Toptal vs Hire With Near vs Teilur Talent: Cost & fees compared

Published on
Aug 26, 2024
Written by
Maria del Mar Agudelo
EDITED by
Juan David Rodríguez
Read time
5 Minutes
Category
Transparency Research

Choosing the right platform for hiring remote tech talent is essential for organizations seeking to integrate high-quality skills into their projects efficiently. This detailed comparison between Toptal vs Hire With Near vs Teilur Talent examines three key aspects: pricing transparency, talent quality, and service adaptability. By exploring the unique features and benefits of each platform, businesses can make informed decisions tailored to their specific remote talent acquisition requirements.

Overview of each platform: Toptal vs Hire With Near vs Teilur Talent

Teilur Talent

Teilur Talent excels with its clear pricing model and specialization in Latin American IT talent, ensuring a significant portion of payments directly benefits the talent. This approach promotes cost-effectiveness and fair compensation. By focusing on the Latin American market, Teilur Talent offers unique nearshore benefits that enhance project alignment and efficiency, addressing cultural and time zone compatibilities.

Key features and services offered:

  • Specialization in Latin American talent: Ensures deep understanding of the regional talent pool.
  • Transparent fair pricing: Guarantees that at least 80% of the client's investment goes to the talent.
  • Team integration focus: Developers become integral parts of client teams, aligning with company goals and values.
Teilur Talent website

Toptal

Toptal serves as a vast marketplace for freelance talent, offering flexible pricing that can include significant fees, as freelancers set their rates which Toptal tops with its fees. The platform prides itself on a selective vetting process, admitting only the top 3% of talent. This structure, while ensuring high quality, often leads to higher overall costs for clients, with some reports indicating monthly charges exceeding $20,000 for experienced developers.

Key features and services offered:

  • Global freelancer network: Access to top-tier freelancers worldwide.
  • Flexible engagements: Adaptable pricing fitting various project scopes.
  • Selective vetting process: Comprehensive screening ensures only elite professionals are admitted.
Toptal

Learn more about: Toptal recruitment process

Hire With Near

Hire With Near offers comprehensive hiring solutions, specializing in Latin American talent. They manage everything from sourcing to onboarding and payroll, promising a zero-risk policy. However, their pricing model, which includes a 30% finder’s fee or monthly compensation fee, and a requirement for six months of fees upon hiring, can be complex and potentially inflexible.

Key features and services offered:

  • Latin American talent specialization: Provides nearshore benefits with a focus on regional expertise.
  • Comprehensive hiring solutions: Includes sourcing, onboarding, and payroll management.
  • Zero-risk policy: Promises competitive benefits but with complex fee structures.
Hire With near website

Learn more about: Hire with Near alternative

Pricing & fees comparison

When it comes to expanding your team with remote tech talent, understanding the true cost is essential. Transparent pricing not only helps avoid hidden costs but also allows you to make strategic decisions that align with your budget and operational goals. In this section, we will examine how Toptal, Hire With Near, and Teilur Talent differ in their pricing structures and fees, providing a clear breakdown to help you grasp the full cost implications of each service.

Pricing and Features Comparison

Pricing and Features Comparison

Feature Teilur Talent Toptal Hire With Near
Pricing and fees Transparent per-candidate pricing. Detailed prices in the calculator below this blog. $90 to $170+/hr, includes fees, flexible Net 10 billing. 30% finder's fee or 30% of monthly compensation, complex fees.
Talent quality and vetting process AI-driven selection and dedicated team ensure technical and cultural fit. Selective process admits only top 3% of the candidates. Comprehensive but complex vetting, regional focus.
Global reach and accessibility Specializes in Latin American talent, strategic benefits, like the same time zone. Global reach, diverse project capabilities. Latin American talent focus, nearshore advantages.

Pricing & fees

Understanding the actual costs involved is crucial when expanding teams, especially with remote talent. Here, we compare the pricing and fee structures of Teilur Talent, Toptal, and Hire With Near.

  • Teilur Talent: Employs a per-candidate pricing strategy, ensuring transparency and fairness with detailed pricing clearly outlined on the website.
  • Toptal: Charges range from $90 to $170+ per hour, including Toptal's fees. However, the lack of transparency in the fee structure can lead to higher than anticipated costs.
  • Hire With Near: Implements a 30% finder's fee based on the talent's annual compensation or 30% of the monthly compensation. This structure can be complex and inflexible, potentially leading to unpredictable costs.

Talent quality and vetting process

The quality of talent is paramount to the success of projects, and the vetting process plays a critical role in ensuring this quality.

