Vietnam
The Philippines
India
Toptal says fewer than 3% of the people who apply to its network are accepted, after a screening process that takes 3 to 8 weeks.
Its client agreement also sets a $50,000 buyout fee if you hire one of its developers outside Toptal within the cooling-off period. Both facts shape the Toptal vs offshore developers decision more than the hourly rate does.
Toptal sells fast access to pre-screened independent contractors, billed by the week or the hour. A provider like Hire Offshore employs a full-time offshore developer in Vietnam, the Philippines or India for one fixed monthly fee. The two routes suit different work, and the published terms show where each one fits.
- Toptal reports that 3% of applicants pass all five of its screening steps, and that matching takes under 24 hours on average.
- Toptal does not publish rates. Its Clutch profile lists $100 to $149 an hour, or $17,379 to $25,856 for a 173-hour month with the $79 subscription.
- Toptal talent are independent contractors. The client agreement assigns their work output to you and has both sides hold it in confidence.
- Hiring a Toptal developer directly within the cooling-off period costs a $50,000 buyout fee. A Hire Offshore offshore developer costs $2,499 to $5,999 a month, all-in.
Toptal vs offshore developers: two different models
Toptal describes itself as a network of independent contractors. In its Sourced Talent Matching Agreement, revised on 17 July 2026, Toptal “curates and operates a proprietary network of select independent contractors” and matches clients with talent from that network.
Section 9.2 states that the talent “are independent contractors and not employees of Toptal”.
A full-time offshore developer through Hire Offshore is an employee. We hold the local employment contract in Vietnam, the Philippines or India, run payroll and statutory benefits, and supply the laptop. The offshore developer works only on your product. The how it works page sets out each step.
| Toptal | Hire Offshore | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer’s status | Independent contractor | Employee under local law |
| Where developers are | Over 100 countries, most in the Americas and Europe | Vietnam, the Philippines and India |
| Price | Rate set per engagement; $79 monthly subscription | $2,499 to $5,999 a month, all-in |
| Engagement | Hourly, part-time (20 hours) or full-time (40 hours) a week | Full-time, rolling monthly |
| Start | Candidates in under 24 hours, hire in about 48 hours | Shortlist of 6 to 8 in 24 hours, hire in 2 weeks |
| Safety net | Trial period, no charge if not satisfied | 90-day replacement guarantee |
Toptal figures come from its FAQ, its developers page and the client agreement, all read on 12 October 2026.
How Toptal screens: the top 3% claim
Toptal’s top 3% page lays out five screening steps and the share of all applicants who clear each one. Its developers page says the network receives more than 200,000 applications a year.
- Language and personality. An English communication interview and a personality assessment. Toptal reports a 26.4% pass rate.
- In-depth skill review. Technical knowledge and problem-solving tests. 7.4% of applicants get through.
- Live screening. A live interview with domain experts. 3.6% pass.
- Test project. A real-world project lasting 1 to 3 weeks. 3.2% pass.
- Continued excellence. Keeping a record of quality work for clients. 3% of applicants remain.
In Toptal’s words, “Of the thousands of applications Toptal sees each month, typically fewer than 3% are accepted.” These are Toptal’s own figures. The page does not say over what period they were measured, and no independent audit of them is published.
The process screens for skill and communication in general. It is not tied to your codebase. Toptal adds a client-specific check through the trial, covered below, and its developers page reports a 98% trial-to-hire rate for its matching.
Hire Offshore screens against the role you send. We shortlist 6 to 8 vetted offshore developers within 24 hours, and you run your own interviews before anyone is hired.
What Toptal charges
Toptal does not publish a rate card. Its pricing page says clients can “work with Toptalers hourly, part-, or full- time for a fixed price on a weekly basis” and lists no recruiting fee. The developers page says the cost “depends on various factors”. In the client agreement, the fee schedule in Exhibit A is a blank template with three fields: a weekly full-time rate for 40 hours, a weekly part-time rate for 20 hours, and an hourly rate.
The one public rate band comes from Toptal’s Clutch profile, which lists an hourly rate of $100 to $149 and a minimum project size of $50,000+. Treat it as a guide: a single engagement can sit above or below the band.
