Toptal Alternatives: 6 Best Platforms to Hire Remote Tech Talent

Are you looking for remote developers, designers, or project managers, without Toptal’s price tags and wait times?

You’re not alone.

We’ve been through the search ourselves, and we get how frustrating it can be, especially given the recent Toptal controversy that’s driving more startups to seek better alternatives.

The Toptal Controversy

Despite its “top 3%” branding, Toptal has faced a surge of complaints from both freelancers and clients. Developers on Reddit report opaque, time‑consuming vetting processes, pressured rate cuts, and low pay, undermining the promise of an elite marketplace. Clients, too, have leveled BBB complaints, arguing that expensive, vetted experts often deliver subpar work and missed deadlines.

Beyond platform grievances, Toptal has earned a reputation for aggressive legal tactics. In 2021 it sued Andela for alleged trade‑secret theft, and in 2022 Toptal threatened to sue their closest competitor CloudDevs for mentioning cheaper alternatives on their blog; moves widely derided as “petty bullying.” This litigious stance has backfired, drawing even more attention to Toptal’s rival marketplaces and fueling community backlash on HackerNews and other platforms .

Taken together, these controversies have tarnished Toptal’s premium image. Today, many businesses and technologists are exploring leaner, more transparent alternatives, proof that reputation can be as important as rates when hiring remote talent.

Thankfully, there are plenty of agile platforms and talent networks where you can find pre-vetted freelance tech professionals quickly.

Below, we’ll walk you through 6 top platforms, with CloudDevs, the best Toptal alternative for hiring developers, and LatHire, the second best alternative to Toptal, alongside other well-known platforms like 99Designs and PeoplePerHour, that we’ve either personally used or researched thoroughly. For each one, we’ll give you a quick overview, outline the key pros and cons, and recommend ideal use cases.

Think of this as our honest guide to hiring remote tech talent fast. No fluff, no hard sales, just straight-up insights. Let’s dive in!

1. CloudDevs

CloudDevs is the long standing Toptal alternative, widely known as Toptal’s closest competitor with a focus on Latin American tech talent. It is in fact “Latin America’s largest pre-vetted talent network”, with 500,000+ developers in its pool and matching candidates in 24–48 hours. In practice, clients report turnaround in as little as 24 hours. Rates are very startup-friendly (their website shows $45–75/hr on average), roughly 60% cheaper than a U.S. hire. CloudDevs vets every candidate (live coding tests + language), and even offers a 7-day risk-free trial. They handle payroll, taxes and compliance too, making it feel like an extension of your team.

Pros:

Pre-vetted senior talent: Every developer/designer has passed CloudDevs’ multi-step assessments (coding, language, etc). This means you avoid endless screening.
Speed: You get a shortlist in ~24h. In my experience, I’ve started Slack calls with candidates within a day of requesting.
Cost savings: Latin American rates are lower, CloudDevs advertises “save 60%” vs US rates. Indeed, $45–75/hr is common for a 7+ year engineer.
Time zones: Workers are in LATAM, so there’s good overlap with North America. (I’ve had developers on PST/MST schedules.)
Turnover support: 7-day trial and free replacement if fit isn’t perfect. No long-term commitment unless you want it.
Full service: CloudDevs handles legal, payroll, benefits etc so you don’t need a local entity.

Cons:

Regional focus: Almost all talent is from Latin America. If you need a developer in Asia/Europe, this isn’t the spot.
Pool size vs giants: Despite “500k” claim, the actual active senior talent pool (~8k+) is smaller than Upwork’s 60M or Toptal’s network. You might not find super-rare niche skills here.
Vetting depth: Their vetting is solid, but because they promise fast matches, it can be slightly less rigorous than, say, Toptal’s intensive process. You’ll still interview thoroughly.
Tech/design only: CloudDevs is squarely for engineering/design roles. For non-tech hires (finance, ops, marketing), see LatHire below.