  • Teilur Talent: Utilizes a combination of AI technologies and a dedicated selection team to ensure that all candidates not only meet technical requirements but also fit culturally with hiring companies.
  • Toptal: Maintains a stringent vetting process, admitting only the top 3% of global talent, ensuring a high caliber of professionals.
  • Hire With Near: Uses a comprehensive but complex vetting process focusing on Latin American talent, ensuring regional expertise but with potential challenges in flexibility and adaptability.

Global reach and accessibility

The scope of each platform's talent pool influences their ability to meet diverse project needs across different time zones and regions.

  • Teilur Talent: Specializes in Latin American talent, offering nearshore advantages such as reduced time zone differences, cultural compatibility, and cost-effectiveness, making collaboration with American companies more efficient.
  • Toptal and Hire With Near: Both platforms offer a global reach, catering to clients worldwide and offering a vast array of skills and specialties, though Hire With Near focuses more on Latin American talent for nearshore advantages.

Our thoughts on the pricing structure of Toptal 

While it's not possible for us to find details about how much of what a client pays ultimately goes to a candidate, we believe clients looking for transparent and straightforward pricing may want to look at other alternatives.

Our opinion is that if they are charging a client more than $12,000 monthly for a developer, they should at the very least be giving $9,600 to the candidate, but it's likely that it's even less than that.


What Hiring Managers Should Ask Before Choosing a Talent Partner

Before partnering with any talent provider — whether Toptal, Teilur, or others — hiring managers should consider asking the following key questions:

  • What percentage of the fee actually goes to the talent?

  • Are replacement or satisfaction guarantees included in the contract?

  • How are regional salary benchmarks determined?

  • Is there full transparency in how rates are broken down?

  • What is the long-term cost difference between hiring directly and through a platform?

These questions can help businesses make informed decisions and ensure that pricing aligns with both market realities and ethical compensation practices.

Toptal vs Teilur Talent Comparison
Concept Toptal Teilur Talent
Transparency Pricing details are not publicly disclosed. Clients see a blended hourly rate that includes both Toptal’s fee and the freelancer’s pay. Fully transparent rate breakdown. Clients see exactly how much goes to the talent and how much is retained by Teilur as a service fee.
Commission / Markup Estimated at up to ~50% based on third-party reports and client testimonials. The exact markup percentage is not officially stated. Capped at 20%, ensuring that at least 80% of the client’s payment goes directly to the developer.
Monthly Subscription Fee $79/month, non-optional, grants access to Toptal’s vetted talent network. (Source: Toptal website). No subscription fees. Clients only pay when hiring or engaging talent.
Initial Deposit $500 refundable deposit required to begin a talent search. No upfront deposit required to start the matching process.
Trial Policy Two-week no-risk trial. Clients are billed only if satisfied with the match. N/A (direct matching) – Teilur focuses on pre-vetted, long-term placements with transparent trial terms discussed case by case.
Pricing Range (Developers) $60–$200+ per hour depending on experience and project complexity (includes platform markup). $6,000–$7,000/month for senior LATAM developers, equivalent to ~$35–$45/hour — transparent, with no hidden markups.
Payment Structure Bi-monthly invoices; payment terms like Net 10. Includes blended rate. Monthly invoices with clear cost breakdown (talent pay + Teilur fee).
Toptal vs Teilur Talent Comparison
Concept Toptal Teilur Talent
Business Model Global freelance marketplace connecting clients with vetted professionals in software, design, and finance. LATAM-focused recruitment company connecting businesses with full-time remote developers and tech professionals.
Selectivity Claim Claims to accept less than 3% of applicants, based on its internal screening process. Works only with pre-vetted, bilingual professionals in LATAM, selected for technical and communication skills.
Recruitment Process Multi-stage: timed skills test → English interview → real-world project → live screen evaluation. Direct evaluation of experience, portfolio, and communication ability. Matches candidates by vertical (QA, Software, Cybersecurity, Data & BI) and company culture.
Trial or Test Period Offers a two-week trial, refundable if client isn’t satisfied. No fixed trial period — focuses on long-term retention and transparent onboarding.
Contract Type Typically weekly contracts (20 or 40 hours) with limited flexibility for short-term projects. Flexible monthly agreements, allowing scalability per project scope and company needs.
Transparency Pricing details not publicly disclosed. Clients see a blended hourly rate including Toptal’s markup. Fully transparent pricing model. Clients see how much goes to the developer and how much is Teilur’s service fee.
Commission / Markup Estimated around 40–50%, based on user reports and external reviews. Capped at 20%. At least 80% of client payment goes directly to the developer.
Initial Deposit Requires a $500 refundable deposit to start the search process. No upfront deposit required.
Client Support Account managers available during hiring and engagement. Support quality varies by project. Personalized support from start to finish, ensuring alignment for both client and talent.
Developer Pay Transparency Developers are contractually restricted from disclosing their actual pay rates. Developers know their full compensation and see transparent rate breakdowns.
Geographic Focus Global, with talent from Eastern Europe, Asia, and LATAM. Exclusive to Latin America, optimizing time-zone alignment and cultural fit.
Turnover Rate Not publicly disclosed. Reported below 15%, reflecting strong retention and satisfaction.
Best For Large enterprises or teams needing globally distributed freelance specialists. U.S. and international companies seeking transparent, long-term partnerships with vetted LATAM developers.

