Those who turn to freelance services often hear of Toptal as one of the global platforms that connects companies with freelance specialists. They help to find professionals in such fields as design, software development, finance, and project management, among others. Not only big companies turn to this model. According to Zippia, up to 70% of small businesses cooperate with freelancers as well.

The most widespread reasons include shorter deadlines to find specialists for smaller projects, cost savings, and higher rate of tasks completion. But while some find this model useful and workable, others look for alternative solutions. They need to resolve intellectual property and legal concerns, as well as consider the challenges of a specialist integration into the team.

We've prepared a list of Toptal alternatives to consider in relation to costs, services, and long-term collaboration. Let's deep dive into the topic.

Toptal and Its Model

Toptal has a pool of candidates which they are ready to offer for your specific project. Before a specialist joins the pool, they go through a meticulous screening process, which includes both technical and behavioral tests, problem-solving tasks, and various personality assessments. Going for this model can be beneficial for short-time projects, when you need to find specialists immediately, or don't want to invest in a recruitment process.

However, consider alternative services if you seek a specialist for a long-term project, want to integrate them in the team, and plan to scale your project, requiring specific skills. Besides, the cost can be elevated if you represent a small startup and have a specific budget.

There are a number of Toptal alternatives that can fulfill your requirements. From specific IT recruiting services to outstaffing solutions, there's what to choose from.

Overview of Toptal Alternatives: Staffing Agencies

Staffing services are workable both for small and big projects. Staffing companies also have a pool of candidates where they look for a specific match for your needs. All the recruiting process lies on them, placing you only in the role of approver.

This model is good for IT staff augmentation and is one of Toptal alternatives that allows you to integrate a specialist into your team. With a staffing model, a specialist is employed by the staffing agency, which gives you more certainty and stability for future cooperation.

Recruiting Services

This Toptal alternative focuses on identifying, attracting, and placing employees within a company. While a recruiting company can find you permanent specialists or contractors with specific skills, they will be employed directly by your company.

Besides, in comparison to a freelance platform where you pay regularly for the work a freelancer accomplished, a recruiting agency will charge you only once. If you're new in the market and don't have much experience in recruiting, this may be one of the best strategies to find developers for your startup company.

Outstaffing: the Best Toptal Alternative

Of all alternatives to Toptal, outstaffing companies provide one of the highest levels of confidence in terms of mutual cooperation and the expertise of specialists they find. In this model, the provided professionals work solely for your project but are employed by the outstaffing provider.

The cost plan looks similar to Toptal, but you can benefit from a monthly and not a weekly plan. Besides, as one of the best Toptal alternatives, an outstaffing company takes on the administrative burden, taking care of contracts, legal side of the cooperation, as well as further employer of record activities. In addition to headhunters vs. recruiters who look for a suitable candidate, outstaffing companies organize all the interviews until you're good to go with the offer.

Offshoring: is it the best Toptal alternative?

Offshoring refers to outstaffing services where remote employees are located in a different country, typically one with significantly lower labor costs. This model is used to reduce costs while accessing specialists from around the world.

If you're looking at alternatives to Toptal, offshoring can be an option in terms of costs and quick access to the global talent pool.

Nearshoring: Benefits and drawbacks

Nearshoring refers to outstaffing services where the remote employees are located within the same country or nearby your company. This allows for easier communication and cultural alignment while still benefiting from remote work flexibility. It's one of Toptal cost-effective alternatives.

Nearshoring outstaffed employees are in the same time zone as you or close to it, making real-time collaboration more feasible and reducing potential delays. Besides, such a model simplifies compliance with local labor laws and regulations.

Other Toptal Alternatives for Hiring Developers: Outsourced Recruiting Companies

If you decide to trust the whole recruiting process to an outsourced recruiting company, it will go through all the main recruiting steps for you. From sourcing, screening, to interviewing candidates, HR specialists find the best professionals for your project.