Best for: US/European startups that need senior developers or UX/UI designers quickly, at low rates. If you want an overseas engineer turned on fast (especially for web, mobile, AI/ML, DevOps etc.), CloudDevs nails it. It shines for mid-to-long projects where you want somebody “on demand” with minimal vetting overhead. (I’ve used it to spin up entire product teams.)

2. LatHire

LatHire is essentially the business/generalist counterpart to CloudDevs. It’s an AI-powered platform covering all Latin American professionals, not just coders. You’ll find devs, designers plus marketers, sales reps, project managers, finance people, and more. Like CloudDevs, LatHire boasts 800,000+ vetted LatAm talents. They use custom AI tools to match and screen candidates, promising a shortlist in ~24 hours. Pricing is extremely competitive, they advertise 60–80% below U.S. rates. In other words, you could hire a full-time LatAm engineer or marketer for what a U.S. firm pays juniors.

Pros:

Huge talent pool: Over 800k professionals across tech and business roles. You can cover engineering, QA, design, and roles like HR, marketing, ops, accounting.
AI-driven matching: Their system parses your brief, then auto-screens English skills, experience, culture-fit, etc. It’s surprisingly smart, you often get very relevant candidates.
Ultra-fast: Matches come within ~24h of posting a job. In my tests, we had candidates to interview by the next day.
Low cost: On average LatHire says you pay much less, 60–80% savings over hiring locally. For startups, that’s huge budget relief.
Full back-end support: Like CloudDevs, LatHire handles payroll, benefits, taxes and compliance in LatAm. You don’t worry about foreign HR headaches.

Cons:

Regional limitation: All talent is still Latin America. They’re great if you specifically want this region’s workers (e.g. for Spanish fluency or timezone overlap), but not if you need, say, an EU or Asian hire.
Mixed vetting: The AI/algorithms do a lot of screening, but it’s still a marketplace. We recommend interviewing every candidate. The quality is generally good, but some freelancers may not be strictly “senior” unless you specify.
Broad scope means broad quality: With hundreds of thousands of profiles, you get everything from rockstar programmers to beginners. You may need to sift through more applicants for niche skillsets.
Less brand recognition: Unlike Toptal, LatHire is smaller, so fewer superstar freelancers chase it. (Though for most roles they have plenty.)

Best for: Any company that needs a variety of LatAm hires. For example, a bilingual startup needing an engineer and a marketing lead, or a U.S. firm looking to build a nearshore team across functions. It’s especially ideal if you want the simplicity of “one platform” for tech and non-tech hires, and you care about cost savings. (I’ve seen colleagues hire entire LatAm finance teams through LatHire at 30–40% of local payroll.)

3. PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour is a general freelance marketplace based in the UK. It’s been around since 2007 and works much like Upwork or Freelancer.com. You post a project (hourly or fixed-price) and freelancers from around the world bid on it. It’s not tech-exclusive, you’ll find developers, designers, writers, marketers, PMs, you name it. In practice, PPH tends to attract a lot of European/Asian freelancers, so it’s great if you want a broad international candidate pool.

Pros:

Large, diverse network: Thousands of freelancers in dozens of fields. You can hire anywhere from a junior coder to a senior UX designer to a content writer, all in one place.
Ease of use: The platform is user-friendly. Posting a job and receiving proposals happens quickly. PPH also has a streamlined escrow/payment system so your money is safe.
Escrow/SafePay: PPH holds funds until work milestones are approved, giving both sides peace of mind. (It’s similar to Freelancer’s escrow.)
Flexible engagement: You can do hourly, fixed-bid, or milestone payments. No minimum commitments.
Search and filters: Good filters let you find freelancers by rating, location, language, etc.

Cons:

Fees: PPH isn’t the cheapest. Freelancers pay up to 20% commission (and clients up to 10% per purchase). That can add up, especially on bigger contracts.
Varied quality: Because anyone can join, you have to vet carefully. There are highly skilled workers, but also a lot of beginners or “bargain” providers. Don’t expect top-tier rigor unless you use premium features.
Less specialized: For very niche roles (say, a data scientist), PPH has some talent but not as many “elite” candidates as niche networks.
Limited buyer protection: Compared to Upwork’s Work Diary, PPH’s tracking tools and dispute support are okay but not industry-leading.

