If you want a fixed price instead of Toptal’s hourly billing, the alternatives that sell fixed-price work are Fiverr Pro, Upwork’s fixed-price contracts and Project Catalog, and development agencies, which you can find on Clutch. Toptal describes its pricing as “hourly, part-, or full- time for a fixed price on a weekly basis”, so the price is fixed per week, not per project.
We wrote this guide, so weigh that. We left ourselves out of the ranking. Where we fit is in a box at the end.
Who this is for: a founder or manager with a defined project, such as an app, a web platform, or an integration, who wants to know the total cost before work starts. Who should pick something else: if you need a senior engineer to join your team for months with no fixed scope, Toptal or one of the hourly networks below fits better. A fixed price needs a written scope, and some work can’t be scoped up front.
Every “Toptal alternatives” page we read on 2026-10-13 was written by a competing talent network that ranks itself first, such as Lemon.io and Index.dev. None separates hourly networks from fixed-price options, and several repeat a $500 Toptal deposit that we couldn’t find on any Toptal page. This list cites each vendor’s own pages.
What Toptal charges, from its own pages
These are the facts to compare against. All checked 2026-10-13 on Toptal’s FAQ and pricing page.
- Subscription: “We have a flat monthly subscription fee of $79 that is charged if you decide to proceed with talent matching.”
- Billing: hourly, part-time, or full-time, at a weekly price. Toptal publishes no hourly rates.
- Trial: “a trial period of up to two weeks.” “If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed.”
- Vetting: “Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, we accept fewer than 3%.”
- Deposit: not on the FAQ or pricing page. Third-party pages mention a $500 deposit. Ask Toptal directly before you rely on either figure.
- Teams: Toptal also sells teams: “Lead the team yourself with Toptal Teams, or choose Toptal Teams Advanced and we’ll provide you with a dedicated team manager.”
How we ranked the alternatives
We checked 14 options and kept 9 that publish enough to compare. We read only official pages: pricing pages, help centers, and FAQs.
- First, the pricing model. Options that sell a fixed price for a whole project come first. Hourly and monthly options come second, for readers who want a cheaper Toptal.
- Then, within each group, what you can check before a sales call. One point each for: client fees published, a price or minimum visible up front, and payment protection held by the platform (escrow or payment released only after you accept the work). Ties go in alphabetical order.
Vetting claims like “top 3%” are listed, but they don’t score. No platform publishes how its percentage is measured, so we can’t compare them.
The comparison table
| # | Option | How you pay | Fixed price per project? | Client fees (checked 2026-10-13) | Minimum or price shown | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toptal (for reference) | Hourly or weekly | No | $79 a month | No rates published | ||
| 1 | Fiverr Pro | Fixed-price gigs | Yes | 5.5% service fee, plus $3.50 under $200 | Gig prices listed | 3 |
| 2 | Upwork | Hourly or fixed price | Yes | 5% (Basic) plus $0.99 to $14.99 per contract | Project Catalog prices listed | 3 |
| 3 | Agencies on Clutch | Agency quote | Often | Clutch charges buyers nothing | Each agency lists a minimum | 2 |
| 4 | Gigster | Managed delivery | Yes, “guaranteed” | Not published | Not published | 0 |
| 5 | Arc.dev | Hourly | No | ”$0 until you hire” | $15 to $110+ an hour | 2 |
| 6 | Lemon.io | Prepaid hours | No | No setup fees | 160-hour minimum | 2 |
| 7 | Codementor | Hourly or long-term | No | ”small service fee”, amount not published | No | 1 |
| 8 | Contra | Not stated | Not stated | $15 or $29 per payment over $500, unless the freelancer pays for Pro | No | 1 |
| 9 | Braintrust | Talk to sales | No | Not published | No | 0 |
Group one: fixed price for the whole project
1. Fiverr Pro
- How you pay: fixed-price gigs with set deliverables. A gig can be split into milestones.
- Fees: Fiverr’s client payment page says “The standard service fee is 5.5% of your purchase amount, and we add a $3.50 fee to orders under $200.” Fiverr Pro has a free Essential plan and an Advanced plan that “requires a monthly fee of $129 USD”, per its plans page.
- Protection: the freelancer is paid after the order completes. Fiverr says freelancers “receive 80% of the client’s cleared payment” (help center).
- Vetting: Pro freelancers are “vetted for the highest quality of work, service, and professionalism.”
- Best for: a scoped piece of work from one person, like a landing page, an integration, or an app screen set.
2. Upwork
- How you pay: hourly or fixed price. Fixed-price contracts are paid by milestone. Project Catalog sells pre-scoped projects: “Clear scope, upfront price, no surprises.”
- Fees: Upwork’s client pricing page says “clients on the Basic plan pay a 5% Marketplace fee,” 3% for eligible US clients paying from a checking account, plus a contract initiation fee from “$0.99 to $14.99 per contract.” The same page shows a 7.99% figure in one FAQ answer, so check the fee shown at checkout. Business Plus is 10%, or 8% by US checking account.
- Protection: the page lists protected payments, where you only pay for approved work from escrow. For fixed-price contracts, the initiation fee “is charged when you fund your first milestone.”
- Who you hire: freelancers or agencies.
- Best for: buyers who want platform escrow and many bids. You do the vetting yourself unless you pay for Business Plus, which adds “Expert-Vetted” talent.
3. Agencies you find on Clutch
- How you pay: each agency sets its own model. Many quote fixed prices from a scope. Ask in writing.
