5 Braintrust Competitors for Hiring Software Engineers in 2025

Looking for a low-cost way to hire skilled software engineers? Braintrust could be the answer. A decentralized talent network, the platform uses blockchain to match tech talent with employers,  eliminating intermediaries and allowing clients and freelance developers to connect directly. While the platform offers an innovative way of matching talent to employers, it does come with some challenges and drawbacks, including a difficult-to-navigate marketplace, a lack of rigorous vetting, and a limited amount of talent. That’s why you should consider these five Braintrust competitors as alternatives.

How Braintrust Works

Primarily focusing on complex design and tech projects, Braintrust uses blockchain technology to provide a marketplace with roles spanning technologies and niches, such as iOS developers, UI/UX designers, web developers, Python developers, and data scientists. The platform also includes marketing, legal, and finance roles related to the software development process. 

Braintrust verifies identity, skills, work history, and communication abilities prior to matching, saying it vets candidates in less than four hours. According to the platform, positions are filled in an average of 13 days. 

The company uses an AI system called Braintrust AIR to match candidates to openings. You’ll get AI-generated interview questions and customizable job descriptions. AIR also generates scorecards and videos to help make the hiring process more efficient and presents five matches instantly.

Focusing on developers, designers, marketers, and researchers, Braintrust fills freelance roles. Candidates complete applications, browse available openings, and submit job applications. They may also undergo a 10-minute video screening to earn an “Approved Talent” badge. 

Braintrust’s unique selling point is that it eliminates traditional intermediaries. According to the platform, this means greater autonomy for both parties since they can connect directly and leads to faster hiring. 

Clients can manage projects through the platform, which is equipped with communication, task tracking, and collaboration features. Freelancers also invoice through the platform, and Braintrust says it facilitates compliance as well.

Braintrust charges a 15% flat fee of the total amount the client pays for the project, while freelancers keep 100% of their earnings. Contributors come from roughly 100 countries, according to Braintrust, although around half are in the US.

Why Look to Braintrust Competitors?

Difficult to Navigate

The decentralized nature of Braintrust’s model can be confusing for clients to navigate. This is particularly true for clients who don’t have experience with token governance and blockchain. The broad focus and network can make it difficult to find niche talent and expertise, and there is limited support available.

Less Thorough Vetting

Some reviews complain that talent is not thoroughly vetted and screening is minimal. After all, quick matches don’t necessarily mean quality matches. Braintrust eliminates the middleman, but the intermediary is sometimes necessary for ensuring quality matches. 

Limited Amount of Talent

Compared with several of the Braintrust competitors, the platform has fewer opportunities. There is not as wide a range of niches as many talent marketplaces offer. 

Freelancer Focus

Braintrust exclusively facilitates freelancer hiring, not full-time hiring. This won’t work for businesses looking for full-time, in-house software engineers.

5 Braintrust Competitors

If Braintrust doesn’t seem like the right fit, here are five Braintrust competitors offering top tech talent. 

Terminal

Like Braintrust, Terminal takes a community approach to tech hiring. The talent marketplace offers a wide variety of niches, such as AI, data science, cloud, mobile development, and more. It employs a rigorous and transparent vetting process, using a combination of AI and human recruitment professionals dedicated to finding top talent. Only the top 7% of candidates pass the screening. Clients praise the fast turnaround and strong candidates.

Terminal focuses on key regions with qualified tech talent: Latin America, Europe, and Canada. The company’s deep regional expertise allows it to understand local employment laws and provide a seamless experience with the candidate and the employer. All engineers have strong English proficiency, and nearshore talent pipelines ensure overlapping business hours for real-time communication.

The marketplace includes full-time engineers, contractors, and teams. Terminal can also be an Employer of Record, navigating complex local hiring regulations and taking the HR and admin burden off your plate.

The talent Terminal sources costs up to 40% less than US hiring. Plus, you’ll enjoy a 14-day risk-free trial period at no cost.

Turing

An AI-based recruiting platform, Turing has a pool of global, pre-vetted software engineers, including 1 million+ developers from more than 140 countries. Clients can view in-depth developer profiles with specialized skills, including data science, design, and various programming languages.