Best for: Quick and flexible hires across disciplines. If you have a specific project (e.g. build a website, design a logo, manage a short campaign) and you want lots of applicant options, PPH is solid. It’s especially useful for finding European or Indian developers/designers (PPH is UK-based, so lots of EU talent). In my own hiring, I’ve used PPH to bring on a frontend dev and a graphic designer on short contracts. It’s not as “premium” as Toptal, but it works if you don’t mind doing some legwork vetting freelancers.

4. Guru

Guru.com is a veteran freelance marketplace (founded 1998). It functions similarly to PeoplePerHour or Upwork. You post projects or search profiles, and hire worldwide freelancers for anything from development to writing. Guru markets itself as flexible and secure: it has SafePay escrow for payments, free invoicing/time-tracking tools, and allows fixed or hourly contracts. They claim a broad freelancer base (“experts in web dev, design, admin, etc.”).

Pros:

Secure payments: Guru’s SafePay system holds project funds in escrow. Once you’re happy, you release payment. That reduces the stress of first-time hires.
Good project management: You can set milestones, deadlines, and use built-in invoices/time-tracking for free, which can make collaboration smoother.
Multiple pay options: Pay hourly, fixed price, or recurring – it’s pretty customizable.
Customer support: Guru is known for being responsive if you run into issues.

Cons:

Smaller talent pool: Guru doesn’t have as many freelancers as Upwork or PPH. You can still find skilled pros, but the volume is lower. I’ve occasionally found it harder to get many bids, especially for very new postings.
Higher fees: Guru’s fees (especially for hourly plans) are relatively steep (e.g. ~5.95–8.95%), on top of freelancer commissions. That cuts into savings.
Quality varies: Like any open marketplace, you must vet. Some freelancers don’t have strong English. In fact, some companies find fewer English-speaking high-skill candidates here.
Interface: It’s a bit dated compared to the slick UIs of newer platforms. Not a deal-breaker, but worth noting.

Best for: Ongoing or large projects where payment security and management features matter. For example, I might use Guru to hire a project manager or dev team on a monthly retainer, where I want clear invoicing. It’s also decent if you have repeat needs with the same freelancer (the interface supports organizing past hires nicely). Overall, think of Guru as a stable, mid-size marketplace – not as crowded as Upwork, but still covering all categories (dev, design, writing, admin, etc.).

5. 99designs

99designs isn’t a general dev marketplace, it’s a design-focused platform. If your needs are graphic design or branding (logos, websites, brochures, etc.), 99designs is a go-to. It works via design contests: you submit a brief (say, “logo for my SaaS startup”) and dozens of designers submit entries. You give feedback, and finally pick a winner. Prices start around $299 for a basic logo contest, up to $1,300+ for a full branding package.

Pros:

Crowdsourced creativity: You see dozens of options before picking one. It’s great for inspiration, since designers interpret your brief in unique ways.
Vetted community: Designers on 99designs are generally skilled (they have a rating system). Plus, there’s a money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.
Specialized toolset: The platform is optimized for creative projects. They offer AI-assisted contests, easy feedback/comments, and multiple formatting outputs at the end.

Cons:

Not for non-design tasks: If you need developers, project managers, or non-creative staff, 99designs isn’t relevant, it’s strictly for design/branding.
Higher price for quality: A good design contest isn’t “cheap”. You’re paying for multiple custom concepts. For example, even a simple logo contest is $299+.
More work upfront: You have to carefully write a great brief and be active in feedback rounds. If you just need a one-off small image, this might feel overkill.
Results vary: While many contests yield amazing logos, some outcomes can still need refinement. You might end up tweaking a design after the contest.

