6 Best Andela Alternatives for Hiring Remote Developers in 2024

Andela is an AI-driven IT talent organization that specializes in cultivating and networking highly skilled software developers, predominantly from Africa. It does a solid job and comes with some cool features that we’ll dive into in just a bit. But, as is true for everything under the sun, it’s not perfect and has a few drawbacks worth noting. So let’s discuss Andela — what makes it tick, where it might leave you wanting more — and then we’ll scope out Andela alternatives that might just hit the spot for you.

What is Andela and What are its Features?

Andela is a tech talent company operating on an engineering-as-a-service model. With over 1,000 software engineers working as full-time developers in over 200 major tech companies, the platform helps organizations build remote developer teams quickly, seamlessly, and cost-effectively. Andela has its head office in the US, though it has regional offices in African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

Andela was initially a remote learning platform for African universities, offering students the training and learning resources to develop their skills as software developers. It also helped them find long-term employment at leading tech companies worldwide. The model has shifted a bit, however, as the company no longer hires engineers in training — the focus is now on higher-level developers. 

Here are some of the features Andela brings to the table.

• Andela ensures the developers you hire integrate smoothly into your company by providing hands-on support and monitoring the first 90 days of their stay. 
• It offers expansive programming training in different coding languages and database systems, including Python, Ruby, JavaScript, MongoDB, and React-Native. 
• Andela prescreens its developers, and when providing developer candidates, it relies on AI-powered data-driven matching to ensure you get a developer with the right technical and cultural fit.

Why Consider Andela Alternatives?

Andela offers some good options but there are some limitations. Let’s shine the spotlight on some of those.

• Andela’s foundation is in providing candidates for entry-level developer jobs. As such, even though it has modified its business model to also provide mid, senior, and elite developers, it does not perform as well in this role as Andela competitors. 
• Due to its focus on long-term hires, the company is not a go-to when hiring for minor tech projects that may require short-term developer services. 
• There is little transparency about the Andela pricing model. One thing is pretty clear from reviewers all over the internet as well as the company’s focus on elite recruiting: the Andela pricing is very close to that of market leaders, which makes it bad as a low-budget option.
• Hiring Asian or African remote talent for US companies creates many collaboration and timezone alignment problems that translate into headaches and slowdown. If you’re hiring in the US, you need Andela alternatives that source developer talent from regions with the right timezone alignment to make remote collaboration easier and cheaper.

Depending on your recruitment needs, all these shortfalls make a pretty decent case for considering other companies like Andela that are better on these metrics. So, let’s discuss the top Andela competitors and companies like Andela.

Top Andela Alternatives to Hire Software Engineers

These platforms are the best Andela competitors to consider:

Terminal.io vs Andela

Terminal is a comprehensive platform for hiring full-time and contract software engineers. It additionally offers contract-to-hire arrangements, a service you’ll hardly get on any other platform. Its full-process operations cover every part of recruitment from sourcing and interviewing developer talent to integrating them into your company, offering a reliable and seamless hiring and employing service. 

Terminal leverages both smart technology and a large team of in-market experts highly familiar with the complexities of international hiring and legal compliance. With these tools and expertise in hand, the platform has hired over 1000 software engineers and built over 125 developer teams for various companies. 

Now, let us highlight the key factors regarding Terminal’s service. 

Talent Sourcing 

Terminal sources its developer talents from an expansive global network covering various regions within Europe (Spain, Romania, Hungary, and Poland), Latin America (Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia), and North America (Canada). With developers from these regions, US and EU companies enjoy the benefits of cost and time saving that come with the time zone alignment.

Thousands of developers go through its screening terminal monthly, with only the top 7% being accepted. Moreover, the steady stream of developers through the Terminal ensures there are always ready-set developers for any role you have in mind. So, if you hire developers through Terminal.io, you don’t have to wait long before you have just the person for the job. 

Cost and Pricing

Terminal.io is one of the best Andela competitors when it comes to transparency about pricing — and pricing, itself. An interesting fact: Terminal chose the regions where it operates partly to reduce your costs by 40 to 60% when hiring domestically in the US. 

The minimum and maximum rates on Terminal.io are $4000 to $12000 monthly, respectively. However, you should note that the contractors set their own rates, and the exact price depends on the developer’s rank and seniority. Said rank and experience also determine the few thousand dollars you pay as an onboarding fee, should you decide to fully employ a contractor. 