However, a candidate will be hired by your company, and such recruiting services end at this point. This is one of the best alternatives to Toptal if you're looking for someone to integrate into your team long-term.

Why You Should Consider Alternatives

Considering Toptal alternatives for hiring developers, designers, or any other specialist in Tech gives you a wider choice. Because in most cases, companies don't only look for a specialist to accomplish one definite task. This is a quick solution where a freelance model will work well. But in other cases, you will need to assess the agency in the following aspects:

• Talent quality. To see the professionalism of every candidate, you would need to interview them. This option is not available when you cooperate with freelance platforms. Explore alternatives to Toptal if this option is critical for you. Because with a contractor, you may see the result only after the first accomplishment of the task.

• Intellectual property protection. If you want to hire a developer, a designer, or any other creative specialist, think of the intellectual property side. Check whether a freelance agency signs an NDA or any other document with a contractor. If not, you may start looking for Toptal alternatives.

• Team integration. It's ok if you don't need to collaborate with a specialist full-time on a permanent basis. But if you want to expand your product team structure and make a new candidate part of the team, consider the integration aspect as part of your model choice.

• Scalability. Scalability of the team usually supposes long-term cooperation on strategic projects. For that reason, you might want to look in the direction of alternatives to Toptal.

• Legal compliance. According to Zippia, the majority of freelancers work on multiple projects in parallel. This may be a struggle if your project supposes full-time engagement. Besides, you should comply with labor laws while cooperating with individual contractors.

• Cost efficiency. The unique features of each Toptal alternative are related to hiring options and costs. Upwork states that 43% of companies choose hiring staffing agencies and 55% choose to hire freelancers to reduce costs. However, you should consider what these costs will involve and whether you will not lose extra on onboarding and retention.

Criteria to Consider for the Right Choice

Think whether you need short-term, highly specialized talent or long-term, integrated team members. Key factors such as talent quality, cost, scalability, legal risks, and cultural fit should be carefully weighed when you make an alternative comparison.

• Talent quality. To cooperate with Toptal or consider the best Toptal alternative, consider this critical point. The success of a project or the smooth integration of new hires depends on their skills and experience.

• Cost considerations. They vary between models, with freelance platforms typically commanding premium rates. Instead, outstaffing and recruiting services may offer more cost-effective solutions depending on the region and role.

• Scalability. You should assess how easily you can scale your team and whether it meets your project demands.

• Legal risks. They are usually linked to labor laws and intellectual property protection. If you don't document specialists as expected, this may be one of the reasons why candidates accept job offers from competitors.

• Cultural fit. You might consider it for long-term projects, smooth collaboration and long-term success.

Summary

While Toptal is a popular choice for companies seeking immediate access to top-tier freelance talent, it may not always be the best fit for every business need. For projects requiring long-term commitment, team integration, or specific legal protections, alternatives such as staffing agencies, outstaffing services, nearshoring, and outsourced recruiting companies offer viable options.

Each alternative has its own perks to offer, from cost efficiency to enhanced scalability and cultural fit. Therefore, it’s essential to carefully assess your specific needs. With such an approach, you will ensure that your choice will align with your goals and project demands, leading to successful outcomes and sustainable growth.

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by Ann Kuss
on August 29, 2024. Share on LinkedIn Post on Twitter

Ann Kuss is the CEO at Outstaff Your Team. After 11 years of expertise in building remote tech teams for startup unicorns and global tech brands, Ann decided to lead a new venture aiming to reinvent the way international tech teams scale. Throughout her career, Ann hired specialists for countless tech positions from more than 17 countries on all major continents. Ann graduated from Kyiv-Mohyla business school, is an MIM Kyiv alumna, and regularly takes part in mentorship programs for junior tech talents. Ann actively promotes knowledge sharing and curates Outstaff Your Team blog strategy, preferring topics that solve practical needs of IT leaders. She believes that structuring business flows (including hiring) is a well-planned journey with predictable and successful outcome.