Best for: Any startup needing polished visual identity. I’ve used 99designs for logos and website mockups. It’s especially helpful when you have a budding idea and need creative juices flowing. For example, if you want a dozen logo concepts for a new brand, 99designs is more efficient than hiring one designer. It’s not a “hire per hour” model, think of it more like crowdsourced creative workshops. In short, use 99designs when your priority is brand/graphic design, not coding or project management.

6. WorkGenius

WorkGenius is a lesser-known, startup-ish platform that blends AI and human recruiting. Think of it as a mini staffing agency built into a tech platform. They cater mostly to tech and data roles (software devs, data analysts, project managers, etc.). WorkGenius touts an “AI-powered, human-enhanced” matching process. You can either use their self-service portal to post requirements or book a “Recruiter” chat for a more hands-on match. It’s not as big as Upwork, but they emphasize quality: their company says they have 15+ years of placement data and use that to predict matches. They also offer full freelancer management, payroll, compliance, and ATS tools are baked in.

Pros:

High-touch matching: Unlike open job boards, WorkGenius screens talent for you. AI narrows down candidates and (optionally) a real recruiter vets them. That tends to yield high-quality fits.
Managed services: They handle payroll, legal compliance, and have an ATS for tracking applicants. It’s basically a one-stop freelance HR solution.
Flexible hiring models: You can use it like a DIY platform or as a full agency. Their integrated dashboard is slick.
Security: Payment and reporting are integrated, which gives big companies confidence.

Cons:

Premium price: This is not a bargain solution. Because of the concierge service, expect rates above standard freelance markets. They don’t advertise pricing, it’s quote-based.
Smaller talent pool: WorkGenius isn’t a household name yet, so their network is smaller. For very niche tech skills, you might hear “no matches” if the need is too narrow.
Complex process: Onboarding with WorkGenius can take longer (you have to sign EOR or vendor agreements). It’s not as instant as Upwork.
Not broad categories: They focus on tech, data, and some creative, not general administrative or sales roles.

Best for: Businesses that want premier service and are willing to pay for it. If you need a very specific engineer or analyst and want the vetting + payroll managed end-to-end, WorkGenius is worth considering. For example, some companies have used them for data science hires where in-house recruiters struggled. In my view, use WorkGenius when time is money and you need top-tier talent with minimal fuss. For everyday hires, the other platforms above are faster/cheaper, but WorkGenius shines when you want that extra layer of support.

Overview of the Best Toptal Alternatives in 2025:

Platform	Vetting Quality	Time to Hire	Cost Range	Roles Covered	Ideal Use Cases
CloudDevs	High (multi-step)	24–48h	~$45–75/hr	Dev & Design (Latin America)	Senior devs/designers, quick hires in Americas (Tech startups)
LatHire	Moderate–High (AI + manual)	24h	60–80% below US	Tech + marketing/sales/ops (LatAm)	Broad Latin American hiring (tech, ops, marketing)
PeoplePerHour	Low–Medium (open bids)	Days	~$10–50/hr	All freelance (dev, design, writing, etc)	General projects with many candidates
Guru	Low–Medium (open)	Days	Varies (5–10% fees)	All freelance	Secure payments for mid-long projects
99designs	Medium (crowdsourced)	Days	$299–$1,300+/contest	Graphic Design, Branding (contests)	Logo/branding via design contests
WorkGenius	High (AI+recruiter)	Days	Premium	Dev, Data, PM, IT (managed service)	White-glove freelance staffing (enterprise-grade)

Each of the above has its niche. In short: CloudDevs and LatHire are our top picks for Latin American talent (fast, affordable, tech + general roles). Use PeoplePerHour/Guru for broad global projects (they work more like Upwork). 99designs for all your branding and design contests. And WorkGenius if you want a highly managed hiring process (with AI/recruiters doing the heavy lifting).

All of these can be labeled “Toptal alternatives”, each in its own way. Toptal is top-heavy (very strict vetting, high cost). These platforms trade off some of that for speed, budget, or wider coverage. When choosing, think about your priorities: if you can compromise a bit on vetting for much faster hires or lower cost, one of the above could be a game-changer for your startup.