Turing has a thorough vetting process, with candidates going through several comprehensive tests. Matching is based on project needs, experience, and skills. Clients get a list of pre-vetted developers before interviewing candidates and beginning the trial period. According to Turing, developers are matched to clients within 3-5 business days. The platform also assembles teams. 

Geared toward long-term, full-time arrangements, Turing offers support including time-tracking, communication tools, and performance monitoring. 

One main drawback to using talent from Turing is the high costs. The price is based on the developer’s asking rates—which can be as much as $200/hour in some cases—and the client must also pay a fee that includes the developer’s salary plus a commission. The high-cost nature of the services can make them prohibitive for SMEs and startups. Turing does offer a free two-week trial period.

Reviews say the matches aren’t always strong, either. The platform isn’t concentrated in specific areas, which can make time zone coordination difficult. Clients note that communication can be challenging, including with Turing’s customer service. It’s also mainly focused on longer-term arrangements, not ideal for part-time or short-term commitments.

Recently, Turing has shifted its business model away from finding developers for your projects or team to Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) training.

Upwork

Upwork is a large freelancer marketplace with a wide variety of specialties, not just tech. Clients post projects and freelancers bid on them. The platform uses algorithms to provide candidate shortlists to clients, surfacing the ones that are likely to be the best fits.

There are three models: Marketplace (5% service fee), Business Plus (10% service fee), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Recently, the platform changed its fixed 10% service fee to a variable fee of up to 15% for freelancers. This can mean high costs; clients must pay freelancer fees plus the added costs Upwork charges.

There is also no vetting from Upwork itself. You’ll have to do the legwork yourself based on the candidate’s portfolio and reviews. While there is some limited freelancer testing to ensure the freelancers have basic skills for the services they offer, the screening is minimal, and it’s easy to cheat. 

Upwork also has no in-market support. Clients may contend with time zone and language barriers. Plus, it’s freelance-only, with no full-time software engineers.

Toptal

Toptal is a well-known freelance marketplace with mainly tech talent, including software engineers, designers, project managers, and product engineers. The network spans more than 100 countries, although most hires come from Europe and the Americas. 

Known for its rigorous, comprehensive recruitment and assessment process, Toptal ensures English language proficiency and offers thorough vetting and candidate matching, using AI and human experts to match talent to your project. 

One of Toptal’s main drawbacks is the high costs, which can be as much as $200 or more, depending on the freelancer’s qualifications and skills and the project. Clients also pay a flat monthly subscription fee. Moreover, Toptal requires a $500 deposit to begin (refundable if you don’t hire anyone through the platform; otherwise, it goes toward your first payment to the freelancer). It’s mainly geared toward larger enterprises because of this. 

Finally, like several of the other Braintrust competitors, Toptal is only a service to hire freelancers, not full-timers. That means it’s not a good fit for longer-term projects and engagements.

Andela

With a network of more than 150,000 professionals, Andela is a marketplace for hiring software engineers from Africa and Latin America. Skills span numerous niches, including product design, software development, application development, data science, cloud networking, and DevOps.

Clients are matched with candidates who meet their specified criteria, such as budget, goals, and years of experience needed. Employers can interview candidates directly, and Andela takes care of onboarding.

As with several of the Braintrust competitors on this list, Andela performs careful testing and vetting, including an AI-powered English proficiency exam, coding challenges created by Andela’s senior developers, and a live technical interview. Candidates are matched via the AI-powered Talent Decision Engine.

Through Andela’s adaptive hiring approach, employers can hire individuals or staff for managed projects. Specific pricing is not available; rates are set by developers and can be quite high—even as much as $15,000+ per month.

Andela focuses on long-term hires but charges an additional $50,000 fee for converting an Andela developer to a full-timer. You can’t hire talent that has provided less than a year of service to you for a full-time role, and you must replace that developer with another developer from Andela.

Another major drawback? Some clients complain about high turnover and developers’ lack of independence.

Terminal: The Natural Choice for Top Tech Talent

Terminal rises above the other Braintrust competitors because of its comprehensive vetting and matching process, highly qualified software engineers, affordable costs, and transparent processes. Plus, Terminal offers several models and encourages contract-to-hire, while also providing EOR support. 

Want to learn more about Terminal’s services? Browse developers for free and get started with a free trial.