- Fees: Clutch’s methodology page says “Buyers never pay to search Clutch, read reviews, post a project, or contact providers.” It also says “Companies can pay a fee for higher placement in specific directories,” so the top of a list isn’t always the best match.
- Minimums: each Clutch profile lists a minimum project size, such as $10,000+ or $25,000+.
- Reviews: “In 2025, we rejected 10% of submitted reviews for signs of falsified information.”
- Best for: a team for a full product. There’s no escrow, so tie payments to milestones you can test. Our list of the best software companies in Pakistan for small projects shows Clutch minimums for 13 firms.
4. Gigster
- How you pay: Gigster’s site offers a “Fully Managed” model: “We take full ownership of the development process from start to finish, to deliver your product across scope, time and budget … guaranteed.”
- Fees and minimum: not published.
- Best for: larger companies that want one accountable vendor for a whole build. Its home page leads with enterprise AI engineering.
Group two: hourly networks, if you want a cheaper Toptal
5. Arc.dev
- Pricing: “$15 - $110+” an hour for freelance hires, or “20% of the annual salary” for full-time hires (pricing).
- Trial: “We offer a risk-free trial period of up to two weeks.”
- Vetting: “Top 2% of talent, fully vetted” (home page).
6. Lemon.io
- Pricing: a prepaid model. “Yes, 160 hours. That’s one month full-time (40 hours a week) or two months part-time (20 hours a week).” “There are no upfront recruitment or setup fees” (home page and FAQ).
- Vetting: “Only 1% do,” meaning 1% of applicants pass.
7. Codementor
- Pricing: “Get help with projects by-the-hour or long-term.” “Codementor charges a small service fee when a developer completes the job,” with no amount given (freelance page).
- Protection: “If you’re unsatisfied with the results, you can choose to get a refund for the project.”
8. Contra
- Pricing: “Contra is always commission-free for all creatives.” Clients pay a “$15 or $29 per payment >$500” fee when the freelancer is on the free plan, and nothing when the freelancer pays for Pro (pricing).
- Fixed price: not stated on the pricing page.
9. Braintrust
- Pricing: “Flexible Pricing” with “Zero platform fees for talent.” The client fee isn’t published (pricing).
- Who you hire: “Staff aug, embedded teams, or contract-to-hire.”
Checked and left off
- Gun.io publishes no pricing on its own site.
- Andela, Turing, and A.Team publish no client pricing. Turing’s home page now targets AI training work.
- BairesDev blocked our checks on every attempt.
How to get a fair fixed price
- Write the scope first. List each feature, what’s left out, and who provides content and accounts. Our guide on how we scope fixed-price projects shows the format.
- Get two or three quotes on the same scope. Different scopes make quotes impossible to compare. Our free software quote checker flags what a quote leaves out.
- Tie each payment to something you can test. “Login works on a real phone” beats “50% at the halfway point.”
- Ask how changes are priced. A fixed price only stays fixed if changes are quoted as their own line.
- Vet the people. How to vet an offshore development team covers reviews, repositories, and paid trial tasks.
If you’re comparing hourly quotes, our offshore true-cost calculator adds fees, rework, and your own management time to the rate.
Where Dawloom fits
Dawloom is a small studio, a team of about ten in Pakistan. We bill $30 an hour, or by milestone from a written scope. For a clearly scoped milestone we agree a fixed price. Each payment is tied to a deliverable you can look at and accept, and scope changes become their own priced line.
There are no fees on top of the quote when you hire us directly. We don’t publish a minimum, and there’s no escrow. Our reviews are 4.9 from 343 on Fiverr and 5.0 from 156 on Freelancer.com. We have no Clutch profile.
Pick someone else if you want hourly staff augmentation with no defined scope, someone on site, or a platform holding your money in escrow. Upwork and Fiverr Pro both do that last part.
FAQ
What is cheaper than Toptal?
On published rates, Arc.dev lists $15 to $110+ an hour and Upwork’s own rate guide shows $20 to $150+ by experience. Toptal publishes no rates, so a direct comparison needs a Toptal quote. For a defined project, a fixed price from Fiverr Pro, Upwork, or an agency lets you compare totals instead of rates.
Does Toptal do fixed-price projects?
Toptal’s pricing page describes hourly, part-time, or full-time work “for a fixed price on a weekly basis.” Toptal also sells consulting services. Its web development services page lists “fixed scope, time-and-materials, or work on retainer” as engagement models buyers should weigh, but it publishes no fixed-price terms of its own. Ask Toptal for a fixed-scope quote if you want one.
Does Toptal charge a deposit?
We couldn’t find a deposit on Toptal’s FAQ or pricing page on 2026-10-13. The FAQ lists a $79 monthly subscription. Several third-party pages mention a $500 deposit. Confirm with Toptal before you budget for it.
Is Upwork or Fiverr better for a fixed-price project?
Both hold your money until you approve the work. Upwork lets you hire an agency and pay by milestone on a custom scope. Fiverr Pro suits work that fits a pre-priced gig. Fees are 5% plus a contract fee on Upwork Basic, and 5.5% on Fiverr, both checked 2026-10-13.
Who should not use a fixed price?
Teams that need ongoing work with changing priorities. A fixed price needs a written scope. If the scope changes every week, every change becomes a new quote, and an hourly or monthly model is simpler.
If you have a defined project and want a fixed price, tell us what you’re building and we’ll send a written scope before any number.