Contract Terms

Terminal.io offers another major advantage over Andela in that it provides short-term contractual developers just as well as it does long-term hires. You can hire developers for any duration from 3 months to 12 months and even renew contracts beyond their original term. And should you want to modify the contract status to full employment, Terminal.io also makes that very easy to do via its contract-to-hire service. Moreover, you can just hire a full-time employee if you don’t wish to go the contract-to-hire route.

Want to see Terminal’s developer talent instantly? View vetted engineers for free now

CloudDevs vs Andela

CloudDevs is a talent hiring company that provides tech companies access to a pool of over 8000 elite freelance designers and developers. Its operation involves pre-vetting developers from across Latin America and making their services available to clients on demand. CloudDevs developers are skilled in a variety of programming languages, including Ruby on Rails, React JS, Java, .NET, and C languages. 

Talent Sourcing

Geography is quite a factor on CloudDevs, as its services are limited to Latin America. But while this is a bit of a disadvantage, it also means the platform’s resources are more focused, ensuring excellent results for people hiring in the region. We should also point out that developers on CloudDevs have at least 5 years of experience and are from the top 5% that make it through the 5-stage screening process.

Cost and Pricing

Unlike less transparent companies like Andela, CloudDevs charges you at a transparent hourly rate ranging from $45 to $70 — and it does so without compromising quality. 

Contract Terms

You can hire CloudDevs talents on any basis, whether part-time, full-time, or ad hoc. Hiring on the platform is very fast (under 48 hours), and you can immediately get your new developer started on the job on a 7-day free trial basis. Suppose that you are dissatisfied with the assigned developer at any point within their contract’s duration; CloudDevs will allow you to cancel their contract or request a new developer who will also start on a 7-day free trial basis.

Toptal vs Andela

Toptal is less of a company and more of a curated, exclusive network of highly talented freelancers from around the world. Unlike the other Andela alternatives we have discussed so far, it has a broader range of talents on offer.  It can provide you with freelance workers to fill any role, from design and development to finance, project management, and editing. On the flipside of that, Toptal is less specialized in hiring developers, which means less developer expertise compared to, say, Terminal.io. 

Talent Sourcing

Toptal draws a broad range of freelance talent and expertise from a global pool comprising the top 3% that make it through its vetting process. The process follows 5 stages and applies everything from live screenings and personality tests to in-depth skill reviews and test projects to ensure it accepts talents of only the highest caliber. 

Cost and Pricing

Like the other Andela competitors, Toptal is transparent about its pricing, and it aims to achieve affordability without sacrificing quality. It charges moderately, starting with a $500 upfront deposit, which gets returned if you change your mind about hiring. Once you hire, the rates are $60 to $200 hourly. 

Contract Terms

Toptal’s contract terms are flexible, allowing you to hire on part-time, long-term, and short-term bases. It’s also possible to transition freelance talent from contract to hired or full-time status, as long as you meet certain conditions. However, Toptal does not offer any full-time hiring options. For a bit of icing on top, the freelance talents you hire from the platform start on a 2-week trial, and you are allowed to start with up to three on trial. Should you find the results satisfactory and wish to continue, you get billed for the time; if you’re not, there is no bill. 

Gun.io vs Andela

Gun.io describes itself as the fastest way to hire world-class developers. It’s a website that can connect any tech company to highly skilled software developers, handpicked and matched to them by a team of highly experienced engineers. This is probably the biggest advantage Gun.io has over nearly all the other Andela competitors — that its developer talent is picked by highly experienced experts and not entirely AI or recruiters. The exception is Terminal, which brings the best of both human experience/expertise and AI to bear in providing flawless matches between developers and open roles in companies. 

Its hiring times are reasonably short, as you can meet your prospective developer within 24 hours and hire them in less than 2 weeks. 

Talent Sourcing

Gun.io operates globally, connecting tech companies and startups with talent from virtually every country. All that talent traffic passes through its rigorous vetting process, which involves a review of background and work history, some algorithmic screening, and a live interview with a senior software engineer. The major downside to Gun.io in this regard is that its highly rigorous vetting and invite-only pool of talents will greatly limit the options you get to choose from.

Cost and Pricing

Gun.io does not charge any minimum commitment or initiation fee; it does not charge you anything until you sign a contract with one of its developers. And speaking of interacting with the developers, directly doing so is not possible until you sign a contract; until you do, you interact only through Gun.io.