Around the rate, Toptal publishes these terms:
- Subscription. The FAQ states: “We have a flat monthly subscription fee of $79 that is charged if you decide to proceed with talent matching through Toptal.” Under the Platform Subscription terms, the fee is non-refundable unless Toptal cannot present any talent, and cancelling needs written notice three business days before the next billing date, with no active engagement.
- Invoicing. The agreement has Toptal invoice every two weeks, due Net 10. Amounts more than 30 days late accrue interest at 1.5% a month.
- Discount. US clients paying by ACH or bank wire get 3% off each invoice.
- Ending an engagement. Either side can end the agreement or an engagement on 10 business days’ written notice, under Section 5.2.
The no-risk trial
Toptal starts each engagement with a trial. Its pricing page says that if the developer is not “extraordinary”, “you will not be charged”, and that you can keep any work completed during the trial. The FAQ adds that you can start trials with up to three people for each role before choosing one.
The two documents describe the trial length differently. The FAQ says each engagement starts “with a trial period of up to two weeks”. Section 1.3 of the client agreement says “The length of the Trial Period will be five (5) business days unless otherwise agreed in a TOP”, the Talent Outline Plan signed for each engagement.
Read the length in your own plan.
A trial protects the first days of an engagement. Hire Offshore takes a different approach: no trial, and a 90-day replacement guarantee. If an offshore developer does not work out in the first 90 days, we replace them at no extra cost.
Where Toptal talent is located
The Toptal FAQ says: “Currently, we have experts in over 100 countries, most being located in the Americas and Europe.” It adds that the vast majority work remotely, from a home office or a co-working space. Toptal’s homepage reports 35,000+ clients served in 140+ countries.
For a US company, a developer in the Americas shares most of the working day. Hire Offshore works in three countries only. Our offshore developers are based in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang in Vietnam, in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao in the Philippines, and in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune in India. Each offshore developer agrees a schedule before the offer, with 4 to 6 hours of overlap with a US workday.
Contract type, IP and confidentiality
The client agreement settles three points that matter to any engineering lead.
Contractor status. Toptal talent are independent contractors. The agreement does not stop them from working for other clients, and Section 8.1 lets Toptal reuse general know-how to serve other clients.
Code ownership. Under Section 7.1, “Toptal assigns to you all right, title, and interest owned by and vested in Toptal or the Talent” in the work output. Section 7.2 adds a licence to any Toptal or talent IP you need to use that output. The FAQ puts it plainly: “all work created by a Toptal expert is the property of the client”.
Confidentiality. Section 8.1 has each party “hold in confidence and not disclose” the other’s proprietary information, and states that all work output the talent provides to you is your proprietary information.
These are client-friendly terms, and they close the IP gap that a contractor arrangement can leave open. Hire Offshore reaches the same point through employment: every offshore developer signs an NDA and an IP assignment in your favour before starting.
Hiring a Toptal developer full-time
Asked whether a client can hire a Toptal worker full-time into its own company, the FAQ answers: “For the most part, yes. We will work with you to fully understand your specific requirements”.
The agreement prices that move. Section 3 bars the client from hiring or engaging an introduced developer outside Toptal during the cooling-off period, which runs for the length of the developer’s work and 12 months after it. If you decline a developer, it runs for 12 months from the introduction.
Section 4.2 sets the price of doing so anyway: “a buyout fee of Fifty Thousand United States Dollars (USD $50,000)”, due within 30 days. No fee applies once the cooling-off period ends.
A flat fee is simple to budget, and it can be negotiated like any contract term. At the top of the Hire Offshore range, $50,000 pays for about eight months of a full-time offshore developer.
Hire Offshore handles the same move two ways. On the monthly plan we stay the employer for as long as the offshore developer works with you. If you want to employ them yourself from the start, we run a direct-hire placement with a one-time fee from 20% of annual salary.
