Top VanHack Alternatives for Hiring Remote Developers in 2026

Navigating the remote developer market can be confusing, especially if you’re new to it. There are loads of platforms to choose from, and it can be challenging to decide if the ones recommended are as good as presented. In this article, we discuss one of the popularly recommended remote hiring hubs that may already be on your to-try list: VanHack Inc. 

VanHack is a tech talent-hiring platform that claims to be the fastest way to hire remote developers. It was founded in 2015 and has a talent pool of thousands of tech professionals from across the globe, including fully remote workers and digital nomads. While the platform has strengths, it also has some weaknesses that could prompt you to try VanHack alternatives. 

Here, we will show you some competing platforms that may offer more than this hiring agency does. First, we present a balanced overview of VanHack’s selling points and drawbacks.

VanHack Platform Features 

According to the website, VanHack aims to offer a global hiring service that empowers tech developers and makes their services readily available wherever needed. Its features are:

• As a tech-only hiring platform, VanHack is highly specialized. All of its resources are dedicated to tech talent hiring.
• VanHack sources the developers (VanHackers) in its talent pool from over 190 countries around the globe, enabling you to find developers from different regions and cultural backgrounds.
• The platform claims to be very budget-friendly. Its pricing is transparent: $3,000 USD/month, with unlimited hires, or 20% of the hired developer’s first-year salary.

• If you would prefer to have your developers on-site, VanHack can offer some assistance. The website says it has an in-house team of global mobility experts who will help with the visa and relocation process. 
• VanHack offers some support for onboarding, although the hiring organization must carry out the bulk of the process.
• VanHack’s AI-powered system uses matching algorithms to scan through its database of available candidates and provides a shortlist of 3-5 candidate profiles, complete with reviews and recordings.
• VanHack hosts virtual hiring events, including hiring fairs, speed interviews, and more. These events allow employers to connect directly with candidates.

Why Consider VanHack Alternatives? 

While VanHack has several selling points, it is lacking in a few key areas.

• While VanHack operates globally, most of its hiring partners are based in Canada, Europe, and the UK. 
• VanHack offers no trial periods.
• While the platform’s average hiring time of 2–4 weeks is shorter than most in-house hiring timelines, that’s still longer than many of the VanHack competitors. Moreover, several reviews mention that the screening process is very long.
• Despite VanHack’s vetting process, some reviews complain of quality concerns with candidate performance and management.
• Reviews also critique VanHack’s AI-powered matching system, saying there is a potential for bias and, again, can lead to poor-fit matches. 

VanHack Alternatives to Hire Developers

Now we’ve seen what VanHack offers and what it doesn’t, what other platforms should you consider? Here, we’ll look at the top VanHack alternatives.

1. Terminal.io

Terminal is one of the most popular VanHack alternatives, and it’s not hard to see why. It offers top features with none of the shortfalls. While both platforms are tech talent-focused, Terminal has a more reliable track record of talent-to-job matchings, even tailoring each match to the specific employer.

Like VanHack, Terminal.io is an AI-powered platform. However, it’s less reliant on artificial intelligence, combining the technology with the skills of its human industry experts. The result is a curated and personalized hiring experience, a contrast to VanHack’s comparatively impersonal services. Terminal also outranks VanHack in the following ways:

• Since it relies on human experience and artificial intelligence, Terminal can better navigate the intricacies of the developer talent industry and find the right professionals to satisfy custom sourcing requests. It can also better protect you against fraudulent or unethical workers with its in-depth vetting and capacity to detect fake resumes.
• Although Terminal.io mainly focuses on recruiting and hiring mid to elite-level developers, it also has many entry-level developers.
• Terminal.io hires much more quickly than VanHack. You can get a shortlist of qualified candidates within 48 hours and hire within 14 days.
• Terminal.io offers incentives that far outclass VanHack’s. For example, it offers a risk-free trial period of up to 14 days. 
• Unlike VanHack, which mainly focuses on businesses in Canada, the UK, and the EU, Terminal partners with businesses around the globe, with many US employers hiring from the platform. Meanwhile, engineers come from the fast-emerging talent markets of Latin America, Europe, and Canada.

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

2. BairesDev

One of the most well-known VanHack alternatives, BairesDev is a 4,000-developer platform offering different types of tech talent. The company specializes in hiring nearshore talent, focusing mainly on engineers from Latin America. BairesDev offers several models, including software outsourcing, teams, and staff augmentation. 

