What is Toptal?

Toptal is a longtime and popular freelance network that connects clients with distinctly-vetted freelance skills.

While it started out out, Toptal handiest provided freelance software program builders. It has since expanded to other verticals to encompass freelance designers, financial specialists, product managers, and project managers.

Toptal’s key features are its rigorous screening manner and a massive community of first-rate skills. Its multi-stage vetting system includes code evaluations, portfolio evaluation, actual-time checking out, and an English language ability take a look at. 

Toptal claims that this stringent vetting allows it zero down on the ‘top three%’ of freelance skills.At some point of the screening system, Toptal’s recruiters apprehend freelancers’ core competencies, capabilities, and past paintings revel in.

 On receiving a patron requirement, Toptal knows their necessities in element and as a result matches them with the right freelancer from its skills pool.

But, hiring from Toptal doesn’t come cheap. That’s probably why most effective well-funded ‘pinnacle’ corporations can have the funds for to hire freelancers from the platform.

A heritage on Toptal

Toptal was founded in 2010 with the aid of Taso du Val and Breanden Beneschott. Beneschott exited the enterprise in 2018 amid muddy waters among him and du Val, which worried the organisation even suing him.

When you consider that Toptal’s inception, it has reportedly remained profitable. Interestingly, it has handiest raised capital once – an early-stage seed spherical that blanketed buyers like Andreesen Horowitz.

Toptal additionally prides itself on running a remote team of workers with 0 bodily workplaces – a completely-disbursed organization.

How does Toptal paintings?

Toptal is based on a personalized matching method to pair freelancers with applicable initiatives posted by means of clients on its internet site. Right here’s the step-clever manner damaged down underneath:

1. Sign on on the web site and post a task request:Clients seeking to lease freelancers ought to put up their requirements thru a form on Toptal’s internet site with applicable info of the process.

2. Get on a call with Toptal’s crew and percentage your necessities in element:After the patron submits the task description, Toptal’s internal group critiques it and gets in contact with the client.Over a conversation, Toptal’s team tries to advantage an in-depth know-how of the necessities.

Three. Get hints from ToptalAfter gaining an information, Toptal gets to paintings on finding freelancers who could be an excellent suit for the task handy.If there are freelancers available right away, Toptal will propose them to the customer via sharing their digital resumes (created via the respective freelancers with help from Toptal).If there’s nobody available of their ‘decided on’ pool, Toptal will work on locating appropriate freelancers and could notify clients after finishing their respective screening system.

4. Assessment and evaluate the advocated freelancers thru your very own interviewsThe patron can then select to interview the advocated freelancers, and compare them on their personal terms.

5. Pick out the proper freelancer for the activity and start work with a tribulation length.If the purchaser likes the freelancer, they could begin operating with them immediately after signing the contract settlement.Toptal also requires an preliminary deposit of $500 from customers, so that it will be settled as a credit to their first invoice within the engagement.

6. Select to hold running, request for a replacement, or part methods with ToptalToptal offers a no-risk trial length, for clients to assess the performance of the freelancer and verify a good healthy.If the patron comes to a decision in opposition to moving beforehand on the engagement, they’re now not prone to pay whatever – Toptal refunds the $500 deposit in complete.Toptal freelancers commonly paintings remotely. However, clients can also make requests to have the freelancer exercise session of their workplace. The provision, though, of such freelancers is quite low.

7. Review the freelancer’s paintings and approve payments.The platform gives flexible charge solutions. Normally, invoicing takes area every fortnight with payments due inside 10 days of invoicing (‘internet 10’ terms).

Toptal’s enterprise model

Toptal’s enterprise model may be attributed to the class of ‘multi-sided platforms’, like a market. And prefer all marketplaces, it is dependent on community outcomes to offer sufficient value to both clients and freelancers.

For example: to meet its promise of connecting clients with the proper freelancers inside 24 hours, Toptal needs to have a variety of freelancers in its expertise pool, in conjunction with their actual-time work fame. In addition, Toptal also needs a big sufficient patron base to assure a steady circulate of projects for its freelancers.

Toptal’s premise for making money is simple. It invoices clients at once for the duration of the freelance mission. It receives this payment, holds the fee price, and will pay freelancers a decrease, pre-determined charge.

 Freelancers are given the choice to set their hourly prices based totally on Toptal’s recommended rates. These are derived with the aid of considering elements just like the freelancer’s location of house and knowledge degree.

Toptal spends an in depth amount of cash in marketing, branding, and sales – fees that comply with via to make it quite expensive.

This has raised questions about whether Toptal’s high fees are honestly justified by way of the great of expertise offered. Or whether the high price is just a result of high overheads that accompany a huge organisation like itself.

Toptal assessment: professionals and Cons

To maintain matters simple, let’s look at handiest one class of Toptal’s presence – hiring freelance developers.

Execs

Skilled builders: Toptal specializes in hiring pleasant expertise. This emphasis results of their developers being pretty gifted.

 A sure percentage of them also have experience of previously working for reputable corporations.Personalised suggestions:

 Toptal’s particular comprehension of both the activity necessities as well as the freelancers’ abilities allows it to make surprisingly-personalized candidate pointers to customers.Set up the organization: Toptal is the industry leader in vetted freelance networks and enjoys a longtime brand name. It boasts of getting many huge businesses as customers.

Cons

Excessive cost: Toptal is prohibitively highly-priced for most startups and coins-strapped organizations. 

That is a end result of big commissions (in many instances greater than a hundred%) that it levies on pinnacle of freelancer charges.

Negative customer support: Its customer service has been criticised by customers and freelancers on overview web sites & social media platforms as being gradual in response and also excessive-exceeded.Inflexible structure: 

even though it portrays itself as a scalable solution for businesses of all sizes, Toptal has inflexible hiring contracts. 

Customers need to hire on either 20 or forty hour weekly contracts with out a scope for adapting it to their unique requirements. Additionally, there is no choice for decreased expenses in lieu of providing lengthy-time period work to freelancers.

Not viable for small initiatives:For smaller initiatives that require minimum supervision and input, hiring freelancers via Toptal may be overkill, because the price-for-cost isn’t often justified.

 How much does Toptal cost?

Toptal’s pricing varies for the scope of the mission, geographic vicinity, and the revel in degree of the freelance developers.Consistent with Toptal’s website, the pricing can typically fall into the underneath degrees (concern to the above elements):

Pricing variety (primarily based on developer rates)

Hourly: $60-$a hundred and fifty+/hour

Component-time rent (20hrs/week): $1,000-$2,400+/week

Complete-time lease (40hrs/week): $2,000-$four,800+/week

Toptal critiques from third-celebration evaluate websites

Here, we’ve outlined a few advantageous and negative Toptal opinions via customers, posted on  of the maximum-reputed evaluate sites: Trustpilot and G2crowd. Of direction, those review web sites do their high-quality to make certain that opinions from customers are a hundred% actual.

On a wide angle, Toptal’s performance on evaluate sites is good as best 2% of clients have given them a critically negative evaluation.This unique patron seems to sum up flawlessly what’s incredible about Toptal and the areas in which it is lacking.

One key point that stands proud on this Toptal evaluate is the shortage of transparency inside the billing system. 

As this patron has pointed out, customers need data on exactly how a great deal is being spent on what, so that you can optimise for fees. Moreover, Toptal’s overpriced carrier has been underlined once more in this evaluate.