Pricing on the platform is non-standardized since developers can set their own retainers. Your specifications and the project magnitude also factor in. 

Even though the rates are variable, Gun.io does state that its retainers begin at $5000 monthly. 

Contract Terms

You can hire Gun.io talents under any of three different agreements: contract engagements, contract to hire, and full-time hire. If you do hire a developer, the platform will require you to sign a two-year non-solicitation agreement; and if you want to continue the work arrangement after the end of the initial one, you can request a new agreement. 

Fiverr vs Andela

Fiverr is a long-established Andela competitor that serves as a marketplace to connect low-cost freelance service providers with companies and startups that need their services. It has famously pioneered “gig work,” the practice of hiring freelance workers based on time or task-limited orders. 

Talent Sourcing

Of the various Andela alternatives we have briefly reviewed so far, Fiverr offers the most diverse set of freelance talents for hire. You can find different talents for hire, from graphic designers and software programmers to translators, content writers, and voice-over artists. 

Fiverr’s major shortfall in talent sourcing is that it has no vetting process to remove unqualified candidates. So, hiring on Fiver requires closer involvement on your part regarding vetting developers. On the bright side, you can find and hire almost any skill level you want once you confirm they meet your requirements. 

Cost and Pricing

Many factors affect how much you’ll pay a developer, including their know-how, skillset, and location. Still, you get to know how much you’ll pay upfront. You also get to choose whether to pay hourly or task-based rates, and you do not have to pay until you approve of the task underway. Overall, depending on the factors we mentioned in the previous section, a Fiverr developer may charge you anything from $15 to $695 per task or hour.

Contract Terms

Fiverr’s “gig” model makes it a splendid place to find developers if you have a project that requires hiring someone for a short time — say, a few days to a month. Once the task you want done is complete, the contract ends according to the terms you agreed with the developer. If you are unsatisfied with a developer’s performance, you can cancel the arrangement and seek a refund. However, if you cancel the project halfway through, you both have to agree on the cancellation before you can receive a full refund.

Arc.dev vs Terminal

Arc.dev is an AI-powered platform that provides companies with pre-approved software developers for hiring. It has professionals skilled at Junior, mid-, and elite levels in many technologies, including AWS, JavaScript, and DevOps. 

Talent Sourcing

Arc.dev is a tech talent hiring company like Andela, so its skill scope is similar. But then, it sources developer talent from all around the globe, which is a significant advantage over Andela. Hiring with Arc means access to a more geographically diverse talent pool than Andela can offer. 

Cost and Pricing 

The pricing is much more affordable on Arc.dev than on Andela. First, the platform can list its developers according to budget range, enabling you to make more informed cost considerations. When you hire, the rates are typically between $40 and $100 per hour, depending on the developer’s expertise and skillset. However, the fact that there are no known upper limits to its pricing is a significant shortfall; it means your annual expenditure on developer salaries may significantly exceed what you might spend on other platforms. 

Contract Terms

While Andela’s focus on long-term senior and elite-level hires makes it less able to provide more flexible arrangements, Arc.dev does not have the same problem. It is a platform designed to offer both full-time hires and other arrangements, such as freelance, contract-to-hire, and part-time.

The Best of Andela Alternative to Hire Developers

Terminal stands out among Andela competitors as the best for hiring highly skilled developers for your team. It beats all the other competitors offering the best balancing of all the metrics we have looked at. 

The Terminal hiring platform strikes a balance between pricing and developer quality better than the rest. Terminal ensures the costs of hiring a developer and collaborating remotely with them are much lower than you can obtain elsewhere. Furthermore, it offers hiring flexibility, allowing you to opt for any contract time frame between 3 and 12 months, with the option of extending the contract further if you need to, or full-time hires. By comparison, Andela is mostly focused on long-term contracts. 

Terminal is also one of the best of the Andela competitors in terms of hiring speed. Its ever-flowing pipeline of developer talent from Europe, Latin America, and North America means there is always a sizable pool of ready-to-go talents that can fill any role on demand. It takes between 7 to 14 days to hire developers on Terminal; by contrast, it may take up to 3 weeks with companies like Andela.

Terminal helps you save 40 to 60% in cost by opening up more cost effective global talent pool. We also help you hire up to 40% faster through our always-on recruiting pipeline, ensuring you have great candidates immediately for your roles. Get started by viewing talent today, or contact us for more info!