Selling Points

Unlike VanHack, BairesDev’s services are more globally available. Along with the US, the company provides nearshore development for companies in Canada, as well as offshore hiring for companies in Europe and beyond. BairesDev also offers several hiring and engagement options and performs a thorough vetting process, one of its main selling points. 

Shortfalls

BairesDev has some drawbacks. The price is steep, although the company does not post its costs, and there is no free trial period available, unlike Terminal and some other VanHack alternatives. It’s not ideal for startups and small companies due to its steep costs and model geared toward larger enterprises. Moreover, developers report mixed experiences, which could impact the quality of their work.

3. CloudDevs

CloudDevs is another Latin America-focused tech talent hiring company that provides global hiring services, similar to Terminal. The company has an 8,000-developer talent pool and performs rigorous vetting. 

Selling Points

Like VanHack, CloudDevs specializes in hiring tech talent. Costs are a bit more budget-friendly, around $45–$75 per hour, along with a $500 deposit and a 7-day risk-free trial. CloudDevs is a speedier service, too, with the matching process usually taking just 1–2 days. 

CloudDevs offers flexibility as well. You can hire both freelancers and full-time developers depending on your needs.

Shortfalls

Some reviews complain about CloudDev’s less-than-thorough vetting process, particularly compared to VanHack alternatives like Terminal, among others. It also has a less “global” talent pool than many of its competitors, along with some communication and collaboration hiccups.

4. Lemon.io

Founded in 2015, Lemon draws senior developers from Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the US. It focuses exclusively on tech talent, from mobile developers and game developers to AI engineers and data analysts.

Lemon.io mainly targets startups and small teams, filling positions quickly with freelance tech talent.

Selling Points

Lemon uses a thorough vetting process, including soft skills screenings and technical interviews. It also performs fast developer matching—1–2 days on average, and another two days for them to get to work.

There’s a free replacement guarantee if the client is unhappy with their developer, and the platform allows transitions to permanent hires or moving developer relationships off-platform. This requires a one-time fee of $14,000. Lemon takes care of payments and administrative support, and you get weekly reports about your project’s progress.

Shortfalls

In order to use Lemon.io’s services, you must provide an upfront deposit and commit to at least 160 hours of work. Some reviews complain that the developer pool is small, especially compared with other VanHack alternatives.

Matching isn’t always seamless, especially when it comes to niche projects or skills needed. Reviews also suggest that customer service is sub-par, and matching isn’t always ideal. Support during projects is limited, too.

5. Arc.dev

Arc offers a large, remote talent marketplace spanning 190 countries. Through the platform, you can hire a variety of freelance or full-time professionals, including developers, designers, marketers, product managers, project managers, and assistants. 

Arc boasts vetted developers and an AI-powered platform that enables you to see candidates immediately. 

Selling Points

The platform provides comprehensive vetting for domain expertise and English skills, and the process is quick and efficient. Through a large global pool of developers, you can access both full-time and freelance talent. If you’re unhappy with your match, you can be matched with another developer within the first three months free of charge. Arc also offers a two-week free trial, and you can interview candidates directly.

Shortfalls

Arc isn’t limited to tech talent, which means less dedication to the engineering niche. It also extends across categories like virtual assistants and content writers. Developers tend to have high rates, as much as $110/hour, plus an initial $300 deposit. There are additional hiring fees as well. 

The platform depends on AI for matching, which can lead to mismatches. While Arc claims to be efficient, some reviews complain of significantly longer hiring timelines than stated. There is also limited support once you’ve hired your developer.

6. Naprok

Naprok is an AI-powered remote tech team hiring platform headquartered in Cherkasy, Ukraine. It is one of the best VanHack alternatives in terms of fraud protection, second only to Terminal.io, and it has a known track record of reliably hiring developer talent for popular tech companies like Google and Facebook. 

Selling Points

Naprok only recruits and hires developers, making it highly specialized in tech. It is also very transparent about the pricing for hiring a team, which has a weekly cost of $1,500. Naprok also performs thorough vetting and provides a 14-day free trial. According to the platform, it takes only 24 hours to find suitable developers. Within a few days, you can set up interviews.