Need help with cost expectations?

Our hiring costs vary depending on the candidate's accepted offer. Use our calculator to estimate costs for different roles.

These are our recommended salaries, but clients are free to set their own rates.

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Client Reviews

Teilur Talent
Teilur Talent Reviews
Madhulika Sharma

Teilur Talent featured in...

"Argentina offers highly competitive labor costs compared to other nearshoring destinations. With a strong focus on software and IT services, Argentina's tech talent pool is growing, and the country is already a resource for tech giants like Google."

Teilur Talent featured in...

"Brazil offers an attractive combination of cost-effectiveness and high-quality talent. With reportedly more than 500,000 software developers and an impressive annual growth rate, Brazil boasts the largest tech talent pool in LATAM."

Teilur Talent featured in...

"Teilur Talent recognized as the top IT Recruiting & Staffing firm in Latin America, Teilur Talent has made valuable contributions towards making the IT workspace more efficient and streamlined."

Teilur Talent featured in...

"Teilur Talent is the world’s first talent development network connecting U.S. tech startups and remote developers from Latin America!"

At Teilur, Inc, we are committed to accuracy and fairness in all our content. Our discussions and comparisons, particularly those concerning other businesses in the recruitment industry, are grounded in the best interpretations made by our dedicated staff, based on publicly available information. We hold a deep respect for the unique qualities of each organization within our field and strive to offer valuable insights rooted in our core beliefs about the recruitment industry's workings. If you encounter any factual inaccuracies in our content, we encourage you to reach out to us at content-research@teilurtalent.com with the specific URL in question. Your feedback is invaluable, and we are committed to reviewing and addressing your concerns.

Got questions? We've got answers.

1

How is Teilur Talent different from other tech recruiting companies in LATAM?

At Teilur Talent, we take a mission-focused approach to recruiting, ensuring that our candidates are aligned with your company's vision and goals. Unlike other tech recruiting companies in LATAM, who may focus solely on technical skills, we prioritize the cultural fit and dedication of our team members to your company. For this reason, we do not support project contractor or freelancer roles. Instead, we focus on fully devoted team members who will help you achieve long-term success.

2

How does Teilur Talent attract and retain the best talent compared to other companies?

At Teilur Talent, we offer our candidates competitive salaries that are 2x to 3x higher than what tech companies would pay locally. This allows us to attract top talent and retain highly motivated and loyal team members. Additionally, we focus on finding candidates whose values align with the purpose, vision, and mission of our clients. This approach ensures that our engineers and tech talent are not just coding and completing task rather, they become part of a greater purpose, which gives them meaning and helps us attract and retain the best talent.

3

What are the typical tech roles that Teilur Talent recruits for?

At Teilur Talent, we specialize in recruiting for a wide range of tech roles that are typically in high demand. These include positions such as DevOps engineers, AI Developers, QA analysts and engineers, back-end and front-end developers, data scientists, product managers, business developers, and technical sales positions. Essentially, we recruit for most roles that are needed in B2B and B2C tech-focused businesses.

4

What are Teilur Talent's fees and pricing structure?

At Teilur Talent, we believe in transparency. We charge a flat rate fee of 20% of what the client pays. This way, our clients know exactly what they are paying for and how much the candidate gets. As an example: If a client hires a software engineer for $60,000 per year ($5,000 per month), Teilur's monthly fee would be $1,000 (20% of $5,000). We don't believe in hidden fees or unwanted surprises, so we disclose all costs upfront to both candidates hired and companies. When exploring other alternatives, make sure they are transparent about their pricing. We believe this is paramount for the benefit of all parties involved in this new era of remote work.

5

What is the candidate screening process at Teilur Talent, and how do you ensure a good fit for my company?

At Teilur Talent, we take candidate screening very seriously. We use a multi-layered approach to find the best candidates for our clients, starting with screening thousands of candidates from our internal and proprietary networks. We leverage AI technology to assess whether a candidate matches the technical skills required for a given job opening. We also perform additional personal evaluations to ensure that the candidate has the soft skills, culture fit, and English language skills required to excel in their new role. Our rigorous screening process ensures that only the best candidates make it through to our clients, saving them time and helping them find the best talent for their teams.