A month of one developer, priced both ways
For a full-time seat, the useful comparison is one developer for a 173-hour month. At the Clutch band, a Toptal developer costs $17,300 to $25,777 before the subscription, and $17,379 to $25,856 with it.
| Route | Basis | One month | Twelve months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toptal, top of Clutch band | $149 an hour, 173 hours, plus $79 | $25,856 | $310,272 |
| Toptal, bottom of Clutch band | $100 an hour, 173 hours, plus $79 | $17,379 | $208,548 |
| US employee, median | $135,980 pay plus benefits | $16,375 | $196,503 |
| Hire Offshore, top of range | All-in monthly fee | $5,999 | $71,988 |
| Hire Offshore, bottom of range | All-in monthly fee | $2,499 | $29,988 |
The US line uses the median software developer pay of $135,980 in May 2025 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026, wages are 69.2% of total compensation for private-sector professional workers, so pay plus benefits comes to about $196,503 a year.
On these figures, a full-time Toptal developer costs about as much as a US employee, and a full-time offshore developer through Hire Offshore costs 65% to 86% less than a Toptal developer at the bottom of the band. Spread over 173 hours, our fee is about $14 to $35 an hour.
The gap explains why the two routes serve different needs: Toptal prices flexibility and speed into an hourly rate, and a monthly employment fee prices in continuity. Our nearshore vs offshore cost comparison shows the same gap against nearshore vendors.
Toptal developer, full-time
- $17,379 to $25,856 a month at the Clutch band
- Independent contractor; start in days; trial before billing
Hire Offshore offshore developer
- $2,499 to $5,999 a month, all-in
- Employed, dedicated to one team, 90-day replacement guarantee
When Toptal fits, and when a full-time offshore developer does
Speed is where Toptal leads. Its developers page reports an average match in under 24 hours and a typical hire in about 48 hours. A Hire Offshore shortlist also arrives within 24 hours, but the hire takes 2 weeks, because it includes interviews, an offer and a local employment contract.
Toptal fits when
- The work is a short project with a clear end, and paying a premium for weeks rather than months keeps the total low.
- You need a niche expert, such as a specialist in one framework or a senior architect, for a defined problem.
- You need someone working this week, and a 2-week hire is too slow.
- Hours will vary, and part-time or hourly billing matters more than a fixed seat.
- You want most of the working day shared with a developer in the Americas or Europe.
A full-time offshore developer fits when
- The role is ongoing product work, where knowledge of your codebase builds month after month.
- The developer will join your standups, repositories and release cycle for a year or more.
- You may want the developer on your own payroll later, without a $50,000 buyout fee.
- You are hiring several developers, and a monthly cost of $2,499 to $5,999 each changes the budget.
- Your team works well in writing, with 4 to 6 hours of shared time on a shifted schedule.
Some teams use both: full-time offshore developers for the core product and a Toptal specialist for a short, expert piece of work around it. Teams hiring for a specific stack can start from our pages for PHP developers in the Philippines or Java developers in Vietnam.
Hire offshore developers with Hire Offshore
We shortlist 6 to 8 vetted offshore developers from Vietnam, the Philippines or India within 24 hours and complete the hire in 2 weeks. The monthly fee of $2,499 to $5,999 covers salary, payroll, equipment and employment, with no upfront cost, rolling monthly terms and a 90-day replacement guarantee. Each offshore developer signs an NDA and an IP assignment in your favour.
See pricing, read what customers say or send us the role.
FAQ
How much does a Toptal developer cost?
Toptal does not publish rates; each engagement has its own weekly or hourly rate. Its Clutch profile lists $100 to $149 an hour, which comes to $17,379 to $25,856 for a 173-hour month once the $79 monthly subscription is added.
Is Toptal’s trial really free?
Toptal says that if you are not satisfied during the trial, you are not billed, and you keep the work. Its FAQ gives the trial as up to two weeks; the client agreement sets five business days unless your engagement plan says otherwise.
Can I hire a Toptal developer as my own employee?
Toptal’s FAQ says “for the most part, yes”. Its client agreement sets a $50,000 buyout fee for hiring a developer outside Toptal during the engagement and the 12 months after it.
Who owns code written by a Toptal developer?
The client owns it. Section 7.1 of Toptal’s client agreement assigns all rights in the developer’s work output to the client, and Section 8.1 treats that output as the client’s confidential information.