Shortfalls

Naprok’s biggest drawback is its focus on hiring teams instead of individual developers. Moreover, it offers a project-based model, so you work with developers for discrete projects rather than on an as-needed basis. This makes it a less flexible platform than VanHack competitors like Terminal. Moreover, while Naprok claims to hire global engineers, most are concentrated in Europe.

7. ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is among the most popular and accessible remote talent platforms available. The platform has two offices in the US: its headquarters in Santa Monica, California, and the Arizona branch office. It also has offices in London and Tel Aviv. 

ZipRecruiter functions as more of a job posting space than a hiring platform. If you need a task done or have an open role in your project, you post it on the platform. ZipRecruiter then runs your posting through over 100 job sites, drawing applications from developers with skillsets suited for the job. You can then screen their applications, assign the job, and track their progress, all using the tools provided by the platform. 

Selling Points

ZipRecruiter’s most significant selling point is the degree of flexibility it offers. Due to its operating model, it can help you find developers for everything from long-term job roles to brief, days-long tasks. It can also find developers at every level, from entry to elite, just like Terminal. Given its pricing model, the platform can also be quite affordable. You pay per engagement for job or project postings, which vary depending on the developer’s expertise level and the job’s nature. 

Shortfalls

While ZipRecruiter may offer a high degree of flexibility in hiring and job engagements, it does not handle the hiring, interviewing, and onboarding processes. The whole process of screening, interviewing, and hiring the developer is up to you. That makes it less favorable than the other VanHack alternatives, especially those that offer full-process hiring, such as Terminal.io. All that ZipRecruiter does is provide the tools to sort these things out yourself.

8. Turing

Turing is one of the most popular data science-driven VanHack alternatives. Its talent pool includes over four million highly skilled engineers and other tech professionals from around the world. Like Terminal, the platform specializes in various developer talent postings, focusing on niche developer jobs. 

Selling Points

In addition to specializing in hiring remote software developers, the platform makes good use of automation in its vetting, monitoring, hiring, payment, and insurance systems. This reliance on automation affords it high speed—you can typically finalize hiring within 3 to 5 days of your initial request. 

Turing also offers hiring incentives such as its 21-day free trial period. 

Shortfalls

Turing shares a significant flaw with VanHack in its lack of pricing transparency. Many reviews say prices are steep—$100–$200/hour, according to some. Reviews also complain of poor and unreliable support and communication, as well as project disruptions and issues with cultural fit. 

Additionally, it doesn’t offer any developer integration services. While it does feature a few freelance developers in its talent pool, it is almost exclusively a full-time developer hiring platform. 

9. Upwork

Upwork is a freelancing platform famous for its vast reach and size. The platform was founded in 2013, the result of a merger between Elance Inc. and oDesk Corp, becoming Elance-oDesk. It assumed the name “Upwork” in 2015. Like ZipRecruiter, the platform has its headquarters in California, but that’s not the only similarity. 

Upwork uses a model similar to ZipRecruiter’s. You post the description of the project, the skills required, and how much you are willing to pay the freelancer who completes it. Then, freelancers bid on the project, and you choose the best candidate for the job.

Selling Points

Like ZipRecruiter, Upwork works well for projects requiring brief engagements with developers. It is a freelance-focused platform, after all. It can also be very affordable to use. You can set your own budget.

Upwork is also similar to VanHack alternatives like Terminal and ZipRecruiter in offering a variety of work arrangements, from freelance to full-time and fractional developers. Upwork’s model also means hiring is as fast as you want it to be. Typically, you can get bids very quickly.

Shortfalls

Upwork is not a tech-focused platform; it doesn’t have an in-house vetting team or its own pre-vetted developers. Since it is more of a talent marketplace than a developer hiring platform, it is entirely up to you to deal with the stresses of screening developers and finding the best fit for your job. VanHack alternatives like Terminal.io are preferable if you’d rather not take on all that stress. It also doesn’t offer perks like free trial periods.

Best VanHack Alternative for Remote Developer Hiring

While VanHack and its competitors do offer several advantages, the clear standout is Terminal.io. Terminal has all of the benefits without the drawbacks, making it a win-win. It combines unmatched flexibility and talent-sourcing reliability with top-grade vetting and affordability. If you’ve been looking for the right platform to hire developers for your project or longer-term role, it’s the obvious choice.