they invest in picking the right executive talent.

Why would you spend $150k to $300k a year if you can just hire top-level fractional talent from Shiny at half the cost?

Features

No Deposit Upfront: We take no deposit or any fee until you find the right talent for your startup
Highly Niched Marketplace: We only focus on providing you with senior-level talent
Flexible Pricing: Hire executives for $125/hour or go as high as $600/hour; it all depends on the talent and experience you prefer
Tell Us Your Requirements: Book a call with us and tell you what you’re looking for, our team will shortlist the right candidates for you
Shortlists: Get 5 ideal matches in 48 hours; view their profile and schedule an interview with whomever you see fit
Let Us Take Away the Extra Burden: Shiny will manage the contract signing, invoicing, payments and 1099s

Pricing

Startups don’t have to pay any upfront fee or commission to Shiny for hiring fractional talent (except for the talent’s hourly cost, of course).

We allow payments via Stripe; apart from this, you can also pay us via ACH or credit card. For ACH payments (made via Plaid), the process is quick and easy.

Note: There’s no processing fee for ACH payments; however, when you pay us via Credit card, we charge a fee of 3% to cover the fee credit card companies charge us.

Pros & Cons

Pros

A quick and easy method to find fractional executive talent at affordable rates
A fast-growing community with 300+ vetted executives on board
Has executives from 40+ unique industries like SaaS, FinTech, eCommerce, and many more
More than 50% of Shiny’s executives have 16+ years of experience

Cons

Being a new platform, the marketplace is still growing and has a comparatively small community

What Do Our Customers Say About Us?

Are you finding Shiny too good to be true? If yes, see what our customers say about us!

Hiring an executive-level talent takes months and thousands of dollars. But when you have a marketplace doing it for you, it’s almost like serving executives on a silver platter.

Shiny is a free-to-use marketplace, so go ahead and sign up for the platform. Try it out for free; who knows, the executive you hire might grow your business from 0 to a million dollars!

#2. Upwork – The World’s Work Marketplace

Upwork is the result of a merger between Elance and oDesk in December 2013. It was named Elance-oDesk during the merger and rebranded to Upwork in 2015.

Since 2016, Upwork has been growing massively and is now considered one of the biggest freelance marketplaces worldwide.

Source

Upwork operates a freelance network of ~18 million with 14 main job categories and several subcategories.

From WordPress designers to software developers, you can hire anyone from Upwork.